Red Star Line

A copy of a copy of a picture of a docking area of the Red Star Line and Holland America Line, taken from bow of ship

This photo is a print of a negative found in my grandfather's personal papers. The mystery is this: His mother left him at the age of 18 mos. and he spent a lot of time and effort trying to find her. She was born Mary Anna Rouse in 1853. She went by her mother's maiden name, Black, as did some Europeans in those days. I have looked at some of the ships passenger lists but have not found much luck. The only entry that I did find was for the "Germanic" - Mary Black arrived 17 Oct. 1881. I found with this negative, a negative of two lovely ladies, circa 1900. Also with this was a picture of the sea with a dull image of land afar off. There was no explanation, from anyone in the family.