Passenger and passenger ship information can be found online at:

• istg.rootsweb.com (imigrant ship lists),
• www.geocities.com/Heartland/5978/Emigration.html,
• www.genealogienetz.de/misc/emig,
• home.att.net/~arnielang/shipgide.html,
• www.oceanliner.com/gene.htm,
• www.cimorelli.com/pie/emigrate/emigmenu.htm,
• www.fortunecity.com/littleitaly/amalfi/13/ships.htm,
• www.CyndisList.com/ships.htm.

Possibly you can find pictorial representations of ships:

1.   Deutsches Schiffahrtsmuseum
     Hans-Scharoun-Platz 1
     D-27568 Bremerhaven
     Germany
     http://www.dsm.de
     email:  postmaster@dsm.de
2.   Altonaer Museum in Hamburg - Norddeutsches Landesmuseum
     Museumstrasse 23
     D-22765 Hamburg
     Germany
     email:  am@kulturbehoerde.hamburg.de
3.   Museum fuer Hamburgische Geschichte
     Holstenwall 24
     D-20355 Hamburg
     Germany
4.   HAPAG-Lloyd
     Ballindamm 25
     D-20095 Hamburg
     Germany

Infos about Germans2America you will find at:

• GermansToAmerica,
• Gta-Holdings,
• Gta-Revu,
• Oldenburg.

The following was an answer in the usenet for a special problem finding ancestors. I hope it is of general help for you:

The most efficient way to determine precisely when, and on what vessel, your grandparents arrived at New York is to proceed as follows:

1. Go to the Soundex Machine maintained by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), at www.archives.gov, and determine the soundex code for your grandparents' surname.
2. Go to the soundex index to passenger lists of vessels arriving at New York 1 July 1902-31 December 1943, National Archives Microfilm Publication T621, at www.archives.gov. Determine the microfilm roll(s) that contain(s) the index listings for the soundex code for your grandparents' surname. You can borrow copies of this/these microfilm(s) through AGLL, any LDS (Mormon) Family History Center, or Interlibrary Loan.
3. The soundex index gives for each passenger his/her age and sex (in the format "25m" = 25 years old, male), the number of the volume into which is bound the passenger manifest for that vessel and voyage on which the passenger arrived, and the page and line number on which the passenger's name appears. The bound passenger manifests of vessels arriving at New York, 1897-1957, have been microfilmed as National Archives Microfilm Publication T715 (8,892 rolls), and you can borrow copies of any of these rolls through AGLL, any LDS Family History Center, or Interlibrary Loan. If you identify your grandparents in the soundex index, to determine the microfilm roll that contains a copy of the bound volume in which their names appear, go to the NARA website at www.archives.gov and search for the appropriate volume number.

Michael Palmer
--
Michael Palmer
Claremont, California
mpalmer@netcom.com

The lists of passengers on vessels arriving at U.S. ports from 1820
onwards have been microfilmed by the U.S. National Archives.  For a
detailed listing of these records, see the National Archives and Records
Administration (NARA) website at http://www.archives.gov/  
For a detailed description of these records and their indexes, see Michael
Tepper, _American Passenger Arrival Records;  A Guide to the Records of
Immigrants Arriving at American Ports by Sail and Steam_ (updated and
enlarged edition;  Baltimore:  Genealogical Publishing Co, 1993).
Researchers may access copies of these microfilm records in the following
ways:
1.   At the National Archives in Washington, DC, and through the
     regional branch archives (note that individual regional branch
     archives will have microfilmed passenger lists only for vessels
     arriving at ports within their region).
2.   Copies of individual microfilm reels can be borrowed through AGLL
     (American Genealogical Lending Library - http://www.agll.com).
3.   The Family History Library in Salt Lake City has a complete set of
     the National Archives microfilms of passenger arrival lists, and
     researchers can borrow copies of individual reels through any LDS
     (Mormon) Family History Center.  For researchers living in Southern
     California, the LDS Family History Center in Los Angeles has
     copies of almost all the passenger lists for the 19th century.
4.   Several public libraries in the United States, most notably the Allan
     County Public Library in Fort Wayne, Indiana, also have large
     collections of the National Archives microfilms of passenger arrival
     lists.
5.   The Center for Research Libraries in Chicago has a large
     collection of the National Archives microfilms, and researchers with
     affiliations with institutions of higher learning can borrow these
     microfilms through Interlibrary Loan.
6.   NAUSA--the institute for the study of emigration from Lower Saxony to
     the U.S. at the University of Oldenburg, of which Professor Holtmann
     is the director--also has copies of the National Archives microfilms
     of passenger arrival lists, and can search the microfilms for a fee
     of $23 per hour.
Michael Palmer
---
Michael Palmer
Claremont, California
mpalmer@netcom.com