The Man Who Hid In A Box Shipped From Germany To The United States To Seek The American Dream
More than 100 years ago, Johann Beck spent 16 days confined in a shipping container in the hold of a ship because he couldn’t afford a ticket to emigrate to the U.S.
Throughout history many people have found their personal situations to be untenable and sought new opportunities, even if that meant completely uprooting their lives. Such change is never easy and rarely cheap. This didn’t deter Johann Beck, a poor German man, who pivoted when he discovered he couldn’t afford a ticket for a new life in the United States, and instead shipped himself in a box in the cargo hold of a ship in 1901.
Like many immigrants of the time, Beck decided to move across the Atlantic Ocean after continually finding it difficult to find work in his homeland. Unfortunately, the cheapest steerage class ticket that would take him by ship from his native Germany to the United States was 120 marks; much more than he could afford. However, he was so desperate that after determining he could ship himself as cargo for less than half that price, a new plan was hatched to change countries.
