Hair: Black & Some Grey, Bushy

Ancestry.com has just added U.S. passport applications to their list of databases. My first query was for my grandfather, Marko Blazic, and lo and behold there he was! The application was made on 21 Oct 1919.

He had just become a naturalized citizen less than a month before, on 26 Sep 1919. He was going back home to find a bride. I am grateful that he was ultimately successful in this.

The "Description of the Applicant" reveals he was 33 years old; 5'7"; medium forehead; grey eyes; medium broad nose; medium mouth; medium chin; dark complexion; smooth face; hair black and some grey, bushy.

The application says he emigrated on the Ultonia from Trieste on about 24 May 1906. The Ultonia was a 8,845 gross ton British steam ship, with a speed of 13 knots, built to transport cattle for the Cunard Steamship Company. She was launched on 4th Jun 1898. The next year, she was fitted with accommodation for passengers. In 1904, she was rebuilt to 10,402 gross tons and began sailing from Trieste to Fiume, Naples and New York. In June 1905, some of the crew mutinied following a dispute over shift length, causing other crew members to be drafted into service as stokers and firemen. While en route from New York to London on 27 Jun 1917, the Ultonia was torpedoed and sunk 190 miles SW of the Coast of Ireland by the German submarine U-53, captained by Hans Rose.

The Ultonia did make an arrival in May 1906, as the application says, but the arrival was on the second of the month, not the 24th. I looked at the passenger manifest, but did not see a single Blazic or similarly spelled name. A month and a half later, on 24 Jun 1906, the Ultonia made another New York arrival. This trip had on board three men from the village of Podbablje. They are recorded on the passenger manifest (available on the Ellis Island web site) as Peter Blazic, age 18; Meate Blazic, age 17; and Marko Milas, age 35. I had known of this manifest and long suspected that "Meate Blazic" was my grandfather, even though the first name and the age did not match. However, with the passport application, I am very confident that "Meate" is Marko.