Thousands of people were employed by, and got their income directly or indirectly, from the Swedish American Line during their 60 year long history. These workers were everything from members of the Broström family, in-laws, relatives, or people in other ways connected to the management, to people who made a journey due to pure adventurism. In this context it is important to remember those who, in one way or another, worked for SAL on the American continent. Just consider the amount of people who worked in New York, Halifax or on all the other offices in North America.

In the earlier days of the Swedish American Line it was not unusual for people to take employment on a ship just to leave at the port of New York and start a new life in America. As the years passed by, more and more people from other European countries joined the, from the onset, Swedish staff. It is estimated that the crew consisted of 80% men and 20% women.

Unfortunately, few studies has been done concerning the employees of the ships, but we can state that it was a miniature community with its own moments of happiness and sorrow. People from different walks of life met here, many of which were very content and remained for a long time, while others never really settled.