Hamburg Pacific Steamship Line
On April 13, 1886, Adolph Kirsten founded a new shipping company under the name Hamburg-Pacific-Dampfschiffs-Linie . It was called the Kirsten Line for short after its owner .
The shipping company's ships were to be used in freight and passenger traffic to the west coast of South America. From the outset, Kirsten wanted to compete with the successful Kosmos line for the leading position. The new line initially received four new buildings, each with a load capacity of 2000 t, and further new acquisitions. The ship park appeared to be large enough. Nevertheless, the competition against the Kosmos turned out to be extremely difficult for them as well as for the Kirsten line. Kirsten decided in 1888 to convert the shipping company into a stock corporation. The capital made available was used to increase the number of ships. The German steam shipping company Kosmos responded with a capital increase of one million to six million marks in 1889 in order to be able to build new, more competitive ships. The competition between the Kosmos and Kirsten lines was tough right from the start, and it has intensified over the years. All available funds had to be used by both sides. The disputes damaged the economic success of all those involved.
In 1891 a revolution broke out in Chile that blocked the country's ports for ships. There were difficulties in getting cargo back. A year later, cholera raged in Hamburg . Many overseas ports were closed to shipping in Hamburg. The economic situation became more and more dramatic for both opponents.
Since 1896, Albert Ballin had board positions in both companies. In months of negotiations he succeeded in reaching an understanding, after which the Hamburg-Pacific-Linie was taken over by the Kosmos-Linie. Adolph Kirsten also joined the Kosmos supervisory board. Here he played a similarly decisive role as before in his own line. A. Kirsten now took over the brokerage business for Kosmos and kept this agency until 1924.
Twelve Kirsten ships were bought and renamed by Kosmos. Adolph Kirsten used to give his ships the names of Shakespearian women, the steamers of the cosmos got their names from the ancient Egyptian world of gods and legends:
- Adriana renamed Abydos
- Banda renamed Totmes
- Baria renamed Kambyse
- Delia renamed Denderah
- Lavinia renamed Hermonthis (see picture)
- Luciana renamed Anubis
- Modestia renamed Menes
- Octavia renamed Sesostris
- Volumnia renamed Pentaur
In addition to these nine steamers, the Titania , Desdemona and Valeria were also transferred to the cosmos. A few months after the takeover in 1898, the Desdemona ran aground north of Corinto in Nicaragua . The crew could be saved, but the ship was lost. The Titania and the Valeria repelled the cosmos. The Valeria went to Sloman and was lost in 1900 on a trip from New York to Pernambuco .
With the merging of the Hamburg-Pacific-Damfschiffs-Linie into the Deutsche Dampfschiffahrts-Gesellschaft Kosmos in 1898, the shipping company flag disappeared in addition to the old names of the ships. It was borrowed from the Chilean flag.
literature
- Maria Möring: A. Kirsten. Hamburg . Ed .: Hamburg Economic History Research Center. Christians, Hamburg 1952, DNB 575158549 .
Web links
- Collection of memorabilia about the ships of the shipping company A. Kirsten
- The Kirsten villas on Bellevue
Individual evidence
- ^ After Maria Möring, Hamburg Economic History Research Center (ed.): A. Kirsten, Hamburg. Christians, Hamburg 1952, Chapter: The Hamburg-Pacific Line. P. 77ff.
- ^ After Maria Möring, Hamburg Economic History Research Center (ed.): A. Kirsten, Hamburg. Christians, Hamburg 1952, Chapter: The Hamburg-Pacific Line. P. 92.