Main (ship, 1900)
 The Main in New York (around 1908)
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The Combined Ship Main was built by Blohm & Voss for Norddeutscher Lloyd (NDL) and its combined passenger and freight service to North America. She was the second ship of the NDL with this name and is therefore often referred to as the Main (II) .
Her sister ships were the Rhine and the Neckar . They were large single chimney ships with four masts.
history
The Main was launched on February 10, 1900 and was delivered to the NDL on April 22.
Service for the NDL
Six days later, she began her maiden voyage via Cherbourg to New York . On June 30, 1900, it caught fire in the great fire of Hoboken Pier and was badly damaged. It was only after seven hours that she could be untied and towed to Weehawken , where she was aground. To everyone's astonishment, 16 coal trimmers crawled out of a coal bunker in which they had stayed. It was days before the ship stopped burning. It wasn't until July 27 that it could be lifted and towed to Newport News for repair. On October 15, 1901, the Main was put back into service.
In August 1902 she was first deployed to Baltimore . In 1906, as before on the two sister ships, the passenger facilities on the Main were changed in order to better meet the requirements of emigration to the USA . The first class cabins were removed, the capacity of the second class was expanded, and above all, space was created for around 2800 passengers in the tween deck . Like its sister ships, the Main also served primarily for emigrant traffic to the USA.
Like its sister ships Rhein and Neckar , the Main was also used for replacement transports for the ship crews and land troops of the German cruiser squadron . She wrapped this exchange from April 30 to August 10, 1902 (nine days in Tsingtau ), from May 2 to August 10, 1903 (5 days in Tsingtau), and from May 5 to August 11, 1903 (10 Days in Tsingtau) via Bremerhaven.
In June 1914 she made her last voyage between Bremerhaven and Baltimore.
War and the final fate of the Main
When war broke out, it was in Antwerp , where it was confiscated by the Belgian government as enemy property, but came back into German possession in October through the occupation of Belgium. She stayed in Antwerp during the war.
After the end of the war she was delivered to Great Britain on May 21, 1919 and used there by various shipping companies for post-war transports. At the end of June 1921, the ship was handed over to France as spoils of war , but without being put into service again. In 1925 the Main in France was demolished .
literature
- Bonsor, Noel RP: North Atlantic Seaway , vol. 2, Newton Abbey & Jersey, 1976
- Arnold Kludas : The History of German Passenger Shipping 1850 to 1990 . Ernst Kabel Verlag, 1986.
- Kludas, Arnold: The ships of the North German Lloyd 1857 to 1919 . Koehlers Verlagsgesellschaft, 1991, ISBN 3-7822-0524-3 .
- Reinke-Kunze, Christine: History of the Reichspostdampfer. Connection between the continents 1886-1914 . Koehlers Verlagsgesellschaft, 1994, ISBN 3-7822-0618-5 (3782206185)
- Rothe, Claus: German ocean passenger ships 1896 to 1918 . Steiger Verlag, 1986, ISBN 3-921564-80-8 .