Princess Victoria Luise
 The Princess Victoria Luise
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The Princess Victoria Luise of the Hamburg-American Packetfahrt-Actien-Gesellschaft (HAPAG) is considered the first ship in the world to be built as a cruise ship. The ship, completed by Blohm & Voss in December 1900 , was lost on December 16, 1906 due to a navigation error off Jamaica .
Building history
The Hamburg-Amerikanische-Packetfahrt-Actien-Gesellschaft was one of the first providers of luxury cruises since January 1891. The head of their passenger business, Albert Ballin , saw in these trips called excursions an opportunity to use the express steamers for the North Atlantic route to capacity even in the winter months with little traffic. After the Augusta Victoria , her sister ships were also used for such trips. Finally, in addition to a Mediterranean / Orient voyage of over 50 days from 1894, the shipping company also offered voyages to the north of 18 to 20 days to Spitzbergen , for which the express steamers were even temporarily withdrawn from regular service in the summer, and from 1896 cruises between the West Indies . The trips planned by the shipping company with shore excursions and sightseeing were well received by the public.
However, it turned out that the ships left something to be desired. The ships did not offer much variety on board, as they were designed for a fast crossing. As multi-class ships, the access possibilities were limited and in particular the accessible deck areas were protected for the conditions of North Atlantic traffic and not for staying in more southern waters. The cabins were also not very spacious and not designed for a stay of several weeks. The huge machinery was also rarely needed on the sections of a cruise. Therefore, plans arose early on to use a ship only for cruises. A planned conversion of the Suevia (1874, 3,609 GRT) was not carried out. This situation changed in 1898/1899 when, in the course of the Spanish-American War, Hapag was able to sell two of its high-speed steamers ( Columbia and Normannia ) at a low price to Spain as an auxiliary cruiser and Albert Ballin, who advocated a pure cruise ship, became General Director of Hapag .
The pleasure yacht
Shortly after taking office at Blohm & Voss, the new General Director Ballin ordered a cruise-only ship that was to be named after the only daughter of the German emperor, who was his friend . On June 29, 1900, the new ship was launched as Princess Victoria Luise .
The new ship didn't look like a passenger ship, but like a private yacht. The two-masted ship had two slender funnels and was painted white. It had a round stern and a richly decorated clipper bow with a long bowsprit and a figurehead portraying the princess. The ship was propelled by two quadruple expansion engines, which enabled a service speed of 15 knots . The ship had 120 first class cabins, all of which were luxuriously equipped. All consisted of two rooms with their own bathroom and toilet. In addition to the usual lounges of a luxury ship, the passengers also had a library, a training room and a darkroom for photo amateurs. The emperor is said to have advised Ballin on equipping the ship. After completion, he inspected the ship and is said to have regretted that his own yacht Hohenzollern was a little shorter than the Princess Victoria Luise .
Use of Princess Victoria Luise
According to Ballin's plans, Princess Victoria Luise should begin her service with a trip around the world. On May 28, 1900, it was supposed to run east from Hamburg to San Francisco , from where the travelers would cross the USA on a luxury train and then return to Europe on a high-speed steamer. Their second trip in the opposite direction had already been sold. Due to a strike at the shipyard, however, the ship was not ready and the shipping company had to cancel the voyages, the safe execution of which would certainly have caused problems due to the unrest in China.
In fact, the new ship did not begin its maiden voyage to New York until January 5, 1901, from Hamburg via Boulogne-sur-Mer and Plymouth , which was reached on January 17 in very bad weather. For the first cruise, the ship left New York for the West Indies on January 26th, followed by the second cruise through the Mediterranean to the Black Sea from March 9th. On the way it was toured by high-ranking dignitaries from the states visited. In the summer of 1901, two of the tried and tested Hapag Nordland trips and a trip to the Scandinavian capitals followed. In the years that followed, the ship largely handled Hapag's cruises. In addition to him, however, the express steamers continued to be used. Another trip around the world was planned for 1904, but this time it failed because the Russo-Japanese War broke out . Hapag used the war to sell its old express steamers, which therefore could no longer support Princess Victoria Luise . However, in May 1904, the smaller Meteor (3,613 GRT, 280 passengers), a second pure cruise ship, came into service, which was supposed to handle European cruises at a somewhat lower price and which Princess Victoria Luise made available for the American public in particular. In 1905, in addition to the two pure cruise ships, the passenger steamers Moltke and Hamburg were used for cruises. In 1906, Hapag's third attempt to cruise around the world also failed. In addition to the Princess Victoria Luise and the Meteor , the Blücher and the newly acquired Oceana now handled the usual cruise program.
The end of Princess Victoria Luise
After her sixth transfer trip from Hamburg to New York, Princess Victoria Luise started on December 12, 1906 on another West India cruise. On the night of December 16, she ran at 14 knots along the coast of Jamaica towards the port of Kingston , where she was not expected until seven hours later. Without reducing the speed, their captain Brunswig tried to enter the port without a pilot and against the advice of his officers. At around 9.30 p.m. the master realized that he was assuming a wrong position. Attempts to reduce speed and effectively change course failed and Princess Victoria Luise ran at Plum Point near Port Royal with full force onto the bank rocks at 17 ° 55 ′ 40 ″ N , 76 ° 51 ′ 10 ″ W on. Attempts to free the ship with “full speed back” failed.
Captain Brunswig left the bridge after ten minutes and shot himself in his cabin with his hunting rifle. The officers kept this a secret and assured the passengers that there would be no danger to the struck ship. Boat maneuvers appeared dangerous at night and with the position of the ship. At sunrise they made a line with the lifeboats to land, over which the passengers and their luggage were brought ashore. The sailors lifted the guests from boat to boat and carried them ashore if necessary.
After evacuation by the passengers, an attempt was made again to get the ship free. The small cruiser Bremen tried to tow the ship free, but was also in danger of running aground. As the weather worsened considerably, the towing attempts had to be finally stopped. Waves and storms pushed the ship against the bank on the broad side and it was listed. A careful inspection showed that the hull had sustained considerable damage to the frames and the keel plates. The engines were torn from their anchorages by the force of the impact and large parts of the ship were full of water. On December 19, 1906, Princess Victoria Luise was declared a total loss.
The new Crown Princess Cecilie , who was deployed in the Mexico service, was called in to process the further trip, while the team returned with the first salvaged pieces of equipment from the stranded Princess Victoria Luise on the Sarnia to New York and with the Pennsylvania to Germany. The painting Hannibal's grave by Eugen Bracht , which is in the collection of the Museum Landscape Hessen Kassel, has been preserved to this day from the interior of the ship .
The cruise ship was then replaced by the Oceana , the former British express steamer Scot (1891, 7,859 GRT) , which was purchased in 1905 and which also had a yacht-like appearance with its clipper bow. In 1911, the former express steamer Deutschland became the flagship of Hapag's cruise fleet as Victoria Louise for 487 first class passengers.
See also
literature
- Ferdinand Pfohl: West-East. Trips, On board the “Princess Victoria Louise”, 296 S., Lpz 1901/2, sailor
- Arnold Kludas: The History of German Passenger Shipping, Volume I, The Pioneering Years from 1850 to 1890 , Writings of the German Shipping Museum, Volume 18.
- Arnold Kludas: The History of German Passenger Shipping Volume II Expansion on All Seas 1890 to 1900 , Writings of the German Shipping Museum, Volume 19.
- Arnold Kludas: The History of the German Passenger Shipping Volume III Leap growth 1900 to 1914 , Writings of the German Shipping Museum, Volume 20.
- Hans Georg Prager: Blohm & Voss Koehler Verlagsgesellschaft, Herford 1977, ISBN 3-78220-127-2 .
- Eberhard Urban: Dampfschiffe, Komet Verlag, Cologne, ISBN 978-3-89836-812-4 .
Web links
- New York Times article on the loss of the ship
- Dutch contribution to the loss of Princess Victoria Luise with a picture of the run aground ship
Footnotes
- ↑ www.planet-wissen.de The History of the Cruise. Accessed November 9, 2013.
- ↑ www.kreuzfahrtguide.com ( Memento from November 9, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) The journey is the goal. Accessed November 9, 2013.
- ↑ Kludas, Vol. I, pp. 196, 202.
- ↑ a b Kludas, Vol. II, p. 50.
- ^ Kludas, Vol. II, p. 56.
- ↑ Prager, p. 69.
- ^ Kludas, Vol. II, p. 58.
- ↑ Prager, p. 70.
- ↑ Arrived in New York. In: The German Correspondent. January 19, 1901, p. 2 , accessed September 3, 2017 . , Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers, Library of Congress
- ↑ Kludas, Vol. II, p. 60.
- ↑ Kludas, Vol. II, p. 62.
- ^ Kludas, Vol. III, p. 187.
- ↑ Kludas, Vol. III, p. 188.
- ↑ Course of the accident according to Kludas, vol. III, p. 188 ff., First press reports had obviously misrepresented the course of events, see p. New York Times.
- ↑ http://malerei19jh.museum-kassel.de/show.html?kuenstler_id=23&nr=1&id=30328&sort=Alle&bio=1
- ^ Kludas, Vol. III, p. 121.