 Prinzessin Victoria Luisedressed overall | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 Germany | |
| Name | Prinzessin Victoria Luise |
| Namesake | Princess Victoria Louise of Prussia |
| Owner | Hamburg America Line |
| Port of registry | Hamburg |
| Builder | Blohm+Voss,Hamburg |
| Yard number | 144 |
| Launched | 29 June 1900 |
| Completed | 19 December 1900 |
| Maiden voyage | 5 January 1901 |
| Identification |
|
| Fate | Wrecked off southern Jamaica, 16 December 1906 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | cruise ship |
| Tonnage | 4,409 GRT, 2,249 NRT, 1,480 DWT |
| Length | 407.5 ft (124.2 m) |
| Beam | 47.2 ft (14.4 m) |
| Depth | 27.0 ft (8.2 m) |
| Decks | 2 |
| Installed power | 391NHP |
| Propulsion | |
| Sail plan | 2 masts |
| Speed | 16 knots (30 km/h) |
| Capacity | 2001st-class passengers |
| Crew | 161 |
Prinzessin Victoria Luise was the world's first purpose-builtcruise ship. She was built inGermany, and launched in 1900 for theHamburg America Line (HAPAG).
Most of her cruises were fromHoboken, New Jersey to theCaribbean. She also cruised to theMediterranean and theBlack Sea, and in mid 1903 she made a series of cruises fromHamburg toNorway and theBaltic. Between September 1904 and January 1905 she made a pioneering round-the-World cruise from Hamburg toSan Francisco.
As a prestigious luxury ship,Prinzessin Victoria Luise also took part in events honoringKaiserWilhelm II, his brotherPrince Henry of Prussia, andCipriano Castro,President of Venezuela.
Her career lasted only five years. In 1906 hermaster mistook one lighthouse for another, set the wrong course, and accidentally drove her onto a reef offJamaica. He swiftly took his own life, leaving his officers to manage the safe rescue of the ship's passengers and crew. No other lives were lost.
In 1886Albert Ballin joined HAPAG as manager of its passenger department.Transatlantic passenger traffic was seasonal, as passengers preferred to avoid the weather of the North Atlantic in winter. This left some transatlanticliners under-employed in winter. In 1889 HAPAG's new flagship,Augusta Victoria, entered service. In January 1891 Ballin, despite criticism from his HAPAG fellow directors and from other steamship companies, sentAugusta Victoria on a 58-day "pleasure voyage" fromCuxhaven, Germany to the Mediterranean and Near East. The cruise included well-planned excursions ashore at ports of call en route. Ballin himself was a passenger. The voyage was a success, so similar ones were planned.[1]
Early cruises, called "excursions", were a success, but ocean liners were not ideal for the task. They had too few amenities aboard to occupy passengers on long voyages. They were multi-class ships, with largesteerage accommodation unsuited to cruising. Divisions betweenfirst and second class divided and limited access to deck space. What deck space there was was mostly sheltered, designed to protect passengers from North Atlantic weather. Some of the ports that tourists might like to visit could not accommodate liners as big asAugusta Victoria. Ballin saw that a ship designed specifically for cruising would be more suitable, and also that she could spend all year cruising.[1]
In 1899 HAPAG made Ballin its Managing Director. He soon ordered a cruise ship fromBlohm+Voss inHamburg. She was built as yard number 144, and launched on 29 June 1900 asPrinzessin Victoria Luise, named afterPrincess Victoria Louise of Prussia, the only daughter of Kaiser Wilhelm II. She was completed on 19 December that year.
Prinzessin Victoria Luise was no bigger than an average ocean-going cargo ship of her era. Her registered length was 407.5 ft (124.2 m), herbeam was 47.2 ft (14.4 m), and her depth was 27.0 ft (8.2 m). Hertonnages were 4,409 gross register tons (GRT), 2,249 net register tons (NRT),[2] and 1,480 tonsdeadweight (DWT).[citation needed] But she was styled to look like a luxury privatesteam yacht, with a white hull and rakedclipper bow andbowsprit, instead of the black hull andstraight stem that was then fashionable for moststeamships. Herlifeboats were varnishedmahogany.[3] She had a likeness of her namesake as afigurehead.[4]
Prinzessin Victoria Luise was a one-class ship. All of her 120 cabins were first classstate rooms. Her public rooms included aballroom, social hall,gymnasium,library, andsmoking room. A luxuriousart gallery surrounded herdining room. She even had adarkroom for amateur photographers. Ballin aimed to match the style and service of Europe's finest hotels.[1]
The ship had twinscrews, each driven by aquadruple-expansion engine. The combined power of her twin engines was rated at 391nominal horsepower[2] and gave her a speed of 16knots (30 km/h; 18 mph). She had twofunnels, painted buff.[1] The after one may have been a dummy.
After she was fitted out, Wilhelm II inspected the ship. He was said to be displeased that she was slightly longer than his imperial yachtHohenzollern.[1] HAPAGregisteredPrinzessin Victoria Luise at Hamburg. Hercode letters were RLVT.[2]
On 5 January 1901Prinzessin Victoria Luise left Hamburg on her maiden voyage. She called atBoulogne andPlymouth, and reachedHoboken, New Jersey on 17 January. At first, her cruises were sometimes called "tours".[4] On 26 January she left New York on her first tour, which was toPort-au-Prince;Santo Domingo;San Juan;St Thomas, in what were then theDanish West Indies;Saint-Pierre;Port of Spain;La Guaira:Puerto Cabello;Curaçao;Kingston;Santiago de Cuba;Cienfuegos; andHavana.[5] She arrived back in Hoboken on 2 March.[6] On 9 March, she left Hoboken on a her second tour,[7] which was to the Mediterranean and the Black Sea.[4] On 18 June she attended aNorddeutscher Regatta Vereinregatta on theElbe atCuxhaven, where she hosted a dinner at which Wilhelm II gave a speech in which he praised Ballin as "a bold adventurer to make peaceful conquests, whose fruits our grandchildren will reap". The Kaiser also presented a portrait of himself to Ballin, bearing the dedication "to the farseeing and tireless pathbreaker for our German commerce and export".[8]
In February and March 1902 Prince Henry of Prussia visited the United States. On 11 March, as he left Hoboken aboardDeutschland to return home, theHudson County Choristers sang to him from the deck ofPrinzessin Victoria Luise.[9]Edward VII and Queen Alexandra were due to be crowned in Westminster on 26 June 1902. HAPAG arranged forPrinzessin Victoria Luise to leave New York on 10 June to take passengers to England for the coronation, calling atLe Havre and Hamburg as well asLondon.[10] However, Edward fell ill, and the coronation was postponed until 9 August.
In February and March 1903,Prinzessin Victoria Luise made a cruise that visitedBermuda as well as the Caribbean.[11] That summer, HAPAG scheduled her to sail toNorth Cape and Spitzbergen (nowSvalbard) in Norway, and to the Baltic, leaving Hamburg on 6 June, 8 July and 28 July.[12] In September 1903 HAPAG announced that she would make a four-and-a-half month cruise almost the whole way around the World, including a fortnight inJapan. She would start on 13 September 1904, sail eastbound, and end at San Francisco on 26 January 1905.[13] On 12 April 1904 the ship left Hoboken on a cruise to the Mediterranean.[14]
In January 1904, in port in La Guaira,Prinzessin Victoria Luise hosted a reception at which HAPAG company officials entertained President Castro of Venezuela.[15] That May HAPAG revised her round-the-World tour plan. She would start from Hamburg on 25 September, and passengers from the United States could join her via the company's scheduled transatlantic services from New York. Ports of call were to includeLisbon,Gibraltar,Genoa,Piraeus,Istanbul,Jaffa, andPort Said, whence she would pass through theSuez Canal. She would then continue via Bombay (nowMumbai) andCalcutta. Passengers were offered the option to leave the ship at Bombay, make an 18-day overland tour ofIndia, and rejoin her at Calcutta. She was to continue viaSingapore,Manila,Hong Kong,Shanghai,Nagasaki,Kobe, andYokohama. Her intended arrival in San Francisco was brought forward to 17 January 1905. She was to leave San Francisco on 24 January to make her return voyage.[16] The ship would carry a band of musicians to entertain her 200 passengers.[17]
In June 1906 HAPAG announced that it would transferPrinzessin Victoria Luise to its Atlas Service between Hoboken and the Caribbean, along with the Prinz-classcargo linersPrinz Eitel Friedrich,Prinz Waldemar,Prinz August Wilhelm, andPrinz Joachim.Prinzessin Victoria Luise's route would be between Hoboken and Jamaica. The Prinz-class ships would work the route between Hoboken andColón viaKingston.[18]
On 12 December 1906Prinzessin Victoria Luise left Hoboken forPort Antonio and Kingston. Her master,Captain H Brunswig, was 38 years old, and had been her commander for more than two years.[19]
On the night of 16 December, Brunswig tried to take the ship into Kingston, but he mistookPlumb Point Lighthouse forPort Royal Lighthouse.[1] A recent volcanic eruption had changed the topography of the seabed, so that in places, actual depths differed from what was marked on the ship'snautical charts. Heading north at 14 knots (26 km/h) the ship grounded at about 21:30 hrs[20] on an uncharted reef at position17°55′40″N76°51′10″W / 17.92778°N 76.85278°W /17.92778; -76.85278. Her engines were run full astern, but failed to free her.[citation needed]
Captain Brunswig sent a boat ashore to report the accident, and then retired to his cabin and shot himself. The passengers, unaware of his suicide, stayed aboard overnight. The next morning theThird Officer, Bruno Zache, commanded one of the ship's boats and took it to Plum Point. A continuous line of boats was formed from the ship to the shore, along which the crew passed each passenger from boat to boat to disembark them.[20] Various hotels in Kingston then accommodated the passengers.[19]
The GermancruiserSMS Bremen andFrench training shipDuguay-Trouin [fr] came to assistPrinzessin Victoria Luise.[19]Bremen tried to tow her off the rocks, but without success.[21] On 18 December theMerritt & Chapmansalvage tugRescue leftNorfolk, Virginia to try to rescue the ship.[22] However, within days the sea, aided by a storm, had turned the ship broadside to the shore, she waslisting sharply toport, and the water inside her hull was 16 feet (5 m) deep on that side. Her engines had been displaced, and her frame and keel plates were damaged.[citation needed] On 19 December she was declared atotal loss. Some of her fittings were salvaged, and the HAPAG shipSarnia took them to Hoboken, along with most of her crew.[20] HAPAG transferred the linerKronprinzessin Cecilie to replacePrinzessin Victoria Luise on its Hoboken – Jamaica route.[23]
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Among seafarers there was swift criticism of Brunswig's suicide. In a shipwreck, the master's duty is to remain in command, ensure the safety of his passengers and crew, and try to save his ship.[22] Afterward his duty is to testify to any inquiry into the shipwreck that his employers or the relevant government may convene. Brunswig did none of these things.[24]
On 24 May 1907 anAdmiralty court in Hamburg posthumously found Captain Brunswig to have been negligent, not only by mistaking one lighthouse for another, but also for maintaining full speed at the time.[25] Also that year asubmarine earthquake sank the wreck of the ship.[26] In 1910Deutschland was refitted as a cruise ship and renamedVictoria Luise (without the "Prinzessin") to succeed her.
Shipwrecks and maritime incidents in 1906 | |
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| Shipwrecks |
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| Other incidents |
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