SS Karlsruhe Archival Collection
Karlsruhe (1889) North German Lloyd
Built by Fairfield Shipbuilding & Engineering Co., Glasgow, Scotland. Tonnage: 5,057. Dimensions: 411' x 47'. Propulsion: Single-screw, 13 knots. Triple expansion engines. Masts and Funnels: Two masts and one funnel. Passengers: 44 first, 36 second, 1,900 third. Services: South America, Far East/Australia, North Atlantic. Final voyage: to New York in 1907. Fate: Sold to ship-breakers in 1908. Sister ships: Gera, Darmstadt, Oldenburg, Stuttgart and Weimar.
Karlsruhe (1900) North German Lloyd
Sailed as the SS Karlsruhe from 1928-1932 for the North German Lloyd
Built by "Vulkan", Stettin, Germany. Tonnage: 10,826. Dimensions: 523' x 60'. Propulsion: Twin-screw, 15 1/2 knots. Quadruple expansion engines. Masts and Funnels: Two masts and two funnels. Service: Bremen-New York. Fate: Scrapped in Germany, 1932. Previous Names: Bremen (1922-1928), Pocahontas (1917-1922), Prinzess Irene (1900-1917).
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1928-07-26 SS Karlsruhe Passenger List
- Steamship Line: North German Lloyd
- Class of Passengers: Cabin Class
- Date of Departure: 26 July 1928
- Route: Bremen to New York via Boulogne-sur-Mer and Southampton
- Commander: Captain H. Filzinger
1928-08-23 SS Karlsruhe Passenger List
- Steamship Line: North German Lloyd
- Class of Passengers: Cabin Class
- Date of Departure: 23 August 1928
- Route: Bremen to New York via Boulogne-sur-Mer and Queenstown (Cobh)
- Commander: Captain H. Filzinger
1929-08-30 SS Karlsruhe Passenger List
- Steamship Line: North German Lloyd / Norddeutscher Lloyd
- Class of Passengers: Cabin Class
- Date of Departure: 30 August 1929
- Route: Bremen to Boston and New York via Galway
- Commander: Captain H. Filzinger
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1928-07-29 SS Karlsruhe Dinner Menu
Vintage Dinner Bill of Fare from Sunday, 29 July 1928 on board the SS Karlsruhe of the North German Lloyd featured Fried English Sole, Potato Salad with Mayonnaise, Glazed Saddle of Veal, and Rice Pudding, Strawberry Sauce for dessert. Printed in German and English, the Bill of Fare included a Music Program and an announcement of a Moving Picture show later that evening.
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Global Route Map on the Back Cover of the North German Lloyd SS Karlsruhe Cabin Class Passenger List - 26 July 1928. GGA Image ID # 15e452abe2
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Sailing Schedule, Bremen-Brazil and Bremen-La Plata, from 20 October 1906 to 12 March 1907. Ships Included the Aachen, Bonn, Borkum, Crefeld, Erlangen, Halle, Helgoland, Karlsruhe, Norderney, Oldenburg, Roland, Sigmaringen, Stuttgart, Tübingen, Weimar, Wittenberg, and Würzburg. SS Bremen Passenger List, 27 October 1906. GGA Image ID # 21403261e8
Sailing Schedule, Bremen-Brazil and Bremen-La Plata, from 30 March 1907 to 4 June 1907. Ships Included the Aachen, Bonn, Crefeld, Erlangen, Halle, Karlsruhe, Norderney, Oldenburg, Roland, Tübingen, and Wittenberg. SS Chemnitz Passenger List, 6 April 1907. GGA Image ID # 1f768fc82f
Sailing Schedule, Bremen-New York via Boulogne-sur-Mer, Southampton, Cherbourg, and Queenstown (Cobh), from 28 July 1928 to 30 December 1928. Ships Included the Berlin, Columbus, Dresden, Karlsruhe, Lützow, München, Seyditz, Sierra Cordoba, Stuttgart, and Yorck. SS Columbus Passenger List, 28 July 1928. GGA Image ID # 1e609f3c10
Sailing Schedule, New York to Bremen via Queenstown (Cobh), Plymouth, Cherbourg, Southampton, and Bologne-sur-Mer, from 27 July 1928 to 13 January 1929. Ships Included the Berlin, Columbus, Dresden, Karlsruhe, Lützow, München, Seyditz, Sierra Cordoba, Stuttgart, and Yorck. SS Columbus Passenger List, 28 July 1928. GGA Image ID # 1e60c12f58
Sailing Schedule, Bremen to New York, from 13 April 1929 to 26 September 1929. Ships Included the Berlin, Bremen, Columbus, Dresden, Karlsruhe, München, Seydlitz, Stuttgart, and Yorck. SS Columbus Passenger List, 13 April 1929. GGA Image ID # 1e63b9221a
Sailing Schedule, Bremen to New York, from 11 April 1929 to 5 October 1929. Ships Included the Berlin, Bremen, Columbus, Dresden, Karlsruhe, München, Seydlitz, Stuttgart, and Yorck. SS Columbus Passenger List, 13 April 1929. GGA Image ID # 1e640b97ed
Sailing Schedule, Bremen-Boulogne-Southampton-Cherbourg-Queenstown (Cobh)-New York, from 4 September 1929 to 17 January 1930. Ships Included the Berlin, Bremen, Columbus, Dresden, Karlsruhe, Lützow, München, and Stuttgart. SS Bremen Passenger List, 4 September 1929. GGA Image ID # 1f875bc19a
Sailing Schedule, New York-Queenstown (Cobh)-Plymouth-Cherbourg-Southampton-Boulogne-Bremen, from 29 August 1929 to 11 January 1930. Ships Included the Berlin, Bremen, Columbus, Dresden, Karlsruhe, Lützow, München, and Stuttgart. SS Bremen Passenger List, 4 September 1929. GGA Image ID # 214069c8be
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Great Passenger Ships of the World 1858-1912
This initial volume deals with Ships from 1858-1912, from the first passenger ship of over 10,000 GRT to be placed in service (the Great Eastern) to those unforgettable sister ships, the Olympic and Titanic — the first of more than 40,000 GRT.
Guide Through North & Central America (Norddeutscher Lloyd) - 1898
🎩 “A Grand Tour by Steamship: Exploring the Americas with North German Lloyd”
Published in April 1898 by J. Reichmann & Cantor of Berlin and New York, the Guide Through North & Central America was more than a simple travel manual. Lavishly illustrated and distributed as a souvenir for passengers aboard North German Lloyd (NDL) steamships, it provided a snapshot of late 19th-century transatlantic tourism, immigration, and shipping excellence.
Intended as a companion piece to NDL’s acclaimed European guide, this first edition introduces readers to the cultural, geographic, and infrastructural wonders of the United States (and parts of Canada and Mexico in future editions). It captured the era of grand steamship travel, a time when visiting Niagara Falls or the Grand Canyon involved weeks of planning and intercontinental coordination.
Norddeutscher Lloyd Bremen 1857-1970, Volume One, History -- Fleet -- Ship Mails
🌍 Transatlantic Titans: The Rise of Norddeutscher Lloyd and the Transformation of Ocean Travel (1857–1918)
Norddeutscher Lloyd, Bremen, 1857–1970, Volume 1 by Edwin Drechsel is a meticulously researched chronicle of the origins and golden age of the Norddeutscher Lloyd (NDL), one of the most important steamship lines in global maritime history.
The book covers:
- The founding of NDL in 1857 by Hermann Henrich Meier and Eduard Crüsemann
- The transition from sail to steam, paddle to screw propulsion
- The increasing demand for transatlantic mail and passenger service
- The NDL’s competition with British lines for speed, prestige, and the Blue Riband
- The line’s crucial role in transporting millions of emigrants to North America
- Its involvement in global mail and freight services
- The impact of World War I on German shipping and commerce
Volume 1 concludes just before or during the war years that halted NDL’s rapid rise.
Norddeutscher Lloyd Bremen 1857-1970, Volume Two, History -- Fleet -- Ship Mails
Winds of Change: Norddeutscher Lloyd and the Final Era of Ocean Travel (1920–1970)
The second volume of Edwin Drechsel’s monumental work Norddeutscher Lloyd, Bremen, 1857–1970 picks up in the aftermath of World War I, tracing five tumultuous decades through:
🌊 Postwar decline and slow recovery
🚢 The interwar years and the Blue Riband triumph of the Bremen (1929)
📉 The Great Depression’s toll on ocean travel
🌍 The transformation of global shipping under the shadow of WWII
🧱 Postwar reconstruction and the decline of passenger liners
📦 The pivot to container freight and the 1970 merger with HAPAG
Drechsel, drawing on his personal ties (his father was a North German Lloyd captain), maritime journalism background, and deep expertise in ship mails and German liner history, delivers a book that is both richly detailed and profoundly human.
Ocean Steamers: A History of Ocean-Going Passenger Steamships 1820-1970
A history of the steam-powered passenger ship that details its story from the SS Savannah of 1819 to the SS Hamburg of 1969. It contains historical details of all civilian vessels built in the intervening years, with numerous illustrations and previously unpublished material.
Passenger Ships of the World - 1963
🎓 “A Global Voyage Through Steamship History for Historians, Genealogists, and Maritime Enthusiasts”
Eugene W. Smith’s Passenger Ships of the World – Past and Present (1963) is a masterfully curated encyclopedic reference that charts the rise, peak, and transformation of ocean-going passenger ships through nearly two centuries. Expanding upon his earlier Trans-Atlantic and Trans-Pacific works, Smith offers a global maritime panorama that includes ships serving the Americas, Africa, Europe, Asia, Australia, and Oceania, as well as Canal routes and California-Hawaii shuttle lines.
🧭 This book is an essential resource for:
- Maritime historians seeking design evolution and fleet data
- Genealogists tracing voyages and shipping lines
- Educators and students studying transoceanic migration and tourism
- Ship modelers, naval architects, and enthusiasts interested in dimensions, tonnage, and speed
Picture History of German and Dutch Passenger Ships
Picture History of German and Dutch Passenger Ships is a superbly illustrated volume that documents a long line of great ships--from "floating palaces" such as the Imperator (1913) and the Vaterland (1914) to such luxurious cruise ships as the Statendam (1957), Hamburg (1969), the remodeled Bremen (1990), and the new Deutschland (1998).
THE ATLANTIC LINERS will be cherished by all the millions of Americans who love the sea. Frederick Emmons sketches the histories of every ocean liner that sailed between the United States and Europe between 1925 and 1970.
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Advertisement: Norddeutscher Lloyd Australian Service, 1901. Present Australian Fleet: Grosser Kurfürst 13,182 Tons; Königin Luise 10,566 Tons; Bremen 10,526 Tons; Main 10,000 Tons; Prinz Regent Luitpold 6,288 Tons; Stuttgart 5,048 Tons; Oldenburg 5,006 Tons; Weimar 5,000 Tons; Stettin 2,200 Tons; Barbarossa 10,769 Tons; Friedrich der Grosse 10,531 Tons; Rhein 10,000 Tons; Neckar 10,000 Tons; Karlsruhe 5,057 Tons; Darmstadt 5,012 Tons; Gera 5,005 Tons; München 4,556 Tons; etc. Inset Image: Grosser Kurfürst 9,700 HP, 13,182 Registered Tonnage. GGA Image ID # 214507b392
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