SS Prinz Friedrich Wilhelm Archival Collection
SS Prinz Friedrich Wilhelm (1908) of the Norddeutcher Lloyd Shown Off Manhattan Island, New York, Her Decks Croweded with US Troops Returning Home from Europe, 1919. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph. GGA Image ID # 20e34a6898
Prinz Friedrich Wilhelm (1908) North German Lloyd
Built by J. C. Tecklenborg, Geeste munde, Germany. Tonnage: 17,082. Dimensions: 590' x 68' (613' o.l.). Propulsion: Twin-screw, 17 knots. Quadruple expansion engines. Masts and Funnels: Two masts and two funnels. Passengers: 400 first, 300 second, 1,700 third. Service: In the Bremen-Southampton-New York intermediate service. Renamed: (a) Empress of India (1920), (b) Montlaurier (1922), (c) Montnairn (1925). Fate: Scrapped in 1931.
Return to Content Links
1909-10-09 SS Prinz Friedrich Wilhelm Passenger List
- Steamship Line: Norddeutscher Lloyd (North German Lloyd)
- Class of Passengers: Cabin
- Date of Departure: 9 October 1909
- Route: Bremen to New York via Southampton and Cherbourg
- Commander: Captain E. Prehn
Return to Content Links
Sailing Schedule, Bremen-Southampton-Cherbourg-New York, New York-Plymouth-Cherbourg-Bremen, Genoa-Naples-Gibraltar-New York, and New York-Gibraltar-Naples-Genoa, from 9 December 1908 to 23 July 1909. Ships Included the Barbarossa, Berlin, Brandenburg, Chemnitz, Friedrich der Grosse, Gneisenau, Grosser Kurfurst, Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse, Kaiser Wilhelm II, Koenig Albert, Koenigin Luise, Kronprinzessin Cicilie, Main, Neckar, Prinz Friedrich Wilhelm, Prinzess Irene, Rhein, Yorck, and Zieten. North German Lloyd Bulletin, January 1909. GGA Image ID # 1f519dd3c6. Click to View Larger Image.
Sailing Schedules, (A) Twin-Screw Mail Steamers, Bremen-Southampton-Cherbourg-New York and New York-Plymouth-Cherbourg-Bremen, from 14 March 1911 to 14 August 1911, (B) Barbarossa Class Twin-Screw Mail Steamers and Mail Steamers, Bremen-Boulogne-sur-Mer-Southampton-Cherbourg-New York and New York-Plymouth-Cherbourg-Bremen, from 11 March 1911 to 31 July 1911. Ships Included Barbarossa, Bremen, George Washington, Grosser Kurfürst, Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse, Kaiser Wilhelm II, Königin Luise, Kronprinz Wilhelm, Kronprinzessin Cecilie, Prinz Friedrich Wilhelm, Rhein, and Roon. Ocean Gazette, Kaiser Wilhelm II Edition, 9 April 1911. GGA Image ID # 1ebbaab891
Proposed Sailings, Bremen-New York and New York-Mediterranean Services, from 10 November 1911 to 13 September 1912. Ships Included the Baarbarossa, Berlin, Bremen, Breslau, Chemnitz, George Washington, Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse, Kaiser Wilhelm II, Koenig Albert, Koenigin Luise, Kronprinz Wilhelm, Main, Neckar, Prinz Friedrich Wilhelm, Prinzess Irene, and Rhein. North German Lloyd Bulletin, December 1911. GGA Image ID # 1e304c62cd. Click to View Larger Image.
Sailing Schedule, Bremen-New York, from 6 January 1912 to 10 September 1912. Ships Included the Barbarossa, Berlin, Bremen, Breslau, Chemnitz, Friedrich der Grosse, George Washington, Grosser Kurfürst, Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse, Kaiser Wilhelm II, König Albert, Königin Luise, Kronprinz Wilhelm, Kronprinzessin Cicilie, Main, Neckar, Prinz Friedrich Wilhelm, Prinzess Irene, and Rhein. SS Berlin First and Second Cabin Passenger List, 20 January 1912. GGA Image ID # 20d7a7de48. Click to View Larger Image.
Sailing Schedule, Bremen-Boulogne-Southampton-New York and New York-Plymouth, Cherbourg-Bremen, from 11 October 1913 to 7 February 1914. Ships Included the Barbarossa, Bremen, Friedrich der Grosse, George Washington, Grosser Kurfürst, Hannover, Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse, Kaiser Wilhelm II, König Albert, Kronprinz Wilhelm, Kronprinzessin Cecilie, Main, Neckar, Prinz Friedrick Wilhelm, Rhein, and Scharnhorst. SS Grosser Kurfürst Passenger List, 8 November 1913. GGA Image ID # 1f66b98b01. Click to View Larger Image.
Sailing Schedule, Bremen-Boulogne-Southampton-New York and New York-Plymouth, Cherbourg-Bremen, from 18 January 1914 to 8 June 1914. Ships Included the Barbarossa, Bremen, George Washington, Gneisenau, Grosser Kurfürst, Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse, Kaiser Wilhelm II, Kronprinz Wilhelm, Kronprinzessin Cecilie, König Albert, Prinz Friedrick Wilhelm, and Seydlitz. SS Grosser Kurfürst Passenger List, 8 Novmeber 1913. GGA Image ID # 1f67b544a2
Sailing Schedule, Bremen-Boulogne-Southampton-New York and New York-Plymouth, Cherbourg-Bremen, from 19 May 1914 to 29 September 1914. Ships Included the Barbarossa, Berlin, Bremen, Friedrich der Grosse, George Washington, Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse, Kaiser Wilhelm II, Königin Luise, Kronprinz Wilhelm, Kronprinzessin Cecilie, and Prinz Friederich Wilhelm. SS Grosser Kurfürst Passenger List, 8 Novmeber 1913. GGA Image ID # 1f67d45296
Return to Content Links
Title Page, SS Prinz Friedrich Wilehlm Cabin Passenger List, 9 October 1909. GGA Image ID # 20e2bbd9a5
Return to Content Links
List of Senior Officers and Staff, SS Prinz Friedrich Wilhelm Passenger List, 9 October 1909. GGA Image ID # 20e29d0ac5
Return to Content Links
SS Prinz Friedrich Wilhelm First Cabin Dining Saloon. North German Lloyd Bulletin, July 1908. GGA Image ID # 20dd627e79
SS Prinz Friedrich Wilhelm First Cabin Drawing Room. North German Lloyd Bulletin, July 1908. GGA Image ID #
SS Prinz Friedrich Wilhelm First Cabin Promenade Deck. North German Lloyd Bulletin, July 1908. GGA Image ID # 20dd985eb0
SS Prinz Friedrich Wilhelm Corner of Vienna Café. North German Lloyd Bulleting, July 1908. GGA Image ID # 20de4a800e
SS Prinz Friedrich Wilhelm First Cabin Smoking Room. North German Lloyd Bulletin, July 1908. GGA Image ID # 20de5e9005
SS Prinz Friedrich Wilhelm Staircase from First Cabin Smoking Room to the Vienna Café. North German Lloyd Bulletin, July 1908. GGA Image ID # 20de67fd8c
SS Prinz Friedrich Wilhelm Open Air Adjunct to the Vienna Café. North German Lloyd Bulletin, July 1908. GGA Image ID # 20deb89fb7
SS Prinz Friedrich Wilhelm First Cabin Gymnasium. North German Lloyd Bulletin, July 1908. GGA Image ID # 20df9f9d8c
SS Prinz Friedrich Wilehlm First Cabin Stateroom. North German Lloyd Bulletin, July 1908. GGA Image ID # 20dfb71135
Prinz Friedrich Wilhelm Second Cabin Dining Saloon. North German Lloyd Bulletin, July 1908. GGA Image ID # 20e0301488
Prinz Friedrich Wilhelm Second Cabin Ladies' Lounge. North German Lloyd Bulletin, July 1908. GGA Image ID # 20e0959fcf
SS Prinz Friedrich Wilhelm, Second Cabin Smoking Room. North German Lloyd Bulletin, July 1908. GGA Image ID # 20e0c072a4
Return to Content Links
Back Cover, SS Prinz Friedrich Wilehlm Cabin Passenger List, 9 October 1909. GGA Image ID # 20e0c1dcf9
Return to Content Links
Norddeutscher Lloyd Fleet List, 1909. SS Prinz Friedrich Wilehlm Passenger List, 9 October 1909. GGA Image ID # 20e22ec5e1
Return to Content Links
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.
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
Return to Content Links