SS Prinzess Irene Archival Collection
Postcard of the SS Prinzess Irene of the Norddeutscher Lloyd, Bremen. Postally Used 7 April 1906. GGA Image ID # 1dd7e220b7
Prinzess Irene (1900) North German Lloyd
Built by "Vulkan", Stettin, Germany. Tonnage: 10,881. Dimensions: 523' x 60'. Propulsion: Twin-screw, 15 1/2 knots. Quadruple expansion engines. Masts and Funnels: Two masts and two funnels. Maiden voyage: Bremen-Southampton-China-Japan. Service: Mainly in the Far Eastern trade, but she did make a number of voyages to New York from Mediterranean ports, and the Hamburg-New York route. Renamed: (a) Pocahontas (1917), (b) Bremen (1922), (c) Karlsruhe (1928). Fate: Scrapped in 1932. Sister ship: Prinzess Alice.
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1908-11-12 SS Prinzess Irene Passenger List
Steamship Line: Norddeutscher Lloyd (North German Lloyd)
Class of Passengers: First Class
Date of Departure: 12 November 1908
Route: Genoa to New York via Naples and Gibraltar
Commander: Captain F. von Letten-Peterssen
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Sailing Schedule, Bremen-Australian Ports and Genoa-New York, from 14 October 1903 to 16 April 1904. Ships Included the Barbarossa, Bremen, Friedrich dr Grosse, Gneisenau, Hohenzollern, König Albert, Lahn, Neckar, Prinz Regent Luitpoid, Prinzess Irene, and Zieten. SS Kaiser Wilhelm II Cabin Passenger List, 6 October 1903. GGA Image ID # 213715a8fe
Sailing Schedule, Bremen-Australia, Genoa-New York-Genoa, Marseille-Naples-Alexandria-Naples-Marseille, from 17 May 1905 to 18 November 1905. Ships Included the Hohenzollern, König Albert, Königin Luise, Neckar, Prinzess Irene, Schleswig, Seydlitz, Stuttgart, Weimar, and Zieten. SS Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse First and Second Class Passenger List, 23 May 1905. GGA Image ID # 2108ac16c3
Sailing Schedule, Genoa-New York-Genoa, from 5 October 1906 to 24 May 1907. Ships Included the Barbarossa, Friedrich der Grosse, Kaiser Wilehlm der Grosse, König Albert, Königin Luise, Neckar, and Prinzess Irene. SS Bremen Passenger List, 27 October 1906. GGA Image ID # 2141608721
Proposed Sailings, Europe-New York, from 21 January 1908 to 23 June 1908, and Mediterranean Sailings from 23 January to 10 October 1908. Ships Included the Barbarossa, Bremen, Buelow, Friedrich der Gross, Grosser Kurfürst, Kaiser Wilhelm der Gross, Kaiser Wilhelm II, Knoenig Albert, Koenigin Luise, Kronprinz Wilhelm, Kronprinzessin Cecilie, Luetzow, Main, Necktar, Prinzess Irene, Rhein, Roon, and Scharnhorst. North German Lloyd Bulletin, February 1908. GGA Image ID # 1dde6667a4. Click to View Larger Image.
Attention is drawn to the fact that the steamers of the company running between GENOA and NEW YORK, which almost without exception touch at NAPLES, afford an opportunity of making the voyage from Genoa to Naples and vice versa. The steamers also touch at GIBRALTAR on the outward and homeward trips. Some weeks before starting, it can be determined whether there are berths vacant for the voyage to Naples or Gibraltar. The North German Lloyd is. However, in no way responsible if any of the steamers in question: do not start or if the departure is postponed. Potential passengers must likewise apply for passage on these steamers to Messrs. LEUPOLD FRATELLI, GENOA, 10 Piazza San Siro.
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.
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, New York-Mediterranean Ports, from 4 January 1912 to 20 December 1912. Ships Included the Berlin, Friedrich der Grosse, König Albert, and Prinzess Irene. SS Berlin First and Second Cabin Passenger List, 20 January 1912. GGA Image ID # 20d7c0c7d4. Click to View Larger Image.
Sailing Schedule, Genoa - New York - Genoa, from 9 October 1913 to 21 December 1914. Ships Included the Barbarossa, Berlin, König Albert, and Prinzess Irene. SS Grosser Kurfürst Passenger List, 8 November 1913. GGA Image ID # 1f68077bb0. Click to View Larger Image.
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Captain F. von Letten-Peterssen of the Norddeutscher Lloyd SS Prinzess Irene, circa 1910. Photo by Bain News Service. Library of Congress LCN 2014689400. GGA Image ID # 1dd7d1b036
Immigrants from the SS Prinzessin Irene Going to Ellis Island. 1911 George Grantham Bain Collection. Library of Congress # 2001704432. GGA Image ID # 1488874386
Immigrants from the SS Prinzess Irene of the North German Lloyd Arriving at Ellis Island in 1911. George Grantham Bain Collection. Library of Congress # 2001704429. GGA Image ID # 1484ee521c
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Title Page, SS Prinzess Irene First Class Passenger List, 12 November 1908. GGA Image ID # 20e470bfe6
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List of Senior Officers and Staff, SS Prinzess Irene First Class Passenger List, 12 November 1908. GGA Image ID # 20e4783315
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Era of the Passenger Liner - 1992
The Gilded Era comes back to life as the reader relives the careers of stately ships and express greyhounds from immigrant ships to floating palaces. Scarce, large format book containing 288pp. Features photographs, statistics, and background of 280 passenger liners, each with a picture.
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.
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.
North Atlantic Passenger Liners Since 1900
Material about the most prominent steamship companies on the Atlantic Ferry today and those that have been there for some time. Some Lines have diverse services to other oceans, seas, and continents.
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 Liners of the World Since 1893
The author here takes a nostalgic look back to the heyday of the passenger ship, providing a brief history of 211 ships of over 10,000 tons, together with specifications and technical details of each.
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).
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