SS Prinzessin Victoria Luise Archival Collection
The SS Prinzessin Victoria Luise Cruising on the the Atlantic Ocean. Across the Atlantic, 1905 HAPAG Brochure. GGA Image ID # 1bbe5ef452
Prinzessin Victoria Luise (1901) Hamburg-American Line
Built by Blohm & Voss, Hamburg, Germany. Tonnage: 4,409. Dimensions: 407'X 47'. Propulsion: Twin-screw, 15 knots. Quadruple expansion engines. Masts and Funnels: Two masts and two funnels. Clipper bow. Service: Built as a cruise ship. Did make some sailings to New York. Fate: Wrecked near Plum Point, Jamaica in 1906. Note: The SS Prinzessin Victoria Luise was specially built for pleasure cruises and voyages in the tropics. It has lower berths only—Gymnasium on Board. Alternate (Incorrect) Spelling: Prinzessen Victoria Luise.
The Hamburg-American Line has constructed a Twin-Screw Cruising Yacht, which will be used exclusively for cruises. Its size and special arrangements will add materially to the treasures of many delightful trips. She will carry first-class passengers only and will not carry mail or cargo. The staterooms are equipped with everything to enhance comfort.
Suites with private baths and toilets, staterooms for the occupancy of single passengers, magnificent saloons, a gymnasium for exercise and recreation, and a grand promenade are provided.
Hamburg-American Line owned a cruising yacht, the Prinzessin Victoria Luise—the first of her kind ever built— which ran to the West Indies in winter and to the North Cape in summer.
On the night of the 1906 earthquake, the lighthouse at the entrance to Kingston Harbor was dark. The officer on the bridge of the Prinzessin Victoria Luise mistook the reflection of the fires burning in Kingston for the light.
When the ship was hard aground, the captain, an ex-officer of the Imperial Navy, came up from below where he had entertained passengers. As soon as he realized his ship's position, he went to his cabin and [committed suicide].
A few days later, one of the Prinz boats of the Hamburg-American Atlas service went to her doom, almost under the same circumstances, alongside the cruising yacht.
To make up for the loss of the Prinzessin Victoria Luise. The Hamburg-American Line bought the old South African liner Scot, renamed the Oceana.
-- Nauticus, 27 November 1920:13
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Across the Atlantic - Hamburg American Line - 1905
Although small in size, this 80 page booklet / brochure from 1905 provides an excellent record of the steamships and services of the Transatlantic Fleet of the Hamburg America Line.
Ships Covered Included the Blücher, Deutschland, Graf Waldersee, Hamburg, Moltke, Patricia, Pennsylvania, Pretoria, Prinz Adalbert, Prinz Oskar, and Prinzessin Victoria Luise.
North Country Voyages (Nordlandfahrten) - 1908
Hamburg-Amerika Linie cruise book, depicting visits to Norwegian ports and sights, such as Allesund, Bergen, Bellsund, Brontheim, Geirangerfiord, Gudvangen, Hammerfest, Stahlheim, and many stunning fiords and glaciers.
The roughly 200-page brochure offered exquisite images of several ships of The Hamburg-American Line, including the Auguste Victoria, Prinzessin Victoria Luise (wrecked off Jamaica in 1906), Oceana, Meteor, and Blücher.
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Entrance to the Social Hall on the SS Prinzessin Victoria Luise. Across the Atlantic, 1905 HAPAG Brochure. GGA Image ID # 1bbf188850
Gymnasium on the SS Prinzessin Victoria Luise. Across the Atlantic, 1905 HAPAG Brochure. GGA Image ID # 1bbf18a8f4
Library on the SS Prinzessin Victoria Luise. Across the Atlantic, 1905 HAPAG Brochure. GGA Image ID # 1bbf1a49d9
Main Saloon and Cupola on the SS Prinzessin Victoria Luise. Across the Atlantic, 1905 HAPAG Brochure. GGA Image ID # 1bbf4e847f
Smoking Room on the SS Prinzessin Victoria Luise. Across the Atlantic, 1905 HAPAG Brochure. GGA Image ID # 1bbf54f4ca
Social Hall on the SS Prinzessin Victoria Luise. Across the Atlantic, 1905 HAPAG Brochure. GGA Image ID # 1bbf97da70
SS Prinzessin Victoria Luise First Class Conversation Salon. Hamburg-Amerika Linie Nordland-Fahrten, 1908. GGA Image ID # 16683b75a7
SS Prinzessin Victoria Luise First Class Conversation Salon Showing Light Shaft. Hamburg-Amerika Linie Nordland-Fahrten, 1908. GGA Image ID # 16680cbe80
Side View of the SS Prinzessin Victoria Luise First Class Conversation Salon. Hamburg-Amerika Linie Nordland-Fahrten, 1908. GGA Image ID # 1667eeeb73
SS Prinzessin Victoria Luise First Class Gymnasium. Hamburg-Amerika Linie Nordland-Fahrten, 1908. GGA Image ID # 1668867c87
SS Prinzessin Victoria Luise First Class Smoking Room. Hamburg-Amerika Linie Nordland-Fahrten, 1908. GGA Image ID # 16677d43f9
SS Prinzessin Victoria Luise Inner Promenade Space. Hamburg-Amerika Linie Nordland-Fahrten, 1908. GGA Image ID # 1668c948dd
Lifeboat Drills on the SS Prinzessin Victoria Luise. Hamburg-Amerika Linie Nordland-Fahrten, 1908. GGA Image ID # 1e2b866fec
The SS Prinzessin Victoria Luise at Bergen With Tenders Along Side. Hamburg-Amerika Linie Nordland-Fahrten, 1908. GGA Image ID # 1669a10dc4
SS Prinzessin Victoria Luise at Næs (Nes), Akershus, Norway. Hamburg-Amerika Linie Nordland-Fahrten, 1908. GGA Image ID # 1e2c0470d8
The SS Prinzessin Victoria Luise Approaches the Harbor at Tromsø. Great View of Passengers on the Deck Watching the Ship. Note the Height of the Railing on the Upper Deck. Hamburg-Amerika Linie Nordland-Fahrten, 1908. GGA Image ID # 1669774e1d
The SS Prinzessin Victoria Luise Near Balestrand, Sogndal, Norway. Hamburg-Amerika Linie Nordland-Fahrten, 1908. GGA Image ID # 1e2c0585f9
The SS Prinzessin Victoria Luise at Molde Norway. Note the Fashions Worn by the Women at the Pier, They Appear to Be Waiting for Passengers From the Ship to Arrive via a Tender. Hamburg-Amerika Linie Nordland-Fahrten, 1908. GGA Image ID # 16694f05a0
The SS Prinzessin Victoria Luise is Anchored at Næs (Nes), Romsdal, Norway. Hamburg-Amerika Linie Nordland-Fahrten, 1908. GGA Image ID # 1669727802
The SS Prinzessin Victoria Luise at Odda. People, Possibly Immigrants, Waiting at the Pier for the Tender to Arrive From the Steamer. Hamburg-Amerika Linie Nordland-Fahrten, 1908. GGA Image ID # 166922bf78
The SS Prinzessin Victoria Luise at Odda Fjord. Hamburg-Amerika Linie Nordland-Fahrten, 1908. GGA Image ID # 166912bffb
SS Prinzessin Victoria Luise (1900). Hamburg-Amerika Linie Nordland-Fahrten, 1908. GGA Image ID # 166722b4c3
View of the SS Prinzessin Victoria Luise From the Shore With Two Women and Eight Children in the Foreground. Hamburg-Amerika Linie Nordland-Fahrten, 1908. GGA Image ID # 1669dcff46
Cruise Passengers Relax in Their Deck Chairs on the Covered Promenade Deck of the SS Prinzessin Victoria Luise in 1901. Photo by Detroit Publishing Company. Library of Congress LCCN 2016806690. GGA Image ID # 21257924ee
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The First Great Ocean Liners in Photographs - 1983
Sumptuous volume recalls the glorious early years of elegant transatlantic travel. Over 190 historic photographs depict exterior and interior views of 101 great ocean liners, including the Virginian, Imperator, Vaterland, Bismarck, Lusitania, Mauretania, Balmoral Castle, Titanic, Olympic, Aquitania and dozens more. Full captions.
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
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1905 Advertisement: Winter Cruises to Summer Lands by Steamers of the Hamburg-American Line. Italy on the SS Deutschland, the Orient on the SS Moltke, and West Indies and Meterranean on the SS Prinzessin Victoria Luise. GGA Image ID # 2125aba962
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Hamburg-American Twin Screw Cruising Yacht Prinzessin Victoria Luise. Marine Engineering, February 1901. GGA Image ID # 2125ac56e3
There entered the port of New York on 17 January 1901, the beautiful new passenger vessel Prinzessin Vctoria Luise on her maiden trip from Hamburg, Boulogne, and Plymouth.
As our engraving shows, this vessel is designed as a pleasure yacht, with clipper bow, long overhang at the stern, two pole masts and two funnels, set rakishly, with bellmouth tops. Her dimensions are: Length, 450 ft.; beam, 47 ft., and depth, 30 ft.
She came across at about 15 knot speed, and though she encountered very severe weather, she arrived with everything in A1 condition. As the yacht is intended for passenger service only, her accommodations are very luxurious and artistic.
Upon the arrival of the vessel at New York, invitations for a luncheon on board were issued by the company and a large number of guests were very hopitably entertained. In a future issue, we hope to publish a more extensive description of the yacht.
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SS Prinzessin Victoria Luise Leaving New York, 1901. Photo by Byron NY. Marine Engineering, September 1901. GGA Image ID # 2125c3804e
Blohm & Voss of Hamburg recently built a new type of commercial steamer for the Hamburg-American Line. She is named the Prinzessin Victoria Luise and is intended solely for pleasure cruises and long excursions. She is, in fact, a very large yacht in outward appearance.
The Principal Dimensions Are As Follows:
- Length, extreme: 446 ft.
- Length on waterline: 400 ft.
- Breadth, extreme: 47 ft.
- Depth: 29.76 ft.
- Deadweight capacity: 2,032 tons
- Bunker capacity: 1,200 tons
- Gross tonnage: 4,409 tons
- Draft, mean: 16.5 ft.
- Displacement: 5,650 tons
- Speed: 16 knots
- I. H. P.: 4,000
A double bottom is fitted, and the ship is divided by eight transverse bulkheads reaching up to the spar deck into nine watertight compartments so the vessel will remain afloat even if two neighboring compartments flood.
The bulkheads have been built of exceptional strength to the German Lloyds' latest rules and the "Seeberufsgenossenschaft." Three complete steel decks are fitted.
The yacht is a schooner-rigged with two steel pole masts and a yard on the foremast. On the spar deck, aft, is a deckhouse about 36 feet long, amidships one of 239 feet, and forward a small forecastle 23 feet long. Above the deckhouse amidships is the boat deck.
Onboard Elevation and Sun Deck of the SS Prinzessin Victoria Luise. Marine Engineering, September 1901. GGA Image ID # 2125c7d726
First-class accommodations only are provided, and 200 passengers can be carried in 123 cabins. The cabin arrangements and fittings are of comfortable and even luxurious style.
There are 22 chambres de luxe and 49 staterooms for one person each, 52 for two persons each, and 3 for servants. Below the main deck is the dining saloon, which can seat 200 people.
View of the Spar Deck on the SS Prinzessin Victoria Luise, Looking Aft. Photo by Byron NY. Marine Engineering, September 1901. GGA Image ID # 2125f09903
Ladies' Lounge on the SS Prinzessin Victoria Luise. Photo by Byron NY. Marine Engineering, September 1901. GGA Image ID # 2125f515f1
On the upper deck, there is a saloon for conversation, a writing and reading room, and a smoking saloon. On the boat deck, a full-fledged gymnasium is fitted, while aft, below the spar deck, a dark room is provided for amateur photographers’ use.
As the yacht is intended for first-class passengers exclusively, all decks are at their disposal. In reference to the passenger cabins, it is to be especially noted that no berths are placed over each other and that their equipment is carried out in accordance with the long voyages in view.
Schematic Drawing of the Spar, Main and Lower Decks of the Yacht SS Prinzessin Victoria Luise. Marine Engineering, September 1901. GGA Image ID # 2126118e7d
It need not be mentioned that all occupied rooms are brilliantly lighted by electricity, steam heated, ventilated, and provided with electric bells, etc. There are 1,060 incandescent lamps in total, and the total capacity of the three generators is 84 kilowatts.
The galleys are arranged with all the latest appliances, and the numerous baths and closets are disposed of suitably and conveniently for the passengers. The provision stores, refrigerating rooms, ice cellars, and luggage rooms are underneath the lowest deck.
View of the Gymnasium on the Sun Deck of the SS Prinzessin Victoria Luise. Photo by Byron NY. Marine Engineering, September 1901. GGA Image ID # 21268821f5
Pleasure Yacht SS Prinzessin Victoria Luise Library. Photo by Bryon NY. Marine Engineering, September 1901. GGA Image ID # 2126c28656
The yacht has six lifeboats and two large motor launches, the latter of which the passengers can use in the various ports of call.
The propelling machinery consists of two vertical four-cylinder quadruple expansion engines placed in a common compartment. The high-pressure cylinder is forward, the first intermediate pressure is aft, and the second intermediate pressure and the low pressure are between them, the low pressure being the forward one.
The high-pressure and the two intermediate-pressure cylinders have piston valves, and the low-pressure a slide valve. The crankshaft is in four sections, and the cranks are at angles of 65, 94, 107, and 94 degrees with each other. The condensers are on the outboard side of each engine and carry the back columns.
On the Howden system, four single-ended boilers work under forced draft. They are placed in two compartments separated by a coal bunker, through which a tunnel for the passage of pipes passes. The arrangement of the blowers and air ducts allows either set of boilers to work under forced draft.
Indicator diagrams taken on her first voyage showed 4,200 indicated horsepower, with 123 revolutions per minute. The engines are particularly smooth in their operation, and there is, in consequence, no vibration, thus significantly adding to the comfort of the passengers.
Midship Section of Yacht SS Prinzessin Victoria Luise. Marine Engineering, September 1901. GGA Image ID # 2126ff6f9a
"Twin-Screw Pleasure Yacht Prinzessen Victoria Luise," in Marine Engineering, New York: Aldrich & Donaldson, Vol. 6, No. 9, September 1901, pp. 363-368.
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