The Hamburg-Amerikanische Packetfahrt-Actien-Gesellschaft (HAPAG), known in English as the Hamburg America Line, was a transatlantic shipping enterprise established in Hamburg, in 1847. Among those involved in its development were prominent German citizens such as Albert Ballin (director general), Adolph Godeffroy, Ferdinand Laeisz, Carl Woermann, August Bolten, and others, and its main financial backers were Berenberg Bank and H. J. Merck & Co. It soon developed into the largest German, and at times the world's largest, shipping company, serving the market created by German immigration to the United States and later, immigration from Eastern Europe. On 1 September 1970, after 123 years of independent existence, HAPAG merged with the Bremen-based North German Lloyd to form Hapag-Lloyd AG, today an international shipping and container transportation company.
History Ports served
In the early years, the Hamburg America Line exclusively connected European ports with North American ports, such as Hoboken or New Orleans. With time, however, the company established lines to all continents. The company built a large ocean liner terminal at Cuxhaven, Germany, in 1900. Connected directly to Hamburg by a dedicated railway line and station, the HAPAG Terminal at Cuxhaven served as the major departure point for German and European immigrants to North America until 1969 when ocean liner travel ceased. Today it serves as a museum and cruise ship terminal.
Jewish emigration to North America Following pogroms in the Russian Empire, the majority of Jews within the Pale of Settlement left for the United States. Between 1880 and 1924 roughly 2–3 million Jews emigrated from Eastern Europe to North America, making it the largest migration in history, most of them using the Hamburg America Line.
Atlas Service The Atlas Service sailed from United States to Jamaica, Haiti, Colombia, Central America. The service was described as a way to "escape the rigors of Northern winters" through taking a Caribbean cruise and was promoted to tourists. The ships Altai, Sarnia, Sibiria, Alleghany, Alene, Adirondack, Valdivia, and Graecia provided this service in 1906.
Notable journeys In 1858, its liner sank, killing 449 people. In 1891, the cruise of the Augusta Victoria in the Mediterranean and the Near East from 22 January to 22 March, with 241 passengers including Albert Ballin and wife, is often stated to have been the first passenger cruise. Christian Wilhelm Allers published an illustrated account of it as "Bakschisch". In 1897, its steamer Arcadia was wrecked on the rocks off Newfoundland. In 1900, 1901 and 1903 its liner won the Blue Riband taking the prize from the Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse. In 1906 Prinzessin Victoria Luise ran aground off the coast of Jamaica. No people died by the grounding; however, the ship's captain committed suicide after getting all the passengers safely off the ship. In 1912, its liner SS Amerika was the first ship to warn of icebergs.
HAPAG's general director, Albert Ballin, believed that safety, size, comfort and luxury would always win out over speed. Thus he conceived the three largest liners yet to be built, named , and Bismarck.
First World War The Imperator and the Vaterland were briefly in service before the First World War. In 1914, the Vaterland was caught in port at Hoboken at the outbreak of World War I and interned by the United States. She was seized, renamed Leviathan after the declaration of war on Germany in 1917, and served for the duration and beyond as a troopship. In 1917, its liner Allemannia was "torpedoed by German submarine near Alicante"; two people were lost.
After World War One After the war, the Vaterland/Leviathan was retained by the Americans as war reparations. In 1919 Vaterlands sister ships – Imperator and the unfinished Bismarck – were handed over to the allies as war reparations to Britain. They were sold to the Cunard Line and White Star Line respectively, and renamed Berengaria and Majestic. A ship chain in Mountain Lakes is identified by the historic society as belonging to either the Vaterland or Imperator. It was acquired in 1921, likely during refurbishments, and now lines a portion of the Boulevard.
In 1939, the HAPAG liner was unable to find a port in Cuba, the United States, or Canada willing to accept the more than 950 Jewish refugees on board and had to return to Europe. On 9 April 1940, when German warships attacked Kristiansand, Norway, during Operation Weserübung (the opening assault of the Norwegian Campaign), the HAPAG freighter sailed into the crossfire between the warships and Norwegian coastal artillery. She was holed and sunk, and her crew briefly became prisoners of war.
According to a 1940 US intelligence report compiled by the US War Department, Louis Classing, general manager of the Hamburg-America in Havana was identified as a "well-known Nazi agent" who "imported moving pictures for propaganda purposes to be shown at local theaters". In 1941 it was further reported that Luis Classing fulfilled the "finances" position in the "probable Nazi organization in Cuba".
Later years The Hamburg America Line lost almost the entirety of its fleet twice, as a result of World Wars I and II. In the post-war years, HAPAG rebuilt its fleet and focused on cargo container transport. In 1970, the company merged with its longstanding rival, Norddeutscher Lloyd of Bremen, to establish the present-day company Hapag-Lloyd. This merger formed one of the world's biggest container shipping companies. In 2008, Hapag-Lloyd was acquired by the City of Hamburg and a group of private investors, the Albert Ballin Consortium.
Fleet list
Name(s)Entered HAPAG serviceNotes1858Caught fire and sank, 1 September 1858.1858Sold to Henry Flinn, 1877. Scrapped 1894 as Mentana.Westphalia1868Sold to British owners in 1887, sold again to Italian owners in 1888, scrapped at Genoa in 1901 as "Sud America".1869Sold 1887. Wrecked 1899 and subsequently scrapped.1874Sold to Schiaffino, Nyer & Siges and renamed Quatre Amis, 1896. Scrapped 1898.1889Rebuilt 1897. Sold to Imperial Russian Navy, 1904, and converted into auxiliary cruiser Kuban. Scrapped 19071889 (1899)Sold to Spanish Navy, 1898, and converted to auxiliary cruiser Rapido. Sold back to HAPAG and reverted to Columbia, 1899. Sold to Imperial Russian Navy as auxiliary cruiser Terek, 1904. Scrapped 1907.Scandia1889Sold to US Army Quartermaster Department, 1898, and renamed USAT Warren. Scrapped 1929.1890Sold to Spanish Navy, 1898, and renamed Patriota. Scrapped as Compagnie Générale Transatlantique's L'Aquitaine, 1906.1891Sold to Imperial Russian Navy, 1904, and converted into auxiliary cruiser Don. Scrapped as Regia Marina's San Giusto, 19241891Sold to Housatonic Steamship Corporation and renamed Housatonic, 1915. Torpedoed and sunk 1917. / Stubbenhuk1892Built 1890 for Hansa Line. Acquired by HAPAG during merger with Hansa. Renamed Sicilia, 1894. Sold to Shinyei Kisen Goshi Kaisha and renamed Komagata Maru, 1913. Wrecked as Kabafuto Kisen KK's Heian Maru, 1926.1894Sold to British Transport Company and renamed Minnewaska, 1897. Scrapped as USAT Thomas, 1929.Ceres / Suevia1896Renamed Suevia, 1898. Seized by United States Shipping Board, 1917, and renamed Wachusett. Scrapped 1924.1896Built 1886 as Tijuca for Hamburg Süd. Bought by HAPAG and renamed Valdivia, 1896. Sold to Peter R Hinsch of Hamburg and renamed Tom G Corpi. Scrapped as Flandre, 1927.1897Seized by United States Shipping Board, 1917, and renamed Nansemond. Scrapped 1924.1897Seized by United States Shipping Board, 1917. Sold to California Steamship Company, 1923. Scrapped 19271898Surrendered to US government, 1919, then transferred to British government. Scrapped 1921.1898 (1913)Sold to Unione Austriaca di Navigazione and renamed Canada, 1913. Returned to HAPAG and reverted to Bulgaria later that same year. Seized by United States Shipping Board, 1917, and renamed USAT Hercules and later USAT Philippines. Scrapped 1924.Titania1898Built 1879 for Adamson & Ronaldson as Mercedes. Bought by HAPAG from Hamburg Pacific Dampfschiffs Linie. Sold 1898. Sunk as USS Marcellus, 1910.1898Built as Hertha for Kingsin Line, 1894. Sold to HAPAG, 1898. Sold to Atlantic Fruit Company, 1915. Wrecked 1916.1899Laid down as Pavia, but renamed Graf Waldersee during construction. Surrendered to US government, 1919. Transferred to Britain later that year, and scrapped 1922.1899Surrendered to US government, 1919. Transferred to Britain later that year, and scrapped 1921.1899Chartered by American Red Cross and renamed Red Cross, 1914. Seized by United States Shipping Board, 1917, and later renamed Powhatan. Scrapped as Dollar Line's President Fillmore, 1928.Saxonia1899Seized by United States Shipping Board, 1917, and renamed Savannah. Scrapped as Orbis, 1954.1899Built 1898 for North German Lloyd. Chartered by HAPAG, 1899. Bought by Compagnie de Navigation Sud-Atlantique, 1912. Sunk 1916. / Viktoria Luise / Hansa1900Renamed Viktoria Luise, 1910. Rebuilt and renamed Hansa, 1921. Scrapped 1925.1900Traded to North German Lloyd, 1904. Caught fire as LASSCO's City of Honolulu, 1930, and subsequently scrapped.1900Interned in Chile in World War I. Wrecked 1921.Prinzessin Victoria Luise1901Struck reef and sank, 1906.1901Built 1893 for A. C. de Freitas & Co. Sold to HAPAG, 1901. Sold to Gätjens & Jarke, 1903. Sunk 1906.Arabia1901Launched as Liddesdale for Mackil R. & Co., 1901. Purchased by HAPAG during construction. Seized by the British, 1919. Wrecked as Andrios, 1926.1902Seized by Italian government, 1915. Transferred to Lloyd Sabaudo and renamed Pesaro, 1919. Scrapped 1925.Prinz Eitel Friedrich1902Seized by United States Shipping Board, 1917, and renamed Otsego. Hulked or scrapped as Far Eastern Steamship Company's Dolinsk, 1955.1902Seized by Brazilian government, 1917, and renamed Leopoldina. Sold to Compagnie Générale Transatlantique and renamed Suffren, 1923. Scrapped 1929.1902Struck reef and sank, 1907.Prinz Sigismund1903Seized by United States Shipping Board, 1917, and renamed General W.C. Gorgas. Scrapped as Mikhail Lomonosov, 1958.1903Seized by Britain, 1914, and used as accommodation ship Prince and later Princetown. Sunk by torpedo as Compagnie de Navigation Sud Atlantique's Alésia, 1917.1903Scuttled 1918.1903Seized by United States Shipping Board, 1917. Renamed Orion. Scrapped 1930.Prinz Joachim1903Seized by United States Shipping Board, 1917, and renamed Moccasin.Odenwald1904Seized by United States Shipping Board, 1917, and renamed Newport News. Scrapped 1925.Rhaetia1905Seized by United States Shipping Board, 1917, and renamed Black Hawk and later Black Arrow. Scrapped 1924. / Friedrichsruh1905Renamed Friedrichsruh, 1914. Surrendered to Britain, 1919. Sailed under French flag as Amboise. Scrapped 1935.1905Sold to Ernst Russ Reederei, 1935. Sunk by air attack, 1945.Präsident1905Seized by United States Shipping Board, 1917, and renamed USS Kittery. Scrapped 1933Amerika1905Seized by United States Shipping Board, 1917, and subsequently renamed America, then ceded to United States Mail Steamship Company and later United States Lines. Scrapped as USAT Edmund B. Alexander, 1957.1906Seized by British government, 1915, and renamed HMS Princess. Paid off 1917.1906Surrendered to Britain, 1919. Ceded to Canadian Pacific Steamship Company and renamed Empress of Scotland, 1921. Scrapped 1930.1907