SS Moltke was a German ocean liner built by Blohm & Voss for the Hamburg America Line."Hamburg-Amerika Linie. Am Bord des Doppelschrauben-Postdampfers 'MOLTKE'" (postcard published by Mühlmeister & Johler in Germany circa 1903). Boston, Massachusetts: Museum of Fine Arts Boston, accession date September 24, 1915."Ships, Hamburg American Line, S.S. 'Moltke'" (Byron Company, New York, accession number 93.1.1.12766). New York, New York: Museum of the City of New York, retrieved online October 9, 2022. She was named after Helmuth von Moltke. Sister ship to the SS Blücher, she was launched in 1901, and sailed her maiden voyage in February the following year. According to the New Haven Morning Journal and Courier, she "was built for the eastern service of the line, but on nearing completion her interior arrangements were adapted to the New York service at Hamburg." Her first commanding officer was Captain Christian Dempwolf."Arrival of the Moltke." New Haven, Connecticut: New Haven Morning Journal and Courier, March 21, 1902, p. 7 (subscription required)."A Visit to West Indies." Morristown, New Jersey: The Morristown Gazette, May 13, 1903 (front page, subscription required).
History Following the launch of the Moltke, newspapers reported that she would provide service on "the route between New York, Plymouth, Cherbourg, and Hamburg," operating in conjunction with other ships "to maintain a weekly service." She and her sister ship, the Blücher, were described as each being "12,000 tons, 525 feet in length, 62 feet in breadth, and 45 feet in depth," and were "equipped with two sets of quadruple-expansion engines, developing 8,000 horsepower, and capable of driving the vessels at sixteen knots' speed," which meant that the passages between Cherbourg and New York and between Hamburg and New York would take nine and ten days, respectively."Arrival of the Moltke," New Haven Morning Journal and Courier.
In 1902, the travel department of The Buffalo Express newspaper advertised "Thos. Cook & Sons' special charter of the newest and finest express passenger steamship afloat" for a "trip without an equal in the wide world." The seventy-day cruise to "the Mediterranean, the Orient, Egypt, the Holy Land, etc., etc." cost "$300 and upwards.""The Coming Winter! Where to Go." Buffalo, New York: The Buffalo Express, October 30, 1902, p. 6 (subscription required).
Her arrival and departure schedules were subsequently published on a regular basis by The New York Times and other American newspapers during the early 1900s."Incoming Steamships." New York, New York: The New York Times, June 28, 1907, p. 15."Cruise of the Moltke." New York, New York: The New York Times, January 10, 1903, p. 9 (subscription required)."Marine News." Scranton, Pennsylvania: The Tribune, May 9, 1907 (front page, subscription required)."Steamship Lines." Chicago, Illinois: The Chicago Tribune, March 20, 1902, p. 11.
Captain Christian Dempwolf remained in command of the Moltke as of early December 1908, according to news reports,"Meadville Folks on the Briny Deep." Meadville, Pennsylvania: The Evening Republican, June 27, 1908 (front cover and p. 5, subscription required)."Capt. and Lieut. Dempwolf In City," in "News of the Shipping." Baltimore, Maryland: The Baltimore Sun, December 5, 1908, p. 12 (subscription required). but left the Moltke in late August 1909 in order to accept a promotion from Hamburg-Amerika to commander of the SS Cleveland."Captain Dempwolf Promoted." Baltimore, Maryland: The Baltimore Sun, August 29, 1909, p. 23 (subscription required).
In 1910, she was described by her owners as the "largest Steamship ever sent to the Caribbean" in a St. Louis Globe advertisement promoting her sixteen and twenty-eight-day cruises to the West Indies."Ocean Steamers." St. Louis, Missouri: St. Louis Daily Globe-Democrat, February 11, 1910, p. 7 (subscription required). In 1912, "delightful cruises to the West Indies, Panama and the Spanish Main" of twenty-eight days in duration were estimated to cost "$150 dollars and up," according to newspaper and magazine advertisements purchased by the ship's owner."To the West Indies." Brooklyn, New York: Brooklyn Life, September 16, 1911, p. 37 (subscription required).
Throughout this period of the ship's history, newspapers also regularly reported the names of passengers who traveled on the Moltke, tracking their departures and arrivals via social and personal news columns,"To Foreign Lands." Buffalo, New York: The Buffalo Illustrated Times, January 25, 1903, p. 39 (subscription required)."Back from West Indies: W.B. Chandler Tells of Cruise Enjoyed by Minneapolitans on the Steamer Moltke." Minneapolis, Minnesota: The Minneapolis Journal, February 13, 1903, p. 7. as The Montclair Times had done in 1907 with "Dr. Irving A. Meeker, of Upper Montclair, who [had] been spending the summer abroad" and had "sailed from Naples," Italy on August 15 and was expected to arrive "in Montclair August 28th.""Fresh Notes About Town: Happenings of the Past Week Briefly Told." Montclair, New Jersey: The Montclair Times, August 24, 1907, p. 5 (subscription required).
During World War I, Moltke was laid up at Genoa, Italy, and was seized in 1915 after Italy joined the war. On 23 April 1919, Moltke was renamed Pesaro and used as an Italian merchant ship by the Lloyd Sabaudo for the first time on the route from Genoa via Marseille to New York City."NH45526 SS MOLTKE (German passenger liner, 1902-1926)." Washington, D.C.: Naval History and Heritage Command, U.S. Navy, retrieved online October 9, 2022."NH43547 SS PESARO Italian Merchant Passenger Ship, 1902-25." Washington, D.C.: Naval History and Heritage Command, U.S. Navy, retrieved online October 9, 2022."S.S. Pesaro, with 308th Field Artillery, Not Yet Reported; Welcome Party Disappointed" and "Pesaro a Slow Boat; No Need to Be Alarmed." Paterson, New Jersey: The Morning Call, May 14, 1919 (front page, subscription required).
Post-war, she continued to transport immigrants from Europe to America for several more yearsLucente Jr., Thomas J. "Immigration reform a must." Lima, Ohio: The Lima News, April 2, 2006, p. 36. before finally being taken out of service and scrapped in 1926."NH45526 SS MOLTKE (German passenger liner, 1902-1926)," Naval History and Heritage Command, U.S. Navy."NH43547 SS PESARO Italian Merchant Passenger Ship, 1902-25," Naval History and Heritage Command, U.S. Navy.
Accommodations and amenities Amenities aboard the Moltke included a grill room and gymnasium, which were located on the boat deck, and a "saloon deck," which featured a saloon with seating capacity for 225 passengers. The ship's main and upper decks were "devoted entirely to staterooms" while the "second cabin accommodations" were described as "splendid.""Arrival of the Moltke," New Haven Morning Journal and Courier.
Controversies In early 1903, American newspapers reported that "several German army and naval officers, passengers on the steamer Moltke, which arrived here yesterday [in Havana, Cuba] on a cruise through the West Indies, made extensive soundings in Havana Harbor near Santa Clara battery, garrisoned by American troops," adding that those German officers "also took photographs of the fortifications," reports that newspaper editors deemed "significant" due to "the attitude of Germany in Venezuela.""Germans Start Rumors: Moltke's Passengers Alleged to Be Making Secret Soundings." New York, New York: New-York Daily Tribune, January 29, 1903, p. 4 (subscription required)."Germany's Suspicious Movements." Paterson, New Jersey: The Morning Call, January 30, 1903, p. 4 (subscription required)."Germans Busy at Havana: Kaiser's Officers Take Soundings of the Harbor." Chicago, Illinois: The Chicago Tribune, January 29, 1903, p. 3 (subscription required).
In 1915, the steamer Pesaro (formerly the Moltke) was seized by the government of Italy "for damages arising from failure to deliver certain silk accepted by her at Italy," and then became the subject of litigation at the Supreme Court of the United States in 1926 related to America's definition of sovereign immunity in "Berizzi Bros. Co. v. SS Pesaro." According to Barbara Spicer, "the Supreme Court faced for the first time the issue whether a merchant vessel owned, possessed and operated by a foreign sovereign in the carriage of merchandise for hire was immune from arrest upon a libel in rem.... [T]he Court went on to hold that the principles of immunity which were enunciated in that decision were pertinent to the Berizzi case," and reversed a lower court's decision which stated that "as the Pesaro was employed as an ordinary merchant vessel for commercial purposes at a time when no emergency existed or was declared, she should not be immune from arrest in admiralty, especially as no exemption has been claimed for her, by reason of her sovereign or political character, through the official channels of the United States.""Sovereign Immunity of Foreign Merchant Vessels - Flota Maritima Browning v. Motor Vessel Ciudad," in Maryland Law Review, Vol. 24, No. 3, Article 6, 1964, pp. 343-346. Baltimore, Maryland: Francis King Carey School of Law, University of Maryland, retrieved online October 10, 2022.
Notable passengers On September 27, 1903, American sociologist Albion Woodbury Small, founder of the Department of Sociology at the University of Chicago, returned from a trip to Europe with his wife and daughter, Lina, aboard the Moltke.Dworkin, A. Gary. "Traveling Sociologists: An Ellis Island Survey," in "Footnotes," February 2002. Washington, D.C.: American Sociological Association, retrieved online October 10, 2022.
In 1904, Maksymilian Faktorowicz, a "successful cosmetician and wigmaker [who] was appointed by Russian nobility to be the official cosmetics expert to the Royal Family and the Imperial Russian Grand Opera," and who would later become renowned in America as Max Factor, emigrated from Russia with his wife and children. Departing from the Port of Hamburg, Germany aboard the Moltke, he traveled with his family in steerage class, arriving at Ellis Island in New York City on February 25, 1904. After relocating to Los Angeles, California, he became a "pioneer of theatrical film makeup" in the Hollywood movie industry, and founded Max Factor & Company."Max Factor, Cosmetician," in "Notable Immigrants." New York, New York: Ellis Island, National Park Service, retrieved online October 10, 2022.
In 1910, Francis (Frank) W. Wozencraft (1892–1966), then an undergraduate at the University of Texas, crossed to Europe on the "Moltke" to study there. After service in World War I, Wozencraft was elected youngest mayor of Dallas, Texas, 1919–1921. Wozencraft went on to a distinguished legal career, working as general counsel for Radio Corporation of America and on various international commissions. A letter on ship's letterhead informs his college English teacher, Leonidas W. Payne, that the 18-year-old Wozencraft has completed a writing examination in the "smoker" of the ship. The young man reports that, though the ship's "party is composed almost entirely of ladies," he has been enjoying the company of the "pullets among the hens". The letter is in the archive of Leonidas W. Payne's papers in the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, University of Texas at Austin.