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Meteor - The German Royal Yachts

Note: This article handles not the 52m schooner yacht by Royal Huisman from 2007.

Meteor were the names of five German royal racing sailing yachts owned by Wilhelm II, German Emperor .

Wilhelm II (in English: William II) governed the German Empire from 1888 to 1918 and was also the King of Prussia and belonged to the  House of Hohenzollern . His grandmother was  Queen Victoria  of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

Not much known: Wilhelm II was an enthusiastic yachtsman. He owned several sailing yachts and enjoyed yacht races in Germany and United Kingdom. He owned not only sailing yachts. Two of his yachts were the  H.M.S. Hohenzollern I (88 meters) and H.M.S. Hohenzollern II (120 meters).

The original name of the first  Meteor   was  Thistle . This yacht was designed by  George Lennox Watson  launched in 1887 at  D. and W. Henderson & Company  at the Clyde river in Scotland and had a length of 33.05 meters. The order was given by some members of the  Royal Clyde Yacht Club . Her Mission: Challenging the American defender yacht  Volunteer  at the 7.  America’s Cup . Unfortunately, she lost 0-2 against  Volunteer  from the  New York Yacht Club . However, she was very successful when she was back in her home waters. That’s why Wilhelm II bought the yacht because he was looking for a promising regatta yacht.

Meteor I (ex Thistle) in drydock before 1899

Meteor I (ex Thistle)

Main Specifications METEOR I

Wilhelm II wanted a faster racing yacht. He charged the yacht designer George Lennox Watson to construct the new one. The yacht was also built by D. and W. Henderson, like her predecessor. She served until 1902. This yacht was similar to H.M.Y. Brittania

Main Specifications METEOR II

1902 – new yacht, new designer and new shipyard. Not British, not German – Wilhelm II decided to the American designer Cary Smith and the American shipyard Townsend & Downey Shipbuilding Co.

Alice Roosevelt – the daughter of the U.S. president  Theodore Roosevelt  – christened the yacht. That was the beginning of the German-American sailing friendship.

In 1909  Dr. Carl Dietrich Harries  (the husband of  Werner von Siemens ‘ daughter – Hertha) bought the yacht and renamed her in  Nordstern   (North Star) and converted to cruise with her in German and Mediterranean seas.

The launch of Meteor III in New York, 25 February 1902

Main Specifications METEOR III

Meteor IV  was a complete German yacht. She was designed by Max Oertz and was built by  Germaniawerft  in Kiel.

Postcard of the Meteor IV by the Imperial German Post Office

Wilhelm II on SMY Meteor IV

Oil Painting of Yacht Meteor IV

Main Specifications METEOR IV

She was the last and biggest sailing yacht belongs to Wilhelm II. Like Meteor IV also designed by Max Oertz and built in 1914 by Germaniawerft in Kiel.

Main Specifications METEOR V

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Sailing with the Kaiser 2

By JOHN LEATHER from CB211

During the summer of 1895 it was obvious that the eight-year-old Meteor was well outclassed by the new-style large racers Britannia, Satanita and Ailsa, just as she had been by Valkyrie II, sunk the year before. A new large-class racer was needed but would probably cost £20,000 or more. The German royal yachts were almost totally paid for with government money, which was often difficult to vote through parliament. However, somehow it was managed and, after negotiations, an order was placed with GL Watson & Co to design the fastest possible large racing cutter capable of beating her English opponents.

The result was Meteor II, 128ft (39m) LOA, one of the finest cutters ever built. Her plain sail area was 12,000sqft (1,115m2), 2,000sqft (186m2) more than Britannia, which was perceived as perhaps her principal opponent, though the newer Ailsa ran her close and on a reach she had Satanita to reckon with.

Meteor II was built under an open-sided, roofed berth in the shipyard of D & W Henderson at Partick, Glasgow, the firm that had built Britannia, Valkyrie II and III and many other large sailing yachts, without fuss and as speedily as they constructed many steel merchant ships.

Captain Gomes again had his Gosport and Portsmouth men, with others from elsewhere in the Solent and a few from Essex, making up her 35 total. Also on board was Kapitan-Lieutenant Arenhold of the Imperial German Navy, seconded by order of the Kaiser via the Imperial Yacht Club to learn as much as possible of large yacht racing Ð as had Lieutenant Begas the previous season. Captain Gomes coached Arenhold in steering a big racer, under supervision and to take decisions while racing. He was an apt pupil who would continue his connections with the Kaiser’s racers in the future, as would Lieutenant Begas.

A beat up-Channel

The new Meteor II sailed from Gourock on a Saturday afternoon under trysail, foresail and jib, bound south, arriving at Plymouth Sound three days later to await a favourable slant to go up-Channel for the opening matches on the Thames. She was to be towed up-Channel by the tug Belle but the strong east wind and rough sea decided Captain Gomes to get sail on her and she beat all the way to Cowes, where Lord Lonsdale, a friend of the Kaiser, joined her as owner’s representative.

She first raced at the Royal London Yacht Club Thames matches, opening the 1896 racing season around the coast. Meteor II, Britannia, Ailsa, Satanita and the smaller cutter Hester started from the Lower Hope reach of the lower Thames to race out around the Mouse light vessel in the Thames estuary and back to finish at Gravesend, a very old established course. Captain Gomes got Meteor II away to a good start in light wind but Britannia got the first of the sea breeze and took the lead for a time. After a duel Meteor II gained the weather berth and led out to the Mouse and back upriver to finish at Gravesend more than 13 minutes ahead of Britannia.

As the mighty Meteor II approached the line, hundreds of spectators on shore and afloat watched in absolute silence as the finishing gun banged and Meteor II’s foresail came down. The German yacht had won and the crowd was not pleased. Shortly after, Britannia crossed in second place to roars of cheering, almost drowning the blasts of steam whistles and sirens of steamships and steam yachts, as though she were the winner. Captain Gomes, his crew and Lord Lonsdale were upset by this misplaced display for, though Meteor II carried her owner’s Prussian eagle racing colours, she was designed, built, manned and raced by Britons. Members of Britannia’s crew that day told me years later that they could not understand their reception as second boat, nor that of the winner.

Meteor II won the Nore-to-Dover race a few days later, beating Britannia by 9 minutes 5 seconds, such was the closeness of their rivalry. Racing at Southampton in June, Meteor II beat Britannia by 25 minutes without calling on time allowance. Her large sail area and 18ft (5.5m) draught contributed much to performance, with Captain Gomes and crew sailing her to perfection. As the season progressed her dominance grew, with pleasing telegrams reaching the Kaiser. She was undoubtedly the best racing cutter then built.

A large racing yacht, such as Meteor II, needed a crew of around 35 to race her successfully. They had to live on board throughout the yachting season, from May until early September, and the fo’c’s’le of the yacht could not berth all of them in the canvas-bottomed, iron-framed ‘cots’, which were slung up against the sides when not lowered for sleeping. So a small number of the hands had to be accommodated elsewhere on board. The saloon and the owner’s and guests’ cabins could not be used so these men were often given makeshift berthing aft, in the counter, which was intended to store light-weather sails and stores such as spare ropes, paints, etc.

To ease congestion on board when the owner and his party were not sailing in the yacht, spare sails were often temporarily stowed in the saloon where clean canvas sheets were used to cover the floor, settees and other furniture and to keep the sails clean. This freed the counter space for limited dormitory use.

In mid June Meteor II left Gosport in tow of a German destroyer, bound for Kiel, where she raced with no comparable opposition but enjoyed sailing against a mixed bag of German yachts. These included the old Meteor, renamed Comet; the ex-British 40 Rating class Lais; Varuna, owned by Prince George, and another named Mucke, while Prince Henry was on board his ex-British fast cruiser L’Esperance sailed by Captain George Hoskins of Southampton, bought from the Earl of Dunraven. She is now a houseboat at West Mersea, Essex.

German crews

The Kiel races also gave further opportunity for Captain Gomes and his English mates and hands to improve the racing capabilities of the German sailors he had to have in his crew, by the Kaiser’s order.

The men who appeared best suited to serving as hands on board the nascent German yachting fleet were from the waterside villages and small towns of the Kiel area, particularly from Eckernfšrde. They were usually engaged for the months of May, June, July and August. They were fishermen and coasting sailors accustomed to sailing small cutter and sprit-rigged fishing craft and cargo carrying sloops and ketches working in local waters and the wider Baltic Sea.

These were good and obedient sailors but Captain Gomes and the mate had to work hard to get them to act quickly when racing. This was a major part of their training, as was teaching them to follow all the manoeuvres during a race, observing what the captain and mate did and ordered in the varying circumstances, so they, like the experienced English hands, could anticipate and be ready for the orders when they came, speeding sail handling and gaining precious seconds in a race. The Germans seemed to get on well with the English sailors, all sharing the cramped orderliness of a racing yacht’s fo’c’s’le and each learning a little of the others’ language Ð the language barrier was one of the problems on deck while racing until the German ‘Matrosen’ had a reasonable knowledge of basic English.

By early July Meteor II was docked at Glasgow and then raced at the Royal Largs Yacht Club regatta over a 48-mile course in a light wind, which freshened to give splendid duel between the two royal cutters, with their two captains equally matched. Britannia won by 32 seconds but Meteor II beat her for the Queen’s Cup at the Royal Northern Yacht Club a few days later.

At Campbeltown regatta Meteor II raced against Britannia, Satanita, Ailsa and the 40 Rater Caress. In perfect weather the yachts fetched every mark without tacking and in the quickest race ever sailed on the Clyde, Meteor II beat Satanita by 51 seconds, to win. On the way south to Cowes Week the big class raced at the Royal St George Yacht Club at Kingstown, Ireland, where Meteor II won again, twice. By then she had raced 14 times that season, won 10 and was second in three, winning £705 in prize money, a silver medal and a Queen’s Cup, with the south coast racing yet to come.

The straining of her bowsprit prevented Meteor II from starting on the first day of Cowes Week and in the Royal Yacht Squadron racing next day she broke her bowsprit, topmast and topsail yard, and retired. She won at the Royal Victoria Yacht Club regatta off Ryde a few days later and the Emperor’s cutter, her captain and crew seemed on top of the yachting world as they prepared to race in the big class of the Royal Albert Yacht Club regatta at Spithead Ð but their fortunes were about to be shattered.

Meteor II, Ailsa, Satanita and Britannia sailed a course taking them eastward to round the NAB light vessel while the 52ft Linear Rating class course was round the Warner. The course of both classes had to round the committee mark boat anchored near the Spit Fort, off Southsea. About noon the leaders of the two classes of yachts were, by chance, approaching the committee boat with the breeze over their starboard sides, on a broad reach. Britannia was leading with Meteor II astern and closing.

To weather and abreast of Britannia’s bow, the Herreshoff-built, German 52ft Rating class cutter Isolde had the British 52-footer The Saint between her and the stern of Britannia and the American 52-footer Niagra, sailed by John Barr, astern of her. Britannia, sailed by Captain John Carter, was moving at about 10-11 knots; Meteor II, slightly faster, with Captain Gomes at her tiller lines, was closing astern of Britannia. Isolde was sailed by her captain, William Miles of Woolston, and her owner, young Baron von Zedtwitz, was at his side.

Slewed round, out of control

As these yachts moved rapidly towards the anchored committee mark boat, all in normal racing trim and positions, The Saint luffed out on to the weather quarter of Isolde to take her wind but could not quite clear Isolde’s boom and, catching it with her rigging, suddenly slewed Isolde round to port, bow towards Britannia and out of control. Captain Miles instantly struggled to turn Isolde back on course to avoid striking Britannia but saw the bow of Meteor II rushing at him 6ft away as she had luffed out on to Britannia’s weather quarter Ð all normal racing manoeuvres.

Isolde’s bow hit Britannia at the time Meteor II’s bowsprit tore through her mainsail. The impacts sent Isolde’s mast, boom, gaff, topsail yards, sails and rigging crashing down on the weather side of her deck. Her hands and the Baron ran forward but Captain Miles could not because of gear falling around him. He jumped overboard to avoid injury just as the 52-footer Penitent surged past with yacht designer Arthur Payne at her tiller, who threw him a lifebelt.

Meanwhile, the Baron had run aft from the foredeck to clear wreckage but the hands shouted and he started to return, getting struck on the head by a spar. Captain Miles scrambled back on board as two hands were trying to drag the Baron from the wreckage. The captain got him out, apparently unconscious. Meteor II had Isolde fast under her lee bow. Britannia had surged on but, with The Saint, rounded up and lay-to.

All this had happened in seconds. On board Meteor II Captain Gomes had carefully planned the luff out on Britannia’s weather side, expecting to pass clear between her and The Saint and Isolde.

This would have happened had not Isolde been fouled and so suddenly slewed round across his course. He had no time to alter course and, had he borne away slightly and run into Britannia in an attempt to ease the blow on Isolde, more would probably have been killed.

As Britannia drew clear John Carter ordered the dinghy overboard with the mate and four hands to help Isolde. As the 52-footers and Ailsa and Satanita came up, they abandoned the race and boats were lowered from nearby yachts. Dr W Dawson on board the steam yacht White Lady went to attend the Baron, but found he was dead from internal injuries.

The committee naturally cancelled the rest of the day’s racing and that to follow. All flags afloat and ashore were at half-mast and a sense of shock and deep sadness prevailed. On board Britannia Captain Carter was angry that Robert Gomes should have tried to pass on his weather in the circumstances but Captain Gomes rightly regarded his actions as blameless; he had been powerless to prevent the totally unexpected collision. This view was later confirmed by inquiry and inquest.

This sad accident led to immediate withdrawal of Meteor II and Britannia from the remainder of the season’s races. Captain Gomes was ordered to sail Meteor II to the Clyde for repairs and laying-up, and Britannia went into Southampton for repairs. With the crew paid off, Captain Gomes returned home to Gosport to await inevitable further questioning by the Kaiser’s yachting advisers, for the Baron was not only a diplomat but also a well-liked friend of the Kaiser and his court.

As both Meteor II and Isolde were registered at the port of Kiel, an inquiry was later also held at Flensburg by the Local Marine Board. They heard detailed evidence on the part The Saint had played in the accident by fouling Isolde’s boom when luffing Ð the cause of Isolde suddenly slewing into the course of Meteor II.

The board found that no blame could be attached to Meteor II, which would otherwise have had sufficient clear water to pass between Britannia and Isolde, as intended.

However, Captain Gomes faced a future in which he might not again be in charge of a first-class racing yacht, which would be a great loss to the sport for he was a brilliant helmsman and tactician, besides being an able commander of his mixed crews and a mentor to the young German yacht sailors in training on board.

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Iconic Yachts: On board the 120-year-old classic schooner Shenandoah of Sark

Related articles, superyacht directory.

Having survived two wars, seizure by the French and a succession of blue-blooded yachtsman, Shenandoah of Sark has had a truly remarkable life. As she joins the market with Burgess and Sandeman Yachting, we walk through the history of this 120-year-old classic...

One of the most glamorous classics still sailing the seas, the iconic yacht Shenandoah of Sark has seen it all. A three-masted gaff-rigged schooner, Shenandoah of Sark has been owned by aristocrats, royalty and even smugglers. She’s hosted fabulous parties and hidden away during war times. She’s sailed in regattas and gone around the world multiple times. She was nearly lost to history more than once, but was thankfully saved from dereliction to come back stronger, better and even more beautiful than before.

The 54.35-metre sailing yacht Shenandoah of Sark was originally commissioned for the wealthy American banker Charles Fahnestock. Shenandoah of Sark was his retirement plan – meant to be the ultimate luxury on which he could travel through the Caribbean and Mediterranean. She was designed by Theodore Ferris, who was inspired by the lines of Meteor III , the yacht owned by German Emperor and King of Prussia, Kaiser Wilhelm II. Shenandoah of Sark is a true specimen of the Golden Age of yachting and was highly celebrated upon her launch in 1902, built by Townsend & Downey Shipyard in New York. Notably, she is Ferris’s only yacht still sailing today.

Her ownership reads like a list of the who’s who of elite yachting aficionados, spanning many generations and continents. “One of the things that makes Shenandoah of Sark so iconic is that she has an amazing history of owners,” says her captain Russel Potter. After spending many happy years in the Med with her original owner, she was sold to German aristocrat Landrat Walter Von Bruining, though his ownership was sadly short-lived. As World War I broke out, Shenandoah of Sark was appropriated by the British military, and after the war she belonged to British shipbuilder Sir John Esplen. She again changed hands to Godfrey Williams, who sold her to the Italian Prince Ludovico Potenziani. He named her Atlantide , refitted her interior to be even more elegant and hosted epic parties on board. During one such soiree, the Danish Count Viggo Jarl came on board and offered to buy the yacht on the spot.

Jarl lovingly updated the yacht further and prepared her for her first of many epic adventures. Under his ownership, as Atlantide , she travelled to Central and South America and even went 500 miles up the Amazon River. During World War II, she was dismasted and the engines were removed so she would be of no use to the Nazis. After the war, she continued her sophisticated life. She is reported to have been in Monaco when Prince Rainier married Grace Kelly. When Jarl fell on hard times, she was sold and entered into a period where her history is a bit murky – she is rumoured to have been used to smuggle drugs and guns around the Caribbean.

In 1962, she was seized in France and sat unused and unloved for a decade. “She was eventually bought by Baron Marcel Bic, the inventor of the Bic pen,” says Potter. “He restored her to her current setup.” The Baron also reinstated her original name, Shenandoah of Sark . The Bich family enjoyed her for 14 years, during which time she sailed back to the United States and was visited by members of the Kennedy clan.

During the 1980s, Shenandoah of Sark became a superstar of sorts, used as the backdrop for Vogue magazine photoshoots and Rod Stewart music videos. Then her next owner, industrialist Philip Bommer, relocated her to Southeast Asia, where she was offered for charter. But at the dawn of the 20th Century, she once again faced hard times and disuse. “She was rotting away in Thailand and was found by a German gentleman who restored her back to her current grace,” says Potter. She limped to New Zealand and was impeccably restored by the McMullen & Wing shipyard. Shenandoah of Sark then competed in the Millennium Cup in New Zealand and later in the America’s Cup Jubilee Regatta in 2001 off the Isle of Wight in the UK.

“To go through those chapters of boom and bust and crazy owners, that’s part of what makes her so unique,” says Potter. But she still had much more life to live. In the past 20 years, she’s logged many more miles, travelling as far as South Georgia island off Antarctica. “We spent three weeks down there exploring Shackleton’s path – you couldn’t do this with common classic yachts,” he says.

Flying a total sail area of 2,646 square metres, the other thing that makes Shenandoah of Sark such an iconic yacht is the actual experience of sailing her. “Even after all these years, I still enjoy the experience of being on board when she’s under full sail,” says Potter. “It’s something special watching all the sails go up and leaning her over and putting the wind on the beam – feeling the power of this boat is just incredible.”

Though her captain points out that unlike many yachts of her day that are narrow and fast, Shenandoah of Sark wasn’t built for racing. “She’s big – she was built as a superyacht, which back in the day was quite opulent,” he says. Shenandoah of Sark participates in races and regattas, but she’s really better suited to go around the world than around the racecourse. Captain Potter praises her seaworthiness, and her track record backs it up. Shenandoah of Sark has completed three circumnavigations with her current owners, going to places like Madagascar and the South Pacific. She currently is offered for charter, so other classic lovers can appreciate her splendour.

“She’s still timeless when you come on board – you get that feeling of stepping back in time, but you’re also on a superyacht with five-star luxury,” says Potter. “She still has her original bell on board, the rivets on some of the frames from 1902, parts of the hull – not the actual plating but the frame – and the keel is original. It’s quite cool, you think, ‘wow, that’s very old.’” And she is constantly being updated. “It’s like preserving a piece of history,” says Potter.

The way in which classic owners consider themselves custodians of history, classic yacht crew also appreciate the vintage nature of such boats. Shenandoah of Sark was Captain Potter’s first job in yachting – he joined as a deckhand in 2002 and worked his was way up to officer, then went on to other boats, but came back when she needed a new captain. “Most classic sailboats tend to have low crew turnovers, because it’s not just about the money but looking after a piece of history and having a bit of pride and admiration for what we do,” he says.

Shenandoah of Sark was recently listed for sale and is looking for a new custodian to take her into the next century and beyond. Like many classic yachts who have lived far longer than the people who sail her today, the iconic yacht Shenandoah of Sark has seen it all. She has been owned by and enjoyed by royalty and aristocrats, survived two World Wars, come back from the dead and sailed to the farthest flung reaches of the earth. If these decks could only talk.

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Mahler Foundation

S.S. Kaiser Wilhelm II

Gustav Mahler aboard

• 1909 Westbound 13-10-1909 until 19-10-1909 S.S. Kaiser Wilhelm II . See photos 114, 115 and 116 in  Year 1909 .
• 1910 Eastbound 05-04-1910 until 12-04-1910 S.S. Kaiser Wilhelm II .
• 1910 Westbound 18-10-1910 until 25-10-1910 S.S. Kaiser Wilhelm II . See photos 135 and 136 in  Year 1910 .

Gustav Mahler aboard at the piano

• 1910 Westbound 18-10-1910 until 25-10-1910 S.S. Kaiser Wilhelm II – Concert 24-10-1910 (piano) .

Steamship S.S. Kaiser Wilhelm II

• Name: S.S. Kaiser Wilhelm II.
• Namesake: Wilhelm II, German Emperor.
• Operator: Norddeutscher Lloyd.
• Port of registry: German Empire Germany.
• Route: Germany-New York City.
• Builder: AG Vulcan, Stettin, Germany.
• Launched: 12 August 1902.
• Completed: 1903.
• Maiden voyage: 14 April 1903.
• Fate: Seized by the United States, 6 April 1917.

S.S. Kaiser Wilhelm II, named for the German Emperor, was a 19,361 gross ton passenger ship built at Stettin, Germany, completed in the spring of 1903. The ship was seized by the U.S. Government during World War I, and subsequently served as a transport ship. A famous photograph taken by Alfred Stieglitz called The Steerage as well as descriptions of the conditions of travel in the lowest class have conflicted with her otherwise glitzy reputation as a high class, high speed trans-Atlantic liner.

Designed for high speed trans-Atlantic service, Kaiser Wilhelm II won the Blue Riband for the fastest eastbound crossing in 1904. In the years before the outbreak of World War I, she made regular trips between Germany and New York, carrying passengers both prestigious (in first class) and profitable (in the much more austere steerage).

S.S. Kaiser Wilhelm II.

By 1902, the Bremen-based shipping company of Norddeutscher Lloyd (North German Lloyd) was in the midst of a great project. It had started back in the 1890s, when the German Kaiser decreed that he wanted Germany to be the prime power on the high seas. This led Norddeutscher Lloyd to commission what would be the world’s first four-funnelled steamer – the Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse of 1897. This ship had not only been the largest of its time, but also the fastest, which she proved by capturing the coveted Blue Riband from the Cunarder Lucania. Great Britain, who up until this event had been supreme on the world’s waves, was left behind in a state of shock. It would take them ten years before they could once again pass the Germans with British ships.   

So when the 20th century began, the foremost ships on the North Atlantic were German. The great success of the Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse soon led another German company – the Hamburg-Amerika Line (HAPAG) – to order their very own supership. Introduced in 1900, this ship was named Deutschland and her mission was to win the Blue Riband from the Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse. She succeeded in doing so, but at a very costly price. The great engines that provided the Deutschland with her power also caused her to vibrate and shudder violently when steaming at high speeds. Nevertheless, she was still the speed queen of the North Atlantic. 

But HAPAG would after this never operate a Blue Riband-holder. The company’s managing director, Albert Ballin, decided to go for large and comfortable ships rather than swift ones. 

But the board of the Norddeutscher Lloyd felt differently. Their aim was still to own and operated the fastest ships on the North Atlantic. Therefore, they soon ordered a second ship as a complement to the Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse. Named after the crown prince of Germany, this second ship was called the Kronprinz Wilhelm. Decorated in style with her predecessor, the Kronprinz became a great success in all but one respect – her speed. Although she did break the Deutschland’s westbound record time, the HAPAG ship soon managed to better the time and regain the honours. The Kronprinz Wilhelm had failed in her quest for speed. 

However, the two Norddeutscher Lloyd four-stacker were a great success among the travelling public. The upper class enjoyed them because of their splendid and luxurious decorations, and the not so financially independent people travelling in steerage favoured ships with many funnels. The general opinion within this social group was that the more funnels a ship had, the safer it was. What could then be more safe to cross the Atlantic on, than a massive ship with four large funnels? 

The European emigrant market was booming, and soon it was clear to Norddeutscher Lloyd that yet another large ship would be a smart move to make in these times of economic welfare. So they once again turned to the Vulkan Shipyards of Stettin, that had earlier built both the Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse and the Kronprinz Wilhelm, as well as the Deutschland. 

Work was soon under way to complete the third vessel to join NDL’s group of express steamers. The first two sisters had been quite similar in appearance, length and tonnage, but the new vessel would be considerably larger than her older siblings. In fact, the Kaiser Wilhelm II was the first German ship to exceed the size of the famous Great Eastern. But, although some 50 feet longer and 5,000 tons larger, she still looked a whole lot like her future running mates. Just like on the Kaiser and the Kronprinz, the funnels on the new sister were grouped in two distinctive pairs. This feature had by now become somewhat of a German trademark on the North Atlantic. 

On August 12th 1902, the latest addition to the NDL fleet was launched and christened Kaiser Wilhelm II, after Germany’s current monarch. The launch went without mishaps, and a giant team of carpenters, electricians, plumbers and other workmen could now start the task of fitting the ship out. The man who had designed the interiors of both the Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse and the Kronprinz Wilhelm was also chosen to do the decoration of the Kaiser Wilhelm II. His name was Johannes Poppe. In tradition with his work on the earlier Norddeutscher Lloyd-liners, Poppe created an environment surrounded by so much luxury that it was thought by some that it was too much. Using such materials as rich woods and marble, Poppe designed airy public areas with high ceilings and rich ornate carvings. The result was a ship that outmatched her older sister, at least when it came to the interiors. 

But the question of the Kaiser Wilhelm II’s speed still remained. After the Kronprinz Wilhelm’s failure to regain the Blue Riband for Norddeutscher Lloyd, all hope now stood to the new ship. 

Eight months after her launch, the Kaiser Wilhelm II had been fitted out and was ready for her maiden voyage. On April 14th 1903, she left Bremen with New York as final destination, calling at Southampton and Cherbourg along the way. But those who had a record crossing in mind soon had all their hopes dashed. With a service speed of around 23 knots, the Kaiser Wilhelm II could still not match the Deutschland’s westbound average speed of 23.15 knots. 

Another disappointment with the new Kaiser Wilhelm II was that she, like the Deutschland, had a tendency to vibrate when she was steaming at high speed. As an attempt to remedy this fault, the ship was taken in to be given a new set of propellers in 1904. Luckily for Norddeutscher Lloyd, the vibration problems on the Kaiser Wilhelm II were not as severe as those on the Deutschland. Not only did the new propellers reduce the vibrations considerably, they also made the ship run more smoothly and steadily. 

With the vibration-problem cured, the quest for the Blue Riband was once again on. In June 1904, the Kaiser Wilhelm II managed to set a new eastbound record with an average speed of 23.58 knots. The battle was thus partially won, but the ship would never have the westbound record – it seemed as if she was simply not up to the test of the conditions on a westbound crossing. However, her eastbound record would be unthreatened until the arrival of Cunard’s Lusitania in 1907. 

But, being one of the largest and fastest ships in the world earned the Kaiser Wilhelm II fame, and she became a popular part of Norddeutscher Lloyd’s trio of express liners.In 1907, this trio became a quartet when a fourth vessel – the Kronprinzessin Cecilie – was delivered from the shipyards of Vulkan. These four ships soon had won a reputation of grandeur, reliability and above all – speed. It did not take long before they were commonly known as ‘The Four Flyers’. 

In style with other German liners, ‘grandeur’ was an understatement when describing the Kaiser Wilhelm II’s interiors. The First Class Restaurant rose through three decks.  

S.S. Kaiser Wilhelm II. Dining.

Enjoying this great reputation, the Kaiser Wilhelm II continued serving Norddeutscher Lloyd on the North Atlantic run. She was not only one of the largest and fastest vessels on the high seas, it seemed as if she had been blessed with a great deal of good fortune, as she was seldom involved in any accidents. However, in 1907 she had to be withdrawn from service for several months after having sunk at her pier in Bremerhaven during coaling operations. After repairs had been made, the ship was again back on the run. She did not suffer from any bad luck again until June 1914, when she was involved in a collision which resulted in her absence from the waves during the early summer that year. 

On July 28th 1914, the Kaiser Wilhelm II set out on what was to be her last commercial crossing. While en route to New York, the First World War broke out in Europe. This war had been anticipated for quite some time, and most nations had had their ships constructed with a possible conflict in mind. Nearly all the larger steamers had been built so that they in the event of hostilities could contribute to the war effort in some way or another. 

But the outbreak of war came at a very bad moment for Germany. Not many of the nation’s vessels managed to get back to Germany for conversion, and were instead interned in foreign ports. One of the greatest losses was surely HAPAG’s brand new 54,000-tonner Vaterland, which was interned in New York. But also two ships of the Norddeutscher Lloyd express quartet soon found themselves in foreign hands. The Kronprinzessin Cecilie was interned in the port of Boston after a dramatic game of hide-and-seek on the North Atlantic, and the Kaiser Wilhelm II was retained at her NDL pier in Hoboken, New Jersey. 

S.S. Kaiser Wilhelm II. Parlor.

And in New Jersey she remained, the Germans probably figured that an American port was quite a safe place for one of their finest ships. But after three years of fighting in Europe, the United States entered the war. This was indeed a terrible blow for Germany, who now saw all their American-interned ships seized and used against them. The Kronprinz Wilhelm had by now also been interned in the US after a successful raiding cruise of the seas. 

The Kaiser Wilhelm II was of course no exception to the rules of war. In April 1917, she was seized for use as a troop transport, and was renamed USS Agamemnon for this purpose. Now fighting her creators on their enemies’ side, she started doing trooping duties between America and Europe. But by now it seemed as if she had started suffering from bad luck. While taking part in a trooping convoy from New York to Brest in October 1917, the Agamemnon was struck amidships by her sister ship Kronprinz Wilhelm, which had been renamed USS Von Steuben. Four months later, she again sank at her pier during coaling. But her services as a troopship was badly needed, and this time she was returned to service in a matter of days. 

Continuing serving the allies as a troop transport, the Agamemnon would soon be involved in more mishaps. Almost as if reluctant to cut off her bonds with her sisters, the Agamemnon was again involved in an incident with another ex-NDL express liner in June 1918, this time with the ex-Kronprinzessin Cecilie, who had been renamed USS Mount Vernon. With more than 5,000 people on board, the Agamemnon and Mount Vernon nearly collided with each other at night. Yet the collision was avoided at the last minute, and the two ships could continue their war tasks. Later on the Agamemnon had to be laid up for two months for repairs, after having sustained damage in rough seas.

In WWI, the Kaiser Wilhelm II was renamed Agamemnon and used by the Allies in the battle against her creators. 

S.S. Kaiser Wilhelm II. 

In 1919, the war was finally over. Germany had been defeated, and the victorious warlords had delivered their unconditional sentence. The entire German merchant fleet was given away as war reparations for sunken vessels. Only the old speed queen Deutschland remained in German hands, but that was because the poor state she was in – there was no one who wanted her. 

The three sisters Agamemnon, Mount Vernon and Von Steuben were all given to the United Stated Shipping Board. The Agamemnon was used for repatriation voyages until 1920, but then there was no task for her and she was laid up together with the Mount Vernon in the Patuxent River, in the backwaters of Chesapeake Bay. 

S.S. Kaiser Wilhelm II. Salon. See:  1910 Westbound 18-10-1910 until 25-10-1910 S.S. Kaiser Wilhelm II – Concert 24-10-1910 (piano) .

There the two ships remained through the years. They had both been run hard during the war, and neither of the two ships was in a very favourable condition. Yet there were still plans of further service for the to ex-Germans. Some felt that they could be refurbished and used as passenger liners once again. Others even wanted to convert the two sisters into revolutionary diesel-driven ships, but none of these plans ever came into fruition. Instead the two liners remained laid up where they were.  

S.S. Kaiser Wilhelm II. Childrens diningroom.

What followed was a long and uneventful time in limbo. The two liners lay side by side in the Patuxent River, and no work could be found for them. During this time, the Agamemnon was renamed Monticello. It was not until 1940 that they once again became the matters of discussion. By now the Second World War was raging in Europe, and the two former German express-liners were offered to Great Britain for use as troop transports. Troopships were indeed badly needed, but due to their old age and the expensive amounts that it would take to make them seaworthy, the British declined. With this last possible use out of the picture, there was only one thing left to do. 

That same year, the former Kaiser Wilhelm II and Kronprinzessin Cecilie were sold to the Boston Iron & Metal Co. of Baltimore for scrapping. Their last voyage was to be towed to Baltimore, where they were subsequently broken up. 

Year 1910 .  Bremerhaven .  S.S. Kaiser Wilhelm II .

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The Great War

Militarism and Humiliation Cast Shadow on Germany

A U-boat on display as part of a naval memorial in Kiel, Germany, a Baltic seaport. The city epitomized Germany’s rapid industrialization and militarization under Otto von Bismarck and then Kaiser Wilhelm II. In 1870, as Bismarck unified Germany, Kiel had around 30,000 inhabitants. By 1914, when Europe’s leaders stumbled into World War I, its population exceeded 227,000.

Visitors at the memorial in Kiel. By the end of the war, Kiel bore witness to the depths of German defeat. Under the Treaty of Versailles, the country’s proud navy was limited to just a few ships and 15,000 men — far fewer than the 35,000 German sailors who had perished in World War I.

A statue of Kaiser Wilhelm I on horseback adorns a central park in Kiel. Memories of might, militarism and humiliation make Germans today reluctant to project their clout as, once again, Europe’s economic powerhouse.

Uta Körby, a 69-year-old Kiel native, has been working to draw attention to the Nazi past and to memorialize its victims.

Stones with the names of Nazi victims written by schoolchildren are part of Ms. Körby’s “Battleground: History” project.

The memorial built to honor Germany’s naval dead in World War I. It is a tower and flamelike structure of reinforced concrete with an outer layer of north German brick, soaring nearly 300 feet above the coast at Laboe, where Kiel Sound meets the open sea. It was designed in 1927, but finished and opened only in 1936, when Kiel hosted the sailing events in the Olympics.

An exhibition of German warships at the naval memorial. Most Germans remain reluctant to see their country’s force deployed in any way commensurate with its economic heft.

Today, Kiel is still a seafaring town. But the city is a mosaic of ill-matched architecture with a defeated air: a place pondering how to remember and interpret a dreadful 20th century.

By Alison Smale

• June 26, 2014

KIEL, Germany — On June 28, 1914, Kaiser Wilhelm II was preparing to indulge in a favorite pastime: racing his yacht Meteor at a regatta that is still held each year in this seafaring stronghold. When he learned of the assassination in Sarajevo of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the Hapsburg Empire, he hastened to Berlin. But he quickly returned to this Baltic Sea port, on which he lavished so much money and time in his frantic race to match or outdo British naval superiority.

In many ways, Kiel epitomized Germany’s rapid industrialization and militarization from 1870 to 1914, under Otto von Bismarck and then the kaiser. Numbers alone tell a story: In 1870, as Bismarck unified Germany, Kiel had around 30,000 inhabitants. By 1914, when Europe’s leaders stumbled into World War I, its population exceeded 227,000.

Four years later, Kiel bore witness to the depths of German defeat. A sailors’ rebellion that started here spread nationwide and helped force the abdication of the kaiser in November 1918. The next year, rather than let the Imperial Fleet fall to the enemy, German commanders on Scapa Flow, off Scotland, scuttled 52 of the fleet’s 74 vessels. Under the Treaty of Versailles, signed five years to the day after the archduke’s assassination, the proud navy was limited to just a few ships and 15,000 men — far fewer than the 35,000 German sailors who had perished in World War I.

Might, militarism and humiliation: These are the memories that make Germans today reluctant to project their clout as, once again, Europe’s economic powerhouse . One hundred years on from World War I, German leadership in Europe is both desired and resented, a historically rooted ambivalence that is keenly felt by the Germans and by their wary neighbors.

Most Germans remain reluctant to see their country’s force deployed in any way commensurate with its economic heft. But this abstention from military action does not mean that Germany is not throwing its weight about.

During the European debt crisis , Chancellor Angela Merkel demonstrated that no solution was possible without Germany’s helping hugely to pay for it. Always calm, she brooked little criticism and brushed aside anti-German sentiment as she pushed to impose austerity on supposedly profligate European neighbors.

Today, with nationalism and populism on the rise in Europe, Ms. Merkel is central in trying to untangle a tussle over European leadership that may hasten a British exit from the European Union, and she faces demands from two other major partners, France and Italy, to relax stringent budgetary demands.

In Germany, the enormity of Nazi crimes in World War II tends to overshadow World War I, which consumed more than 37 million lives, including those wounded and missing, and four empires. In some ways, the 100th anniversary has reminded Germans that Hitler and his supporters bore deep scars from the country’s catastrophic defeat in 1918. Germans are observing the occasion with some 80 exhibitions nationwide, and with countless discussions and seminars. “ The Sleepwalkers ,” Christopher Clark’s chunky history of how Europe went to war in 1914, is a best seller and its author a coveted guest for centenary discussions.

In Kiel, the imperial stamp always lingered. A statue of Kaiser Wilhelm I on horseback adorns a central park. The Kiel Canal, to this day an important waterway linking the North and Baltic Seas, was named after Wilhelm II when it opened in 1895. Outsize paintings of the opening still stare down at the regal Kiel Yacht Club.

Paradoxically, it was development on land that helped bolster the importance of this natural deep-sea port. By the time of Bismarck, the growth of railways had brought goods and people to Kiel from all over Germany and enabled the delivery of imports throughout the newly unified country. Later, shipyards that had produced Germany’s first submarine in 1851 were central to Wilhelm II’s naval race with Britain.

Especially after 1900, Wilhelm poured torrents of money into the German Navy. In 1906, Britain’s Royal Navy took delivery of H.M.S. Dreadnought, with its groundbreaking armament of big guns. Wilhelm and top members of his navy and government responded with plans to build two dreadnoughts and one battle cruiser per year, as well as to dredge and widen the Kiel Canal so the large new vessels could use it.

Four battle cruisers were produced in Kiel from 1907 to 1910, completed ahead of schedule. Naval spending rose steadily at least until 1912, when military commanders came to consider a land war more likely.

Britain and France were alarmed by Wilhelm’s ambition. Britain’s determination to keep its navy supreme only heightened German anxieties, already running high because the kaiser felt beleaguered on two fronts. The huge Russian Army ensured that his perceived foes had more men under arms than Germany and its Austro-Hungarian allies could muster.

In some sense, his naval expansion may have been a salve for this insecurity. At any rate, the Reichskriegshafen Kiel, the imperial war harbor here, profited. By the time war broke out in 1914, the navy had 22 pre-dreadnought ships, 14 dreadnoughts and four battle cruisers.

Three more warships were completed by November 1914, and construction continued throughout the war, with a battle cruiser added in late 1914, 1916 and 1917. Naval historians, however, tend to accord more significance to Germany’s U-boats, which were responsible for the sinking of the Lusitania in 1915, for instance, eventually helping to draw the United States into Europe’s Great War.

A similar shipbuilding boom erupted in the 1930s after Hitler took power and reached an agreement with Britain, ushering in a new wave of production of submarines and surface battle vessels. The shipbuilding made Kiel a prime target for Allied bombs, and by the end of the war in 1945, it was 80 percent destroyed.

Today, Kiel is still a seafaring town. Submarines are still built here. Sailors bob on Kiel Sound. Instead of dreadnoughts and battle cruisers, hulking cruise and cargo ships dominate the urban shoreline. But the city is a mosaic of ill-matched architecture and buildings that have changed purpose. Wilhelm’s proud Naval Academy, for instance, is now the parliamentary seat of Schleswig-Holstein, the state of which Kiel is the capital. The mishmash lends a defeated air to a place still pondering how to remember and interpret a dreadful 20th century.

The histories of two concrete memorials illustrate the scars. One was originally intended to honor Germany’s naval dead in World War I. The other is the Flandernbunker, or Flanders bunker, built outside the main surviving military base here. Its name stems from a Nazi campaign to lionize the Germans killed in the World War I trenches, and it sheltered military commanders and select civilians in the global conflict that ignited two decades later.

Today, a local art historian, Jens Rönnau, runs the bunker as an alternative arts and conference center with a goal of teaching peace and how to avoid future wars.

Last month, about 150 people spent two days on what Uta Körby, a 69-year-old Kiel native working to draw attention to the Nazi past and memorialize its victims, calls “Battleground: History.”

The location was the memorial built for the World War I sailors. It is a tower and flamelike structure of reinforced concrete with an outer layer of north German brick, soaring nearly 300 feet above the coast at Laboe, where Kiel Sound meets the open sea. It was designed in 1927, but finished and opened only in 1936, when Kiel hosted the sailing events in the Olympics. Hitler attended but did not speak.

Instead, the Nazis left their mark in a subterranean memorial hall with a demand: “Bare your head and be silent!” Exiting up one staircase, today’s visitors — there are 200,000 a year — confront a 1936 glass tableau of sailors’ lives on ship and shore, in which a still-discernible swastika has replaced the sun.

For Jann M. Witt — the amiable, bearded historian of the German Naval Association, which looks after this memorial and a U-boat dry-docked across the road — the meaning of the place is clear: It was designed to glorify the German Navy and its victims in World War I. When the British, whose bombs had left the memorial unscathed, returned it to the association in 1954, the Germans decided it would be for all their naval victims in the two world wars, “and our dead adversaries.”

That was still too militaristic for many. So in 1996, it became a memorial for all those who have died at sea — a sweeping designation that has brought some notable international elements but results in a muddled exhibition that is still a tad nationalistic in tone.

Mr. Witt and his associates believe that the memorial can carry a message of peace. Standing in a hall that shows every German ship lost in the two world wars, the 35,000 German sailors lost in World War I and the 120,000 said to have been lost in World War II, Mr. Witt recalled visiting with his grandfather, a member of the navy, when he was a boy.

“This,” he said, “was the first place that I realized that war is not a game.”

Yachts from A to Z!

Our future lies on the seas. Meteors last Kaiser

Our future lies on the seas! William II at the dedication of the port of Stettin, 23 Sep 1898

The last Kaiser of Germany, Wilhelm II, aka William the Furious – a person is equally extraordinary and contradictory. The heir to the Prussian military traditions, because, perhaps, of English roots on my mother’s side – the eldest daughter of Queen Victoria, was distinguished by a passion for the sea, sea travel and yachting sports.

Most clearly this side has become manifest since the accession of the Emperor to the throne. Since 1889 Wilhelm regularly come in long cruises, dubbed “Northern expeditions” (“Nordlandia”), attended the regatta and the marine week in the British port city of Cowes, the German cities of Cuxhaven and Kiel. In the same year he made the first step towards the creation of a large German Navy, the establishment of the Main naval command, or “Reichsmarine”.

For six years, until 1895, Wilhelm personally on your own yacht took part in international races. From 1889 until the outbreak of the First world war sports yacht of the Kaiser, each of which their achievements have received worldwide recognition, with great success has performed in all prestigious competitions of Europe and the United States.

The very first of the Imperial yacht “meteor I” was purchased by Wilhelm in 1891 for 90,000 gold marks – in General a small amount was fully paid for by the German government. It was a cutter 108-foot (33 m) tender, initially bearing the name “Thistle” was built in 1887 in the Scottish shipyard of D & W Henderson in Glasgow. It was created in great secrecy in order to participate in the America’s Cup, which eventually took second place.

However, it is “meteor I” brought fame to the Kaiser as a yachtsman. For several years the yacht under his command performed successfully in many European regattas, and in 1895 the race of the Royal Cup great Britain beat the favorite yacht of the Prince of Wales (later king Edward VII) “Britain”.

The rapid development of the yachting industry was threatened by the emergence of rivals new, more modern yachts. Warning the slightest hint of possible defeat in the future races, prudently Wilhelm in 1895, placed in the shipyard of D & W Henderson new order.

The crew of the “Meteor II”, half of which, by the way, was composed of English sailors who suffered the insult stoically and took it as a challenge. A few days later, the yacht won the English race Nore to Dover, ahead of “Britain” by 9.5 minutes, and in June 1896 in a race in Southampton her break with “Britain” was as much as 25 minutes. For several years, the “meteor II” was the winner of many international regattas. No doubt, it was the best sport boat at the time, a sample of the skill of British shipbuilders and the pride of Wilhelm II.

In 1902 the Imperial watch favorite took schooner “meteor III”. It was designed for William American designers H. G. Barbey & A. Carey Smith, built at the shipyard Townsend & Downey Shipbuilding Co. became an improved version of an ocean cruiser “Iduna” (formerly “Jampa”) built in America in 1887 and owned by the wife of William Don.

25 Feb 1902 “meteor III” dubbed Theodore Roosevelt’s daughter Alice. The Grand launching was held in the presence of Roosevelt, brother of the Kaiser, Prince Henry, and the many hundreds of American spectators. The event was captured on camera in March of the same year was assembled documentary film “the Meteor III Afloat” (IMDb tt0367447). It was a great occasion “warm up” German-American relations, and it was a really luxurious yacht.

During the service of the “Meteor III” the interest in yachting sport has reached unprecedented heights. On regatta gathered presented different classes and social groups and, of course, honorable representatives of other countries. “Arrive at this time in Kiel yard, and assembled there the entire German fleet. The race was followed by the court celebrations, the city was filled with plenty of visitors…” – writes about the Kiel week in 1907 by M. P. Bock, daughter of P. A. Stolypin.

And again: “Yachts participating in the races of the first class, was struck by its majestic beauty. After all, it was a real large two-masted ships of 350 tons displacement, with a team of seventy people, a huge sail area and very spacious, due to the lack of machinery, the premises. They were only three: the personal yacht of Kaiser Wilhelm, “meteor”, Krupp — “Germany” owned by the city of Hamburg “Hamburg”.

Great schooner “meteor III” properly served Wilhelm II for seven years, until 1909, when she began to give way to the latest yacht rivals. One of its main competitors, as noted in his memoirs, and M. P. Side, was a yacht “Germania”, built by the family Krupp for recently bought in Kiel shipyard Germaniawerft Fr Krupp. The obvious reaction Wilhelm became new order – “meteor IV”.

As to no longer meet the needs of the Emperor “Meteor III”, in 1909 it was sold to a famous German chemist Karl Dietrich Harris and his wife, Frau Hertha, the youngest daughter Werner von Siemens – founder of the transnational concern Siemens. Change of owners, the yacht received a new name “Northern star” and a new life: she has several times participated in the Kiel weeks and regularly went to sea to float freely.

During the service, “meteor IV” was involved in almost all well-known European regattas. Within four years, it was called a formidable rival in the Maritime weeks in Cowes and Kiel, in regattas in Campbeltown (Kintyre, Scotland), the race of the Royal yacht club of St. George Kingston (Ireland), the race the Royal London yacht club on the Thames and in the big regattas of the Royal yacht clubs of London.

In early 1914, he was drafted into the “meteor V”. New schooner with a length of 156 ft (47.6 m) was also designed by max Ertem (Max Oertz) and built at the shipyard “Germany” (Germaniawerft Fr Krupp). Rapidly developing events on the world stage is not allowed “Meteor V” to build the same long and successful career as his predecessors. However, his sporting life was as short as it is bright in a matter of months before the outbreak of the First world war “meteor V” managed to participate and win the regatta Elbregatta.

It is known that all the “Meteors” after “write-off” for some time remained in the fleet of Wilhelm II as a training or pleasure yachts. The only exception was the “meteor III”, which, as mentioned above, immediately found a buyer.

In 1921 the yacht again replaced the owner – now it was Maurice Buno-Varilla, owner of the Paris newspaper Le Matin. In 1924 it was acquired by the Italian Baron Alberto Fassini. In 1932, Fassini sold the yacht to a man named Gillett, who soon passed it to the British brokers Campbel & Nicholsons. After several months of inactivity it was bought by an American named Francis Taylor and served him until 1940. Taylor sold the boat to Gerald S. Foley, who, in turn, sold it to David Feinberg, who is Nicholas Allen. In 1941, the boat was requisitioned in the Second world war was used for the needs of the Navy.

Ironically, in 1946, after long wanderings Imperial “meteor III”, under the name “Aldebaran”, found its last resting place on the dock for debriefing ships John Witt on the island of Shooters in the Bay of Newark – where from 1900 to 1910 was located Builder, Townsend & Downey Shipbuilding Co. and where he in 1902 solemnly came off the stocks.

With the beginning of the First world war traces of the other “Meteors” are completely lost. Some sources claim that all yachts were sunk in the fighting. Others say that they were later requisitioned by the government of the new Weimar Republic. There is also a view that the yacht, as the more movable of the Imperial estate, were sold in 1919 by Wilhelm II, who really needed a lot of money for the purchase of the castle in Dorne – a place six kilometers from Amerongen in the Netherlands, where the last Kaiser of Germany will spend the rest of my life.

In the article used a variety of materials, including: Giles McDonough. The last Kaiser. William Frantic, Moscow, AST, 2004 Side M. P. P. A. Stolypin. Memories of my father. 1884— 1911. / Moscow, ZAO tsentrpoligraf, 2007 Materials from the archives of Klaus Kramer. New American Yacht – The Sydney Morning Herald, London, Aug. 10, 1910 John Leather. Sailing with the Kaiser 2 – Classic Boat Journal, 2011 Lillian Ross. The Kaiser’s Yacht – The New Yorker, June 22, 1946 The official website of The Telegraph.

Egor Lanin Author ruYachts

Journalist, news editor. The team ruYachts.com 2014. Major topics: motor yachts, concepts, gadgets and technology.

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• © Photo material: Archive version of the portal ruYachts.com

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THE KAISER'S YACHT

By Lillian Ross

The New Yorker , June 22, 1946 P. 66

WHERE ARE THEY NOW? about Kaiser' Wilhelm's yacht, Meteor III, & its successive owners, 12 in number. In 1901, the Kaiser ordered the schooner yacht to be built for him by the firm of Townsend & Downey Shipbuilding Co., on Shooter Island. The designers were H. G. Barbey & A. Carey Smith, the launching took place Feb. 25, 1902, & the yeach was christened by Alice Roosevelt. The Meteor's racing record was not impressive & in 1909, she was sold to a Dr. Carl Dietrich Harries, who rechristened her to Nordstern. In 1921, she was sold to Maurice Bunau-Varilla, owner of the Paris newspaper Le Matin. In 1924, she was bought b yan Italian Baron, named Alberto Fassini. In 1932, Fassini sold the yacht to a man named Gillet, who shortly turned her ov to Campbel & Nicholsons, British yacht brokers. After a few months of idleness she was bought by an American named Francis Taylor. Taylor sailed her for several years and then sold her to Sterling Hayden who returned her to her former owner. In 1940, Taylor sold her to Gerald S. Foley who in turn sold her to a David Feinburg. Feinburg sold her to Nicholas Allen. That year the Navy requisitioned her. Today, the Meteor III, whose name was changed to Aldebaran, lies in the yard of a shipsbreaker by the name of John Witte, only a few miles from where she was built.

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By Nicola Twilley

By Hillary Kelly

By Sarah Hutto

By Jane Mayer

Yachting World

• Digital Edition

Why the Kiel Canal, shortcut to the Baltic, is a fascinating mini cruise all of its own

• isobel-smith
• January 30, 2015

The Kiel Canal can be a fascinating voyage in a yacht, as Detlef Jens reports

More than once I’ve sworn never to cruise through the Kiel Canal again, always after a seemingly endless stretch negotiated in foul weather or in an underpowered yacht. But when the weather plays ball and if time is on your side, a passage through the Kiel Canal can be one of the most interesting parts of a voyage to or from the Baltic.

Moored in front of the Gieselau-side lock gates or at anchor in the idyllic lake of Flemhude before Kiel, it is hard to believe the Kiel Canal – aka the North Sea-Baltic-Canal or Nord-Ostsee-Kanal (NOK) in German – is the world’s busiest shipping route. In total some 43,000 ships and around 20,000 or so private yachts go through the canal every year.

The idea for a canal to link the North and Baltic Seas came up in the Danish-German war of 1864. Otto von Bismarck recognised that a waterway would allow German ships to slip between seas undisturbed by Danish cannons. However, his contemporaries were not quite so visionary and planning did not begin in earnest until 1878, when Emperor Wilhelm I finally approved a vast budget of 156 million Goldmark. Just as impressive is that the huge project came in within budget.

In the end, it was Wilhelm II who finally opened the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Kanal, as it was then called, in 1895. The second Wilhelm (half-English, incidentally) was partial to his racing yachts, so the canal was useful for more than warships. It helped establish Kiel Week, also founded by Wilhelm II, by considerably improving access to the Baltic for international yachts.

Indeed, the Kiel Canal has always been a door to the east for foreign sailors. Frank Mulville transited with his family on Transcur in 1967. As he writes in his book Terschelling Sands : ‘We started motoring down the canal after a very expensive lunch at a restaurant near the jetty, keeping well into the side out of the way of the stream of ships. The banks of the canal soon became wooded and rural, with occasional vistas over the countryside of Schleswig-Holstein, which was a pleasant agricultural land – not unlike parts of Essex.

‘The volume and diversity of the shipping was extraordinary. The boys soon devised a game of guessing the nationality of passing ships and Patrick drew up a complicated scoring sheet. There were tankers and freighters from 20,000 tons downwards as well as small German, Dutch and Danish coasters. Sometimes we were unable to identify the ensigns even with the aid of the almanac – countries like Kathiri, Gabon, Dahomey and Chad defied identification.’

It can seem like nothing has changed. I have been through the canal many times, but the transits that linger in my mind are those slow passages made on hot summer days. Once or twice I have dropped anchor at a wider section and dived overboard to cool off in the peculiar, brackish water. Much of the canal is too narrow for this and sailing is not allowed, but you can motorsail if there is a good following breeze.

Given the canal’s length of just over 50 nautical miles, you can cover it in a long day of motoring; yachts are restricted to daylight hours only. But it is better to split up the trip and stop for a night at one of the permitted berths. The most peaceful are: off the Gieselau Lock at 40.5km; in Lake Obereider (entrance off 66km); Lake Borgstedt (67.5km and 70km); and in Lake Flemhude (85.4km). Kilometres are counted from west to east, from Brunsbüttel to Kiel and clearly marked ashore.

An extract from a Yachting World feature, May 2014

The royal faux pas at Cowes Week that foreshadowed the First World War

By Rebecca Cope

This week marks the return of Cowes Week on the Isle of Wight, an all-singing, all-dancing sailing competition attended by the great and the good of high society. The annual festivities have had a royal connection as early as its second year, 1826, when King George IV showed his approval of the event by presenting the King's Cup.

Queen Victoria, who ascended to the throne 11 years after it was established, was another notable royal patron. There is even a famous old British joke about her fondness for the island: 'Why did Queen Victoria never ride a horse?' 'Because she preferred Cowes'.

By Harriet Johnston

By Isaac Bickerstaff

Yet it was two of Victoria's descendants who have perhaps the most significant history at Cowes, her son Prince Edward (future King Edward VII) and her grandson, Kaiser Wilhelm II, who regularly clashed there in the 1890s.

On his annual trip to see his British relatives, Wilhelm was reportedly loud and aggressive, with his sense of humour leaving much to be desired. Meanwhile from the other side, it has been speculated that his British relatives mocked his attire, which was not right for the summer-casual aesthetic at Cowes, with its boat shoes and striped blazers.

The kaiser and the future king tried constantly to one-up each other with bigger, faster, flashier boats, with the German nephew desperate to impress his English uncle, who of course was known for his great fleet of naval ships.

In 1896, the kaiser had the biggest yacht yet built, the 121-ft long Meteor II , which he pitted against Edward's Britannia . After it won, the future king retired from racing at Cowes.

In 2008, reports emerged via the descendant of a bystander that the future king had punched his nephew, after he laughed at him for losing in a race. As Henry Brasted, son of local yachting specialist William Brasted, told the Daily Gazette : 'Kaiser Bill jeered King Teddy about the result, where straight away King Teddy hit him in the mouth, knocked him down, then stormed into the club.

'My father watched all this from the beaten rowing cutter. That episode was never printed in the papers at that time - imagine the consequences if they had.'

Historian Maldwin Drummond confirmed that there was a frostiness between the two royals, telling the paper at the time: 'There was certainly a considerable amount of bad blood. They were never pals because the kaiser was always trying to be one up. This irritated the Prince of Wales at first but later on it became more annoying, and there was no love lost between them.'

Of course, by the 1910s, relations between the uncle and his nephew were truly in a bad way, with the outbreak of the First World War looming in 1914.

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Kaiser Wilhelm II

By: History.com Editors

Updated: August 1, 2019 | Original: April 14, 2010

Wilhelm II (1859-1941), the German kaiser (emperor) and king of Prussia from 1888 to 1918, was one of the most recognizable public figures of World War I (1914-18). He gained a reputation as a swaggering militarist through his speeches and ill-advised newspaper interviews. While Wilhelm did not actively seek war, and tried to hold back his generals from mobilizing the German army in the summer of 1914, his verbal outbursts and his open enjoyment of the title of Supreme War Lord helped bolster the case of those who blamed him for the conflict. His role in the conduct of the war as well as his responsibility for its outbreak is still controversial.

Some historians maintain that Wilhelm was controlled by his generals, while others argue that he retained considerable political power. In late 1918, he was forced to abdicate. He spent the rest of his life in exile in the Netherlands, where he died at age 82.

Kaiser Wilhelm II’s Early Years

Kaiser Wilhelm II was born in Potsdam, Germany, on January 27, 1859, the son of Prince Frederick Wilhelm of Prussia (1831-88) and Princess Victoria (1840-1901), the oldest daughter of Queen Victoria  (1819-1901). The future monarch was the queen’s firstborn grandchild and was genuinely fond of her; in fact, he was holding her in his arms when she died. His ties to Britain through its royal family would play an important part in his later political maneuvering.

Did you know? Kaiser Wilhelm II was reportedly amused when he heard his cousin King George V (1865-1936) had changed the name of the British royal family from Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to Windsor in 1917 as a result of anti-German sentiment in Britain during World War I.

Wilhelm’s childhood was shaped by two events, one medical and one political. His birth had been traumatic; in the course of a complicated delivery, the doctor permanently damaged Wilhelm’s left arm. In addition to its smaller size, the arm was useless for such ordinary tasks as cutting certain foods with a knife at mealtime.

The political event that shaped Wilhelm was the formation of the German Empire under the leadership of Prussia in 1871. Wilhelm was now second in line after his father to become an emperor as well as king of Prussia. Twelve years old at the time, Wilhelm was filled with nationalistic enthusiasm. His later determination to win a “place in the sun” for Germany had its roots in his childhood.

An intelligent young man who possessed a lifelong interest in science and technology, Wilhelm was educated at the University of Bonn. His quick mind, however, was combined with an even quicker temper and an impulsive, high-strung personality. He had dysfunctional relationships with both parents, particularly his English mother. Historians still debate the effects of the kaiser’s complicated psychological makeup on his political decisions.

In 1881, Wilhelm married Princess Augusta Victoria (1858-1921) of Schleswig-Holstein. The couple would go on to have seven children.

Emperor and King: 1888

Wilhelm’s father became Kaiser Frederick III of Germany in March 1888. Already ill with terminal throat cancer, he died after a reign of only several months. Wilhelm succeeded his father on June 15, 1888, at the age of 29. Within two years of his coronation, Wilhelm broke with Otto von Bismarck (1815-98), the “Iron Chancellor” who had dominated German politics since the 1860s. The kaiser embarked on his so-called New Course, a period of personal rule in which he appointed chancellors who were upper-level civil servants rather than statesmen. Bismarck bitterly predicted that Wilhelm would lead Germany to ruin.

Wilhelm damaged his political position in a number of ways. He meddled in German foreign policy on the basis of his emotions, resulting in incoherence and inconsistency in German relations with other nations. He also made a number of public blunders, the worst of which was The Daily Telegraph affair of 1908. Wilhelm gave an interview to the London-based newspaper in which he offended the British by saying such things as: “You English are mad, mad, mad as March hares.” The kaiser had already been hurt politically in 1907 by the Eulenburg-Harden affair, in which members of his circle of friends were accused of being homosexuals. Although there is no evidence that Wilhelm was gay–in addition to his seven children with his first wife, he was rumored to have several illegitimate offspring–the scandal was used by his political opponents to weaken his influence.

Wilhelm’s most important contribution to Germany’s prewar military expansion was his commitment to creating a navy to rival Britain’s. His childhood visits to his British cousins had given him a love for the sea–sailing was one of his favorite recreations–and his envy of the power of the British navy convinced him that Germany must build a large fleet of its own in order to fulfill its destiny. The kaiser supported the plans of Alfred von Tirpitz (1849-1930), his chief admiral, who maintained that Germany could gain diplomatic power over Britain by stationing a fleet of warships in the North Sea. By 1914, however, the naval buildup had caused severe financial problems for Wilhelm’s government.

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Kaiser Wilhelm II and World War I

Wilhelm’s behavior during the crisis that led to war in August 1914 is still controversial. There is little doubt that he had been broken psychologically by the criticism that followed the Eulenburg-Harden and Daily Telegraph scandals; he suffered an episode of depression in 1908. In addition, the kaiser was out of touch with the realities of international politics in 1914; he thought that his blood relationships to other European monarchs were sufficient to manage the crisis that followed the June 1914 assassination of the Austrian archduke Franz Ferdinand (1863-1914) in Sarajevo, Bosnia. Although Wilhelm signed the order for German mobilization following pressure from his generals–Germany declared war against Russia and France during the first week of August 1914– he is reported to have said, “You will regret this, gentlemen.”

With World War I under way, the kaiser, as commander in chief of the German armed forces, retained the power to make upper-level changes in military command. Nonetheless, he was largely a shadow monarch during the war, useful to his generals as a public-relations figure who toured the front lines and handed out medals. After 1916, Germany was, in effect, a military dictatorship dominated by two generals, Paul von Hindenburg (1847-1934) and Erich Ludendorff (1865-1937).

Kaiser Wilhelm II’s Years of Exile

In late 1918, popular unrest in Germany (which had suffered greatly during the war) combined with a naval mutiny convinced civilian political leaders that the kaiser had to abdicate to preserve order. In fact, Wilhelm’s abdication was announced on November 9, 1918, before he had actually consented to it. He agreed to leave when the leaders of the army told him he had lost their support as well. On November 10, the former emperor took a train across the border into the Netherlands, which had remained neutral throughout the war. He eventually bought a manor house in the town of Doorn, and remained there for the remainder of his life.

Although the Allies wanted to punish Wilhelm as a war criminal, Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands (1880-1962) refused to extradite him. His last years were darkened by the death of his first wife and the suicide of his youngest son in 1920. He did, however, make a happy second marriage in 1922. His new wife, Hermine Reuss (1887-1947), actively petitioned German leader Adolf Hitler (1889-1945) in the early 1930s to restore the monarchy, but nothing ever came of her negotiations. Hitler despised the man he held responsible for Germany’s defeat in World War I, and Wilhelm was shocked by the Nazis’ thuggish tactics. In 1938, Wilhelm remarked that for the first time he was ashamed to be a German. After two decades in exile, he died in the Netherlands on June 4, 1941, at the age of 82.

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Designed to evoke the carefree heyday of gentlemen's yachting, this modern classic will turn heads and win hearts in any anchorage. However, her retro chic disguises a yacht at the cutting edge of comfort and technology, with hybrid propulsion for lower emissions, vibration and fuel costs. She is an exquisite blend of yachting's spirit of freedom and state of the art features.

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Dutch King orders new 2-million euro yacht from Frisian boat builder

The new Wajer 55 was built in Heeg, near Sneek

Translated by Thomas Ansell

The news of the King’s new yacht was announced by the royal house, and reported by Shownieuws , and the Omrop Fryslân . The new boat, which is slightly larger than the King’s previous Wajer craft, is likely to spend its time at the royal holiday home in Greece.

King Willem II’s new Wajer 55 is around 16 metres long, and is one of the largest and most luxurious models made by Wajer. The previous royal yacht, called ‘Aldebaran’, was 11 metres long and cost around 800,000 euros: with the new one costing a cool 2 million euros. It is supplied with several creature comforts, including an electrically operated ‘cabrio’ roof, space for four to sleep, and its own kitchen and bathroom.

The King’s previous yacht was taken from the public register of boats last week: “it seems, therefore, to have been bought by someone”, says Yvonne Zwaan of motorboot.com.

Sandra Schuurhof, a press officer for the royal house, expects that the King will use the yacht in Greece, where the royal family has a holiday home with dock. The royal family will likely use the boat to ‘island hop’ on their holidays. Indeed, Schuurhof referred to sightings of the King whizzing about in his new toy: “the Police must use their fastest boat, a RIB, to keep up”, she said.

Wajer Yachts was founded by Dorus Wajer in 1992, and moved to its current premises in Heeg in 1996. The company is currently run by Dries Wajer, son of Dorus, and has around 55 skilled craftsmen working from their workshops and headquarters.

Image by David Mark  via  Pixabay  

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