Voyage History 1914
The modifications took until early March of 1914, and by 11 March, the Imperator was departing Cuxhaven for New York with 371 in First Class, 334 in Second Class, and 1,998 in Third and Steerage. By now, Commodore Ruser had left the bridge to take command of the SS Vaterland and Captain Theo Kier was in command. Upon arrival in New York on 19 March, Kier reported that stability had been greatly improved. It was during this voyage that an Atlantic storm stripped away four lifeboats and sheared the wings off the huge bronze eagle. And while some Imperator historians have maintained the loss of the eagle's wings occurred during the third voyage of 1913, photographs and postcards of the Imperator before her first voyage of 1914 clearly show her trimmed down funnels (part of her late 1913 early 1914 refit) but with the eagle still fully intact on the prow.
On 21 March 1914, the Imperator steamed eastward with 2,980 passengers. Upon arrival on 27 March, the remains of the eagle were removed and replaced with decorative grillwork, but the Imperator's length was not adjusted. Even still, she remained the second largest ship in the world behind her sister liner, the Vaterland. It is interesting to note that to this day the fate of the eagle remains a mystery. In an email response I received in 2003 from Peter Maas, the Managing Director of the Hapag archives, I was told that as far as Hapag knew the entire sculpture had gone to the bottom of the sea. How the folks at the Hapag archives - with all the material available on the Imperator - could have blundered such a fact was a mystery to me. In any event, after telling Mr. Maas of the "eagle remains" postcard below, I was requested to make various sized laser copies for the Hapag library files in Germany. My pleasure. As for the fate of this great scultpure, most Imperator historians have long assumed that the great bronze beast was most likely melted down for shot and shell in World War 1. Sad.
The year 1914 looked to be a glorious year for the Hamburg Amerika Line. The Vaterland had joined the Imperator on regular transatlantic service and their sister ship the Bismarck was launched 20 June. In the first week of April 1914, the Imperator made her second voyage of the year, with 3,118 passengers. Her return trip from New York on Wednesday, 15 April left at 9 a.m. with a passenger list of 2,150, with 604 in First class, 215 in Second Class, and 1331 in Third and Steerage. Her third voyage of 1914 left Hamburg on 2 May 1914 with 3, 285 passengers. She arrived in New York, 9 May with 518 in First, 336 in Second, and 2,431 in Third and Steerage. Her return voyage left Saturday at 10 a.m. on 16 May with a whooping 3,563 passengers, just 84 passengers short of beating the record passage she made on her third voyage of 1913. The Imperator's fourth voyage of 1914 left Hamburg on 27 May, carrying with her 2,827 passengers, while her return on Saturday, 6 June saw an even busier 3,394. For the fifth voyage on 17 June westbound, Harry Houdini and his wife Beatrice traveled in First class. To celebrate their twentieth wedding anniversary on 22 June, Harry gave a short performance to fellow passengers. The Houdinis then dined privately with First class passenger Theodore Roosevelt and posed for photos. Their on-board meeting became page two headlines. On the return trip back to Hamburg on Saturday, 27 June left New York at 12 noon with 486 in Second class and 837 in First class. Among them were Mr. and Mrs. Fredrick Vanderbilt.
(Below an Imperator postcard signed onboard by Harry Houdinis during the 1914 voyage)
Throughout 1914 all was going well from a financial standpoint, but the political unrest in Germany became a cause of great concern and worry for Hamburg Amerika Line director Albert Ballin. Realizing the disastrous repercussions that war would have on the merchant shipping business, Ballin had long since entered politic circles in an effort to help avert war. His effort was gallant, but to no avail.
It was 28 June 1914 when the wheels of World War 1 were first set in motion when the Archduke of German-backed Austro-Hungary, Franz Ferdinand, was assassinated in a plot launched by the Serbian Army and executed by a terrorist fringe group called the Black Hand. On 6 July, Germany announced their full support of Austro-Hungary in the event of war. Unbeknownst to Albert Ballin and Hapag, on Wednesday, 8 July 1914, the Imperator left Hamburg for the last time as a German merchant vessel. On her final trip to New York as the S.S. Imperator the tensions of possible war brought on only 702 passengers in First Class: 420 boarding in Hamburg, 244 in Southampton, and 38 in Cherbourg. In Second class there are 500 passengers: 357 board in Hamburg, 115 in Southampton, and 28 in Cherbourg. It was precarious time in Europe and tensions were at the breaking point.
The Imperator docked in New York on Thursday, 16 July, took on passengers and two days later on Saturday, 18 July at 12 noon she sailed for Hamburg. Three hours later, a sister Hapag ship, the Graf Waldersee set sail for Hamburg on a direct passage. On 22 July, The Vaterland with Commodore Hans Ruser at the helm sailed out of Hamburg on what was to be her final sailing as German merchant vessel. It was during the Vaterlands six-day voyage that the wheels of war picked up their greatest speed. On 23 July, the Vaterland and Imperator passed each other on the Atlantic. This was also the day that the Austro-Hungarian government made fifteen demands of the Serbian government in retribution for the assassination of Franz Ferdinand. Spearheading the list was the demand that Serbia arrest the leaders of the Black Hand group and send them to face trial in Vienna. The demands are essentially an ultimatum. This ultimatum put Germany on high alert. Upon receiving this news, Commodore Theo Kier took no chances with the safety of the Imperator, and even though they were only one day outside Hamburg, he promptly ordered full turbines. Whether the news of approaching war was given to the black gang in the boilers isnt known, but if they didn't know they sure shoveled coal as if they did. During her run to the homeland, the Imperator attained a remarkable 23.6 knots and broke her own speed record (Note: Even after Cunard refitted the ship with oil-burning engines in 1923, her best speed was only 24.05 knots). She docked safely in Hamburg on 24 July, the same day that Serbia appealed to ally Russia for military assistance should Austro-Hungary follow through with military action. Then on 25 July, Serbia announced its refusal to comply Austro-Hungary's demands, citing such demands was a violation of Serbia's Constitution and criminal in law. Less than 24 hours later, on 26 July, Russia verifies its willingness to defend Serbia in the event of an attack.
On 28 July, with the Vaterland just two days outside New York, Austro-Hungary declared war on Serbia. Immediately all transatlantic voyages for the Imperator and all Hapag ships were cancelled. For the Imperator, the cancelled roundtrip dates were 31 July/12 August; 26 August/5 September; 16 September/26 September. When the Vaterland docked in New York, she stayed there.
August 1914 saw World War 1 begin with frightening speed. Between 5 August and 12 August war declarations came from all sides. On 1 August, Germany declared war on neighboring Russia, and then on 3 August, Germany declared war on France. On 4 August, Germany invaded Belgium and that drew Britain into the conflict with a declaration of war on Germany. On 5 August, Austro-Hungary sided with Germany and declared war on Russia. Then both France and Britain declared war on Austro-Hungary on 10 August and 12 August respectively.
For the remainder of the war the Imperator remained docked near Hamburg in the scenic Elbe River and cloaked in primitive camouflage. During this time she received little or no maintenance and her outer appearance suffered. The only real protection afforded to the great ship was a handful of anti-aircraft guns scattered about the dock that never saw any action.
