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A Tribute to the Swedish American Line | ||||||||
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A Tribute to the Swedish American Line | ||||||||
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| This card was posted in Göteborg, February 2, 1924, to Miss Hildur Karlsson, Stockholm. | 
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"My best wishes and thanks.
Think of me some time. Your devoted Alice." |
| Original name: | Virginian, (Allen Line)
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Shipyard: | A Stephen & Sons, Glasgow
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Year: | 1904
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Tons: | 11,285
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Delivered to SAL: | 1920
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Sold: | 1948
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Sold to: | Home Lines
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Renamed: | Brazil
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Today: | Scrapped in 1955
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The Virginian and her sister ship Victorian were the first oceangoing merchant ships to employ steam turbines.
After having been acquired by SAL, the Virginian was renamed Drottningholm and was refitted with geared turbines in 1922.
Source: The Golden Age of Shipping, Brassey's (UK) Ltd. 1994
The Drottningholm served SAL until 1948 when she was sold and first renamed Brazil, later Homeland.
When the ship was dismantled in 1955, she was the oldest transatlantic passenger liner in service.
During her Swedish American Line years she had carried 222,925 passengers.
Passenger List from the Drottningholm, January 1923
From the Dawe collection
 Rule book for Officers and Crew on Passenger Ships Belonging to The Swedish American Line From the Dawe collection |
It is the duty of the 3rd Class Chief Steward:
Bartenders
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The Mercy Ship
For more information about SAL's operations during World War II,
Read the story of a RAMC medical orderly returning home from a POW camp via Gothenburg. For an eye-witness report of the mercy ship Drottningholm, read about Carl-Otto Claesson, who served 32 years on the bridge. See a "March of Time" film cliip, showing Drottningholm arriving in US in 1942 with There is another film clip of the Drottningholm arriving in NY Harbor in 1940. The ship carried Rabbi Joseph I. Schneersohn (1880-1950), the Lubavitcher Rebbe, to freedom from war torn Europe. The film clip is from Lubavitch archives. (Link contributed by David Shatz.) See a photo of wounded British POW's on the Drottningholm. |
See interior photos of Drottningholm
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Olympic Athletes Return to Sweden Swedish athletes return from the 1932 Olympic Games in Los Angeles on the Drottningholm.
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The photos beolw have been contributed by Sean Fisher of Melrose, MA.
Sean Fisher's great grandfather,
Joseph C. Langer, sailed from New York on July 27, 1946, to visit
his
father in Aalborg, Denmark.
The three photos below show the Drottningholm departing.
Mr Joseph C. Langer of
Norwood ( Philadelphia), PA,
(1893-1984).
Greta Garbo's first voyage to the United States
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Passenger list from
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| Greta Garbo and director,
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Contributed by Dan Baker | ||
Many thanks to Chief Steward C-G Quant's son Göran Quant for the photos below.
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Weather log from Drottningholm's last voyage from Gothenburg to New York, February, 1948.
Wartime memory of Drottningholm
Wolfgang Hochman was exchanged on the Drottningholm's August 1944 voyage to England. He was about 9 years old then. He has kept this spoon all these years since as a reminder of the voyage away from occupied Europe. Wolfgang's father was a British veteran of WWI who married a German woman in Leipzig and remained there. They had three children. The oldest daughter was killed at Auschwitz, but the other two children and the parents were at Vittel. Many thanks to Susan Pentlin for this story. |
See interior photos of Drottningholm
Read a SAL advertisement from 1923.
Excellent site! |
More than 100 web pages developed and maintained by Lars Hemingstam ©1998-2010
Email us
Regardless of which ship we sailed on or which year - the memories we share are the same!
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Recommended Books |
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Updated Sep 7, 2009 Waterline - Images from the Golden Age of Cruising John Graves
Örjan Slätte, ex Information Officer on the Gripsholm, recommends Waterline - Images from the Golden Age of Cruising by John Graves, published by the National Maritime Museum in London in 2004. It is based on photos by Marine Photo Service, which were acquired by the museum in 1996 The book features many photos from SAL cruises.
Please note that the book's edition at Amazon.co.uk may not have the Kungsholm on the cover. Örjan Slätte, Informationsofficer på Gripsholm, rekommenderar boken Waterline - Images from the Golden Ages of Cruising. Boken är utgiven år 2004 av National Maritime Museum i London som 1996 förvärvat Marine Photo Service (MPS) samlingar. Redan omslagsbilden föreställer Kungsholm 1953 med två vattenskidåkande ynglingar i fronten. MPS fanns i många rederier och där finns många mycket bra foton från SAL:s kryssningar. Våra fotografer var mycket yrkesskickliga med konstnärlig talang. Man kan förmoda att de tidvis kände för att fotografera annat än leende, välklädda pax med cocktailglas i hand. Fina miljöer från fartygens "omvärld". |
Updated July7, 2008 MERCY SHIPS
During World War 2 the Drottningholm and the Gripsholm were used as repatriation ships and made 33 voyages to exchange prisoners of war, diplomats, women and children, between the warfaring nations. David Miller has written a book about the exchange and repatriation voyages,with an emphasis on the British experience. It is loaded with facts about these voyages of mercy. Read more about all the exchange and repatriation sailings during WWII here. |
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| Recommended Books | |||
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M/S Kungsholms inredning Första M/S Kungsholm, Amerikalinjens stora passagerarfartyg, byggdes på 1920-talet. Det gick mellan Göteborg och New York. Arkitekten Carl Bergsten fick uppdraget att hålla i den påkostade inredningen som skulle visa för världen vad svenska konstnärer kunde åstadkomma. Under andra världskriget togs fartyget i beslag av amerikanarna för att användas i trupptransporten till Europa. Inredningen revs då ner och förstördes. Anne-Marie Ericsson har letat i arkiv och museer efter beskrivningar, ritningar och gamla fotografier för att försöka rekonstruera denna makalösa uppvisning i svensk inredningskonst. |
Amerikabåtarna Christer Winberg, professor i historia vid Göteborgs universitet, har skrivit en bok om SAL som bygger på bevarat samtida material från Svenska Amerika Linien på Landsarkivet och Sjöfartsmuseet i Göteborg. Det omfattar exempelvis reserapporter, minnesberättelser och personligt färgade reseskildringar. Författaren har också samlat in eget material genom intervjuer med f.d. anställda.
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Andrea Dorias undergång I Andrea Dorias undergång berättar Britt-Marie Mattsson den fascinerande berättelsen om kollisionen, den heroiska räddningsaktionen och det rättsliga efterspelet till den mycket uppmärksammade olyckan - sin tids Titanic. Mattssons far var vid tiden för olyckan informationschef vid Svenska Amerika Linien. Britt-Marie Mattsson har träffat flera av de överlevande och intervjuat dem för denna bok. Hon har bland annat talat med vittnen som ger information som kan kasta nytt ljus över vad som egentligen orsakade den fruktansvärda kollisionen. Boken är rikligt illustrerad i svartvitt. |
A book about the Kungsholm of 1953. |
Journalist Per Fält has recommended |
"Såna" på Amerikabåtarna SAL har skildrats i böcker, dokumentär-filmer, journalfilmer och tidningsartiklar. Oftast är det glamouren som uppmärk-sammats men en grupp har alltid saknats i beskrivningarna: homosexuella män. Såna på Amerikabåtarna är en välskriven, lättläst och underhållande studie av en värld som gått i glömska. | |
De Flytande Palatsen From the very inception of the line in 1915, the ships of the Line attracted much attention on both sidesof the Atlantic. Not only did they represent the bonds between the old country and the new, they also represented new concepts in service, decor, and furnishings as well as in art and handicraft. Published in 1987. This book can be found on Amazon.
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Huset Broström Huset Broström för tankarna till Forsythesagan och Onedinlinjen. Inget svenskt företag har upplevt så stor dramatik som just Broströms. Detta är den dramtiska berättelsen "inifrån Huset", om det som skedde i det som syntes ske. Utgiven 1980. | ||
Out of the Fog is an American edition of a Swedish book by Algot Mattsson, who was the information officer for SAL, the owner of Stockholm, the ship that collided with Andrea Doria in 1956. The book describes the collision from the perspectives of both ships as well as the heroic rescue of hundreds. Testimony given at the hearing is also included as is a legal opinion by the American editors, one of whom was directly involved with the case. |
Detta är en berättelse om den dramatiska färden över Atlanten, från de hårda och riskfyllda överfarten med små lastskutor i mitten av 1800-talet, till lyxresorna med Amerikalinjens sista skepp. Utgiven 1982 | ||
