The steamship ARCADIA was built for the Hamburg-America Line by Harland & Wolff, Belfast, and launched on 8 October 1896. 5,442 tons; 121,4 x 14,9 meters (length x beam); straight stem, 1 funnel, 2 masts; steel construction, screw propulsion, service speed 12 knots; accommodation for 20 passengers in 1st class, and 1,136 in steerage.

April 1897, maiden voyage, Hamburg-Montreal. 16 May 1897, stranded near Cape Ray, Newfoundland, on homeward voyage; 30 May 1897, arrived Quebec for temporary repairs; proceeded to builders for recoditioning. 3 November 1897, first voyage, Belfast-New York-Hamburg. 15 December 1897, first voyage, Hamburg - Portland - Boston. 4 September 1900, troop transport to China (Boxer Rebellion). 20 June 1908, 3 men killed when a box containg detonators exploded in storeroom IV. 29 December 1913, rescued the crew of the British steamship TEMPLEMORE, on fire in the North Atlantic. 25 July 1914, last voyage, Hamburg-Baltimore. 18 August 1914, laid up in Newport News. 6 April 1917, seized by the U.S. Shipping Board. 1920, chartered to the Acme Operation Co., Seattle. 1922, chartered to the California Steam Ship Co., Panama. 1926, scrapped.

Sources: Arnold Kludas and Herbert Bischoff, Die Schiffe der Hamburg-Amerika Linie, Bd. 1: 1847-1906 (Herford: Koehler, 1979), p. 66 (photograph); Noel Reginald Pixell Bonsor, North Atlantic Seaway; An Illustrated History of the Passenger Services Linking the Old World with the New (2nd ed.; Jersey, Channel Islands: Brookside Publications), vol. 1 (1975), vol. 1 (1975), p. 403.

The British ship ARCHIBALD McMILLAN was built in Dumbarton in 1854, under Lloyds Register of Shipping Special Survey. 498 tons; 147.3 x 24.9 x 16.3 feet (length x beam x depth of hold). The annual volumes of Lloyd's Register of Shipping for 1854/55-1866/67 contain the following additional information:

Master:
     1854/55-1856/57 - Galloway
     1857/58-1862/63 - M. Lyle
     1861/62-1864/65 - W. Wilson
     1864/65-1865/66 - D. McMillan
     1865/66-1866/67 - M'Arthur

Owner: J. Kerr

Port of Registry:  Greenock

Port of Survey:  Clydeside.

Destined Voyage:
     1854/55-1855/56 - West Indies
     1856/57         - Mauritius
     1857/58-1860/61 - West Indies
     1861/62-1862/63 - Ceylon [crossed out] / West Indies
     1863/64-1866/67 - West Indies

A notation in Lloyd's Register of Shipping for 1866/67 indicates that the ARCHIBALD McMILLAN was wrecked, most probably between 1 July 1866 and 30 June 1867.

The Prussian ship ARNOLD BÖNINGER was built at Vegesack/Grohn by Johann Lange, for the Böninger tobacco firm, in Duisburg, and was launched on 1 May 1852. Her masters were, in turn, J. F. Meyer, J. Bullerdiek, and D. Steenken.

In 1864/65, during the Austro-Prussian war against Denmark, the ARNOLD BÖNINGER, like may other ships, was "re-flaggged", that is, formally sold foreign and registered in a neutral country. Thus, from 1864 to 1866, the ARNOLD BÖNINGER was registered in Belgium as the ANTWERPEN, and sailed from Dutch or Belgian ports, although she remained under the command of Capt. Steenken. In 1866, she was once again registered as Prussian, under her original name of ARNOLD BÖNINGER.

In 1872, the ARNOLD BÖNINGER was sold to D. Schilling, of Vegesack, who renamed her JASON; her port of registry, however, remained Geestemünde. For the next 8 years she sailed under the command of, in turn, J. Stricker, L. Grimm, and H. Albrecht.

In 1880, the JASON was sold Norwegian, to J. M. Bryde, of Sandefjord, who renamed her VIKINGEN. On 19 November 1893, the VIKINGEN ex JASON ex ARNOLD BÖNINGER, bound from Glasgow for Christiania, in a sinking condition, was abandoned by her crew in the Biskaya.

Source: Peter-Michael Pawlik, Von der Weser in die Welt; Die Geschichte der Segelschiffe von Weser und Lesum und ihrer Bauwerften 1770 bis 1893, Schriften des Deutschen Schiffahrtsmuseums, Bd. 33 (Hamburg: Kabel, c1993), p. 223, no. 215.