The Bremen brig BÜRGERMEISTER SMIDT was built by the shipwright Johann Lange, Vegesack/Grohn, for the Bremen firm of J. F. W. Iken & Co, and launched on 4 August 1829. 85 Commerzlasten; 23,9 x 6,9 x 3,8 meters (length x beam x depth of hold). She was engaged primarily in the passenger trade to the United States, as well as in the West Indies trade. In 1846, she was purchased by the Bremen firm of Carl Focke Wwe. & Sohn. Her masters were, in turn, D. Hilken, H. W. Meyer, Joh. Conrad Petersen, D. D. Hermann Beenken, Johann Kühlke, Dettmer Meyer, Theodor Prange, F. W. Volckmann, Johann Hinrich Bramstedt, Cord Hinrich Tepelmann, and Martin Wencke jun., all residents of Bremen or Vegesack.

In 1852, the brig was sold Norwegian, to Capt. Chr. Boye, of Christiansund, but continued to sail under her original name. In February 1854, while waiting to sail for France with a cargo of wood, she was badly damaged in the harbor at Trondheim, and was stranded. She was subsequently purchased by the merchant and consul Einar Gram, who had her repaired by the Trondheim shipwright Michael Voigt. She then returned to service, under the command of Capt. Martin Joachim, trading primarily in European waters, e.g., between Norway and France, Memel, Dundee, Venice, Honfleur, Swansea, Barcelona, St. Davids, and Cadiz. In 1862, the brig was commanded by Edward Gunerius Ranvig, under whom she made several voyages, inter alia, from France to Cagliari. On one of these journeys she was dismasted in the English Channel, and was forced to call at Dover in distress, where she was repaired.

In 1864, the BÜRGERMEISTER SMIDT was broken up at the Charlottenlund Dock in Trondheim.

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. 174, no. 101.

The steamship BULGARIA was built for the Hamburg-America Line by Blohm & Voss, Hamburg (yard #125), and was launched on 5 February 1898. 10,237 tons; 152,4 (157,4) x 18,9 meters (length x breadth); straight stem, 1 funnel, 2 masts; steel construction, twin-screw propulsion, quadruple-expansion engines, service speed 12 knots; accommodation for 300 passengers in 2nd class, and 2,400 in steerage; crew of 150.

10 April 1898, maiden voyage, Hamburg - Halifax - New York. 1-24 February 1899, during return voyage from the United States, rudder disabled in mid-Atlantic during a hurricane, and the vessel saved only by the extraordinary exertions of her crew; she had been given up as lost when she arrived at Ponta Delgada, Azores, on 24 February. 1906, rebuilt: 11,494 tons, steerage passengers only. 1 February 1913, last voyage, Hamburg - Boston - Baltimore. 1 April 1913, pretended sale, without payment, to the Unione Austriaca, as a result of a fare-war with the Canadian Pacific Line on the Mediterranean-Canada route; renamed CANADA. April 1913, first voyage, Trieste - Quebec - Montreal. 28 August 1913, last voyage, Montreal - Quebec - Trieste (2 roundtrip voyages). 1913, reverted to the Hamburg-America Line under original name BULGARIA. 6 December 1913, resumed Hamburg-Boston-Baltimore service. 11 July 1914, last voyage, Hamburg-Baltimore (arrived 27 July). 6 April 1917, seized at Baltimore by the U.S. Government; renamed HERCULES (U.S. Army transport). 1919, renamed PHILIPPINES (U.S. Shipping Board). 1924, scrapped at New York.

Sources: Arnold Kludas and Herbert Bischoff, Die Schiffe der Hamburg-Amerika Linie, Bd. 1: 1847-1906 (Herford: Koehler, 1979), pp. 80-81 (photograph); Arnold Kludas, Die großen Passagierschiffe der Welt; Eine Dokumentation, Bd. 1: 1858-1912 (2nd ed.; Oldenburg/Hamburg: Gerhard Stalling, 1972, pp. 50-51 (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), pp. 404-405. Pictured also in Clas Broder Hansen, Passenger liners from Germany, 1816-1990, translated from the German by Edward Force (West Chester, Pennsylvania: Schiffer Pub., c1991), p. 45.

Screw steamship, schooner rigged, built of iron by Palmer, Newcastle, in 1865. Official Number: 51356; International Signal Code: HDJF. She does not appear in Lloyd's Register until 1874/75. Measurements (she had been lengthened in 1870, so these do not indicate her original size): 614/961/852 tons (net/gross/under deck); 231.8 x 28.2 x 17.4 feet (length x breadth x depth of hold); raised quarter deck 49 tons, forecastle 27 tons; 2 compound vertical engines (by R. & W. Hawthorn, Newcastle), cylinders 28 inches and 50 inches in diameter, length of stroke 30 inches. Owner (1874): W. D. Stephens. Port of Registry: Newcastle. The BUSY BEE is listed in Lloyd's Register for 1881/82.