The Bremen ship D. H. WÄTJEN, the first of three vessels of this name, was built at Vegesack/Grohn by Johann Lange, for the Bremen firm of D. H. Wätjen, and launched on 20 March 1855. 573 Commerzlasten; 57,9 x 11,3 x 6,4 meters (length x beam x depth of hold). Until the early 1860's, under her first captain, Hermann Bätjer, the D. H. WÄTJEN made 2 annual sailings from Bremerhaven to New York, on each voyage carrying from 400 to 500 passengers, returning to Europe with a cargo of tobacco and cotton.

In 1859/60, the D. H. WÄTJEN sailed from Cardiff to Valparaiso with a cargo of coal, returning to New York with a cargo of guano. She then engaged in a regular trans-Atlantic service, sailing from New York to Liverpool, to London, and several times to Genoa. Capt. Bätjer was succeeded as master by Adolf Jülicher. On her last voyage, the D. H. WÄTJEN sailed from Livorno to New York with a cargo of marble. On 19 August 1866, the D. H. WÄTJEN lay at a pier in Jersey City, with a full cargo of tobacco, ready to sail for Genoa, when a vessel loaded with petroleum exploded in her immediate vicinity. The D. H. WÄTJEN could not be freed from her moorings, and together with the bark FREE TRADE, which was loading a cargo of tobacco for Naples, was engulfed in flames, becoming a total wreck, although part of her cargo was later salvaged in damaged condition. According to the Bremen Weser-Zeitung for 6 October 1866, the damaged tobacco was sold at auction for approximately $13,800. The complete cargo was insured in France "auf offene Police" for 1 million Franks, and would have been insured for 300,000 additional Francs, if the telegraph report of the fire had not arrived before the insured could establish the full value of the cargo.

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. 227, no. 228.

The German ship D. H. WÄTJEN, the third of three vessels of this name, was built at Vegesack by the Bremer Schiffsbaugesellschaft at a cost of 440,000 marks for the Bremen firm of D. H. Wätjen, and launched on 25 June 1892. 2,065 RT; 82,3 x 12,6 x 73 meters (length x beam x depth of hold); iron construction. International Signal Code: QFRD. Her masters under the German flag were C. Wicke and G. Gerdes. She was employed primarily in carrying coal from British ports to the West Coast of North and South America, returning to Europe with cargos of saltpeter or (occasionally) wheat. In 1913, she was sold for 175,000 marks to the Reederei AG von 1896 in Hamburg, and was renamed ORLANDA. On 10 August 1914, the ORLANDA ex D. H. WÄTJEN was seized in the North Atlantic by the British cruiser ECLIPSE and became a prize of war, sailing for S. P. Derbyshire, Nottingham, under the name CARDONIA. On 16 April 1916, south of Fastnet Rock, the CARDONIA ex ORLANDA ex D. H. WÄTJEN was sunk by the German submarine U67.

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, 1993), p. 312, no. 70.