The Bremen bark MAGDALENE was built at Vegesack/Grohn by Johann Lange, for the Bremen firm of D. H. Wätjen & Co., and was launched on 15 March 1847. She was named after the eldest daughter of C. H. Wätjen. 167 Commerzlasten / 340 tons register; 32,8 x 8,4 x 4,4 meters (length x beam x depth of hold).

30 April 1847, maiden voyage to New York. Under captains Johann Heinrich Kuhlmann and Gerhard Bremer she carried passengers to either New York or New Orleans, returning with a cargo of either tobacco or cotton. 27 October 1855, last voyage under the Bremen flag to New York. She then proceeded with a cargo of cotton to Genoa, where in May 1856 she was sold to Fratelli Rossi, renamed CARLOTTA, and placed under the flag of the kingdom of Sardinia. Her new master was A. Chiozzia. The CARLOTTA appears in the records until the mid-1860's; her ultimate fate is not known at present.

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. 211, no. 191.

The steamship MAIN, the first of three steamships of this name owned by Norddeutscher Lloyd, was built by Caird & Co, Greenock (yard #146), and was launched on 22 August 1868. 2,898 tons; 106,19 x 12,22 meters (length x breadth); clipper bow (last of the New York route ships so built), 1 funnel, 2 masts; iron construction, screw propulsion (single expansion engine), 1800 hp, service speed 12 knots; accommodation for 70 passengers in 1st class, 100 in 2nd class, and 600 in steerage; crew of 105.

28 November 1868, maiden voyage, Bremerhaven - Southampton - New York. 1878, engine compounded by Caird & Co (3,000 hp), new boilers, service speed 14 knots. 6 March 1890, last voyage, Bremerhaven-New York. 1890, Bremerhaven-Baltimore service. 11 March 1891, sold to Anglo-American Steamship Co, A. Rimmer & Co, Liverpool, managers. 23 March 1892, on voyage from New Orleans bound for Liverpool, burned out at Fayal, Azores, over her full length, and left there to disintegrate.

Sources: Arnold Kludas, Die Seeschiffe des Norddeutschen Lloyd, Bd. 1 (Herford: Koehler, c1991), p. 14; Edwin Drechsel, Norddeutscher Lloyd Bremen, 1857-1970; History, Fleet, Ship Mails, vol. 1 (Vancouver: Cordillera Pub. Co., c1994), p. 49, no. 21; 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. 2 (1978), p. 546. Note that the photograph in Michael J. Anuta, Ships of Our Ancestors (Menominee, MI: Ships of Our Ancestors, 1983), p. 183, which purports to be of the MAIN is in fact not of this ship, but of her sister ship, the DONAU (see Kludas, op. cit., p. 15.

The Bremen brig MARIANNE was built at Vegesack/Fähr by H[ermann] F[riedrich] Ulrichs, and launched on 3 January 1843. 63 Commerzlasten / 153 tons register; 23,7 x 6,7 x 3,2 meters (length x beam x depth of hold).

Owners:
     1843-1846 - B. Grovermann & Co, Bremen (1/2), and Capt. August Brinkama (1/2)
     1846-1852 - Gebr. Focke, Bremen
     1852-1856 - Gustav Smidt (2/3) and Capt. Hermann Renjes, Bremen (1/3)
     1856-1857 - Gustav Smidt

Masters:
     1843-     - August Brinkama
         -1851 - Theodor Prange
     1851-1852 - Gerhard Wallrafe
     1852-     - Hermann Renjes
         -1857 - Hermann Hinrich Claussen, Bremen

On 10 March 1857, the MARIANNE, Capt. Claussen, bound from Cardiff for Bremen with a cargo of coal, was lost on Terschelling banks, with the loss of 2 of her crew.

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), pp. 266-267, no. 10.

The British ship MARIANNE, 673/797 tons (old/new measurement), was built at Quebec in 1846. Marine Museum of the Great Lakes at Kingston, Wallace Ship List gives the following information on the MARIANNE:

Vessel Name        : MARIANNE
Rigging            : SHIP
Tonnage            : 796
Length             : 139
Breadth            : 28.40
Depth              : 21.40
Date Built         : 1846
Province Built     : Quebec
Builder's Name     : Richard Jeffery
Data Source        : FREDERICK W. WALLACE - RECORD OF CANADIAN SHIPPING 1786-1920

According to the annual volume of Lloyd's Register of Shipping for 1848/49: master: Campbell; owner: Wardlow; port of registry and survey: Belfast; destined voyage: Quebec [stamped underneath: New York]. The MARIANNE last appears in Lloyd's Register for 1858/59: master: W. Allen; owner: Downing; port of registry: Falmouth; port of survey: Liverpool; destined voyage: Quebec.

The steamship MARSALA was built for the Hamburg shipowner Robert M. Sloman by Alexander Stephen & Sons, Glasgow, and was launched on 3 May 1882. 2,406 tons; 97,42 x 11,02 x 7,49 meters (length x breadth x depth of hold); straight stem, 1 funnel, 3 masts; iron construction, single screw propulsion, service speed 10 knots; crew of 35.

The MARSALA was intended for Sloman's Hamburg-Australia service, and on 31 May 1882 was registered with the subsidiary firm of Australia-Sloman Linie-AG. In 1886, Sloman, faced with competition from Norddeutscher Lloyd, which had received a vital government subsidy for carrying the mails, withdrew this service, and transferred the MARSALA to the Union Line, which he had just formed with his uncle, Edward Carr, to run a cargo and passenger service between Hamburg and New York; accommodation for 600 passengers in steerage. 2 September 1886, first voyage, Hamburg-New York. 7 October 1897, last voyage, Hamburg-New York. 12 October 1911, sold to Beraldo & Devoto, Genoa. 2 July 1913, sunk in collision with the Italian steamship CAMPIDANO off Gianutis.

Sources: Ernst Hieke, Rob. M. Sloman jr., errichtet 1793, Veröffentlichungen der Wirtschaftsgeschichtlichen Forschungsstelle e.V., Hamburg, 30 (Hamburg: Verlag Hanseatischer Merkur, 1968), pp. 385, 392, 396; Walter Kresse, ed., Seeschiffs-Verzeichnis der Hamburger Reedereien, 1824-1888, Mitteilungen aus dem Museum für Hamburgische Geschichte, N. F., Bd. 5. (Hamburg: Museum für Hamburgische Geschichte, 1969), vol. 1, p. 104, vol. 2, p. 220; 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. 3 (1979), p. 1166; Arnold Kludas, Die Geschichte der Deutschen Passagierschiffahrt, Bd. 1: Die Pionierjahre von 1850 bis 1890, Schriften des Deutschen Schiffahrtsmuseums, 22 (Hamburg: Kabel, c1986), p. 118. There may be information on the MARSALA among the records of her builders, Alexander Stephen & Sons Ltd, now deposited in the Glasgow University Archives and Business Records Centre and in the Manuscripts Department, National Maritime Museum, Greenwich.

The steamship MARTHA was built for Stettiner Lloyd by G. Howaldt, Kiel, and was launched in April 1884. 2,107 tons; 87,30 x 10,99 x 7,60 meters (length x breadth x depth of hold); straight stem, 1 funnel, 2 masts; steel construction, screw propulsion, compound engines (2 cylinder), service speed 10 knots; accommodation for 25 passengers in 1st class and 600 in steerage; crew of 40.

Stettiner Lloyd had been founded in 1880 to provide a service from Stettin to New York via Scandinavian ports. The company owned only two vessels, the KÄTIE, 2,737 tons, built by Alexander Stephen & Sons, Glasgow, in 1880, and the MARTHA. 12 July 1884, maiden voyage, Stettin - Swansea - New York. Stettiner Lloyd's service was not a success, and in 1886 was abruptly withdrawn, without warning, the MARTHA undertaking the last sailing, leaving Stettin on 17 April 1886, and Gothenburg on 4 May 1886. The MARTHA had made a total of 9 roundtrip voyages for Stettiner Lloyd. The company went into liquidation, and the MARTHA was acquired by G. Howaldt, her builders, who were almost certainly owed a significant portion of her original purchase price. 1889, purchased by Diederichsen, Kiel. 1900, purchased by Koshkin, Rostov, and renamed METSCHTA (Russian registry). 1906, sold to ROPIT, Odessa. 1923, purchased by Caillol, Marseilles, and renamed MURAT (French registry). 1926, scrapped.

Sources: Arnold Kludas, Die Geschichte der Deutschen Passagierschiffahrt, Bd. 1: Die Pionierjahre von 1850 bis 1890, Schriften des Deutschen Schiffahrtsmuseums, 22 (Hamburg: Kabel, c1986), p. 116; 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. 3 (1979), pp. 1055-1056.

The Danish schooner MARTIN LUTHER was built at Karlshamn, Sweden, in 1822. I have no record of here measurements, but her cargo capacity was rated at 60 Commerzlasten (Hamburg). She was originally owned in Altona - now part of Hamburg, but in the 19th century a port city in the Danish-ruled duchy of Holstein - and was later known first as MARIA HENRIETTE. On 14 June 1832, the MARIA HENRIETTE ex MARTIN LUTHER was purchased from Schagen, of Altona, by the Hamburg merchant Matthias Diederich August Segnitz, who renamed her MAGDALENE WILHELMINE, and who on 14 March 1842 sold her to Willem Smitt, also of Hamburg.

Masters:
     1832-1834 - H. J. Schagen [presumably her prior owner]
     1834-1838 - N. Quedens
     1838-1841 - C. A. Nueschke
     1842-1845 - W. Smitt [owner]

Voyages:
     1832      - Port au Prince
     1832/33   - Port au Prince/Jeremie, Haiti
     1833      - Bilbao/Malaga
     1833/34   - Madeira/Port au Prince
     1834      - Malaga
     1834/35   - Port au Prince
     1835      - Port au Prince/Santo Domingo
     1835/36   - Port au Prince
     1836/37   - Malaga/intermediate ports/Santiago de Cuba
     1837      - New York/Puerto Rico
     1837/38   - St. Thomas
     1838      - Port au Prince
     1838/39   - Jersey/Lisbon
     1839      - Boston, Massachusetts/Malaga
     1840      - Le Havre/Rio de Janeiro
     1840/41   - Rio de Janeiro
     1841      - Madera/Rio de Janeiro
     1842-1845 - Algiers/intermediate ports/Gibraltar
     1845      - Port au Prince

The MAGDALENE WILHELMINE ex MARIA HENRIETTE ex MARTIN LUTHER disappeared in 1845, on a voyage from Santo Domingo to Hamburg.

Source: Walter Kresse, ed., Seeschiffs-Verzeichnis der Hamburger Reedereien, 1824-1888, Mitteilungen aus dem Museum für Hamburgische Geschichte, N. F., Bd. 5 (Hamburg: Museum für Hamburgische Geschichte, 1969), vol. 2, pp. 200 and 221.

The British bark MARY BELL was built at Newcastle in 1851. 380/412 tons (old/new measurement) (1851); 375 tons (1863/64). 109.2 x 24.8 x 17.9 feet (length x beam x depth of hold). The annual volumes of Lloyd's Register of Shipping for 1851/52 through 1854/55 give the following information:

Master:            W. Dunn
Owner:             T. R. Bell
Port of Registry:  Shields
Port of Survey:    Newcastle
Destined Voyage:   Aden

The MARY BELL last appears in the annual volume of Lloyd's Register for 1871/72, although she was last surveyed in March 1866.

The U.S. ship MARY PHILLIPS was built at New York in 1840, and was registered at New York on 25 September 1840. 386 tons; 116.5 x 27.5 feet (length x beam.

In 1849, the MARY PHILLIPS was purchased by the Bremen firm of Konitzky & Thiermann, who renamed her HUDSON, as a replacement for the bark of the same name belonging to the firm, which had been lost in January 1849 on a voyage from Puerto Rico to Bremen; 229 Lasten (Bremen). Konitzky & Thiermann employed the HUDSON in the North Atlantic, carrying emigrants to New York and returning to Europe with tobacco and cotton.

Masters:
     1849-1852 - Hermann Hohorst (he had been first master of the Bremen
                 bark HUDSON from 1842 to 1847)
     1853      - Diedrich Schilling
     1853-     - C. Nordenholz

In 1858, the HUDSON was purchased by the Bremen firm of B. Grovermann & Co, for whom she became a whaler. In 1870/71, Capt. Johann Heinrich Westermeyer, she was the last vessel of Bremen registry to undertake a whaling expedition to Greenland.

On 5 October 1872, the HUDSON was sold to the AG Deutsche Polarschiffahrts-Gesellschaft, in Hamburg, who renamed her ISLAND; 153 Commerzlasten (Hamburg). In 1875, she was sold again, to Gjertsen, in Tönsberg, Norway. I have no information on her later history or ultimate fate.

Sources: Forrest R. Holdcamper, comp., List of American-flag Merchant Vessels that received Certificates of Enrollment or Registry at the Port of New York, 1789-1867 (Record Groups 41 and 36), National Archives Publication 68-10, Special Lists 22 (Washington, DC: National Archives and Records Service, 1968), p. 465; Walter Kresse, ed., Seeschiffs-Verzeichnis der Hamburger Reedereien, 1824-1888, Mitteilungen aus dem Museum für Hamburgische Geschichte, N. F., Bd. 5 (Hamburg: Museum für Hamburgische Geschichte, 1969), vol. 1, p. 14; Johannes Lachs, Schiffe aus Bremen; Bilder und Modelle im Focke-Museum (Bremen: H. M. Hauschild, [1994]), p.116, no. 90.

The British clipper ship MATILDA WATTENBACH was built under special Lloyd's Register of Shipping survey at St. Heliers, Jersey, by Frederick C. Clarke, in 1853. 1,058 tons; 211.5 x 35.4 x 20.2 ft (length x,beam x depth of hold). Principal owners: J. J. Melhuish, of Liverpool, and T. H. A. Wattenbach, of London. The MATILDA WATTENBACH first traded between Liverpool and Calcutta under Captains John Clare and James Berriman. After three years Wattenbach became the principal of numerous part-owners, and the MATILDA WATTENBACH was re-registered at London, and was re-admeasured at 954 tons. In 1863, after trading for some years out of London to the Cape of Good Hope and to New Zealand, she was acquired by Philip Blyth, of London. In the following year she was sold foreign, but within a few days was purchased by Alexander Fotheringham and renamed RACEHORSE. (The "foreign" sale and the re-sale, within a few days, to the Englishman Alexander Fotheringham were to effect a change in the vessel's name, since between 1786 and 1871 British vessels were forbidden by statute - one of the measures to combat smuggling - from changing names. A shipowner could evade this provision by ostensibly selling the vessel to a foreigner, then buying it back a few days later. Upon its sale to the foreigner the vessel was considered no longer British, so a British subject who purchased it even a few days later could rename it anything he wished.) Fotheringham was joined as part owner by John Smurthwaite, a Sunderland merchant, and the next voyage of the ship, its first under its new name of RACEHORSE, was from Sunderland to Hong Kong. For the next few years she traded out of London, making voyages to Swan River and Madras, to Sydney and Demerara, to Auckland and Sydney. In 1870, the RACEHORSE ex MATILDA WATTENBACH was purchased by Thomas Ridley Oswald, Sunderland shipbuilder, and in 1872 she was sold first to William Wilkinson, of London, and within a month or two to Thomas Redway, an Exmouth shipowner. Her last voyage under the British flag was made during 1869-1871, from Sunderland to Hong Kong and back to London. She was then sold foreign [Frank Charles Bowen, The Golden Age of Sail: Indiamen, Packets and Clipper Ships ... with Illustrations from Contemporary Engravings and Paintings in the Macpherson Collection (London: Halton & T. Smith, 1925), p. 40].

The annual volumes of Lloyd's Register of Shipping for 1854/55-1873/74 contain the following information on the MATILDA WATTENBACH, later RACEHORSE:

Name:
     1854/55-1863/64 - MATILDA WATTENBACH
     1863/64-1873/74 - RACEHORSE

Built:  Jersey 1853, under special survey

Tonnage:
     1854/55-1856/57 - 1300/1058 (old/new measurement)
     1857/58-1863/64 - 955
     1863/64-1873/74 - 1077

Measurements (1863/64)- 210 (corrected to 209.3) x 35 (corrected to 36.1) x 20 feet
                       (length x beam x depth of hold)

Rig:  Ship

Master:
     1854/55-1855/56 - J. Clare
     1856/57         - [not given]
     1857/58-1858/59 - Berryman
     1859/60-1860/61 - T. Denkin
     1861/62-1863/64 - W. Goudie
     1863/64-1865/66 - J. Mann
     1865/66-1867/68 - Matthews
     1867/68-1870/71 - W. Sewan
     1870/71-1873/74 - E. Peacock

Owner:
     1854/55-1856/57 - Melhuish
     1857/58-1863/64 - Watenbach
     1863/64-1866/67 - "Smrthwaite &"
     1866/67-1869/70 - A. Fotheringham
     1869/70-1870/71 - Oswald & Co
     1871/72-1873/74 - [not given]

Port of Registry:
     1854/55-1856/57 - Liverpool
     1857/58-1869/70 - London
     1869/70-1870/71 - Sunderland
     1871/72-1873/74 - [not given]

Port of Survey:
     1854/55-1855/56 - Jersey
     1856/57-1858/59 - Liverpool
     1859/60-1863/64 - London
     1863/64-1865/66 - Sunderland
     1865/66-1869/70 - London
     1870/71-1871/73 - Sunderland

Destined Voyage:
     1854/55-1856/57 - [not given]
     1857/58-1858/59 - Calcutta
     1859/60-1861/62 - Cape of Good Hope
     1861/62-1863/64 - New Zealand
     1863/64-1865/66 - China
     1865/66-1867/68 - Freemantle
     1867/68-1869/70 - New Zealand
     1869/70-1873/74 - China

According to Marten A. Syme, Shipping arrivals and departures: Victorian ports, vol. 2: 1846-1855, Roebuck Society Publication No. 39 (Melbourne: [Roebuck Society], 1987), p. 247, the ship MATILDA WATTENBACH, 1050 tons, J. Clair[e], master, arrived at Melbourne on 27 April 1854, having sailed from Liverpool on 6 December 1853, via Lisbon (where she had called after having been dismasted), with 15 cabin and 41 intermediate passengers, and merchandise. According to Ian Hawkins Nicholson, Log of logs; a catalogue of logs, journals, shipboard diaries, letters, and all forms of voyage narratives, 1788 to 1988, for Australia and New Zealand and surrounding oceans, vol. 1, Roebuck Society Publication No. 41 (Yaroomba, Qld: The Author jointly with the Australian Association for Maritime History, [1990]), p. 335, there is a diary of this voyage, by Nathaniel Levy, in the Australian Manuscripts Collection, La Trobe Library, State Library of Victoria, in Melbourne, MS 8021; extracts in Don E. Charlwood, The Long Farewell (Ringwood, Vic., Australia: Allen Lane, 1981). The MATILDA WATTENBACH cleared for Sydney on June 7, with part of her original cargo but no passengers, but ran foul of a vessel in the bay, lost her bowsprit and rudder, and returned to port for repairs; she sailed for Sydney on 23 July 1855, and arrived there on 28 July.

Copies of the Matilda Athenaeum, a newspaper published during a voyage of the MATILDA WATTENBACH from England to Calcutta in 1859/60 are held by the National Maritime Museum, in Greenwich.

According to Nicholson, vol. 1, p. 335, notes by the Rev. S. Edger, June-6 September 1862, during a voyage to New Zealand are held by the Mitchell Library, Sydney, B1507.

According to Nicholson, vol. 1, p. 432, records for two voyages of the vessel as the RACEHORSE survive:

1. Convict transport, 1077 tons, A. J. Mann, master, from Portland 26 May 1865, arrived Fremantle 10 August 1865, with 278 male convicts. The surgeon's journal of the passage is in the Public Record Office, Kew, MT32/9. Captain Mann's account, "A Boy's Voyage in a Convict Ship," written years later, is published in Blackwood's Magazine, vol. 273, no. 1649 (1953); extracts from this have been published in Charles Bateson, The Convict Ships, 1787-1868 (Glasgow: Brown, Son & Ferguson, 1959).
2. Capt. M. H. Seward, from London 27 March 1868, arrived Auckland 8 July 1868, with 54 settlers; dismasted on 16 June 1868. A brief account of the voyage is published in Sir Henry Brett, White Wings, vol. 2: Founding of the provinces and old-time shipping (Auckland: Brett, 1928).