The Hamburg ship ODER was built at Burg [now part of D-28719 Bremen], by J. H. Bosse, and launched on 29 March 1851; she had been purchased on the stocks by the Hamburg-Amerikanische Packetfahrt-Actiengesellschaft (Hamburg-America Line). 276 Commerzlasten / 690 tons register; 42 x 8,7 x 6,4 meters (length x beam x depth of hold); accommodation for 20 passengers in 1st class, 20 in 2nd class, and 249 in steerage; crew of 20.

Masters:
     1851      - P. H. Decker
     1851-1855 - H. Ehlers
     1855-1857 - H. F. Schwensen
     1857-1858 - J. E. Meier
     1858-1868 - J. F. C. Winzen

Voyages:
     1851      - New York
     1851/52   - New York/Rotterdam
     1852      - New York/London
     1852/53   - New York/London
     1853-1856 - New York
     1856/57   - New Orleans
     1857      - New York
     1857/58   - New York/Amsterdam
     1858      - New York
     1858/59   - New Orleans
     1859      - New York/Quebec
     1859/60   - New Orleans
     1860      - Quebec/London
     1860/61   - New York/Cardiff
     1861      - Quebec/Dublin
     1861/62   - New York/London
     1862      - New York/London
     1862/63   - New York/London
     1863      - New York
     1863/64   - New York/Cardiff
     1864-1865 - New York
     1865/66   - New York/Antwerp
     1866      - New York (twice)
     1866-1868 - laid up 22 months in Hamburg

In 1868, the ODER was sold to R. V. Beselin, of Rostock, who re-rigged her as a bark and renamed her MUTTER SCHULTZ; Schultz, master. On 29 December 1868, the MUTTER SCHULTZ arrived at Sao Vicente, Cape Verde Islands, from Newport, Wales, most probably with a cargo of coal; on 12 January 1869, she sailed for Pensacola, Florida, whence she returned to Milford and Newport. On 28 July 1869, she sailed from Newport for St. Thomas, whence she sailed again for Pensacola. On or about 16 December 1869, she sailed from Pensacola, bound for Hartlepool, England, but shortly afterwards stranded on Sugarloaf Reef (or Sal Bunches) and was lost; the captain and part of the crew landed in Key West on 28 December 1869; the hull and cargo were sold on the spot.

Sources: 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. 188; Arnold Kludas and Herbert Bischoff, Die Schiffe der Hamburg-Amerika Linie, Bd. 1: 1847-1906 (Herford: Koehler, 1979), p. 21 (picture); 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. 387 (painting by Roger Chapelet) and 388, no. 85. No contemporary picture of the ODER appears to exist: the picture in Kludas's and Bischoff's work is modern, as is the painting by Roger Chapelet in Pawlik's work.

The steamship ODER, the first of two vessels of this name owned by Norddeutscher Lloyd, was built by Caird & Co, Greenock (yard #177), and launched in December 1873. 3,158 tons; 106,69 x 12,12 meters (length x breadth); straight stem; 1 funnel, 2 masts; iron construction, screw propulsion, compound engines (2 cylinders), service speed 13 knots; accommodation for 90 passengers in 1st class, 126 in 2nd class, and 650 in steerage; crew of 103.

23 May 1874, maiden voyage, Bremen - Southampton - New York. 26 April 1885, last voyage, Bremen - Southampton - New York. 1886, rebuilt for the Reichpostdampferdienst (Imperial German Mail Steamer Service) to the Far East; new engines, high-pressure boilers, service speed 13.5 knots, passenger accommodation reconfigured. 30 June 1886, first voyage (and first voyage of service), Bremen-Suez Canal-Shanghai (arrived 15 August 1886). 30 May 1887, wrecked on the extreme southeastern rock outcrop of Socotra Island, Indian Ocean, with the loss of 4 lives (including the first East Asia Sea Post canceller) when one of the boats capsized; the surviving 61 passengers and 111 crew were rescued three days later by the Blue Funnel Line steamship CYCLOPS, which took them to Aden; the crew reached Bremerhaven on 19 July 1887 on board the Norddeutscher Lloyd steamship NECKAR.

Sources: Arnold Kludas, Die Seeschiffe des Norddeutschen Lloyd, Bd. 1: 1857 bis 1919 (Herford: Koehler, c1991), p. 26 (picture); Edwin Drechsel, Norddeutscher Lloyd Bremen, 1857-1970; History, Fleet, Ship Mails, vol. 1 (Vancouver: Cordillera Pub. Co., c1994), pp. 23, 71 (picture); 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. 550.