This company, founded in 1857, has its headquarters at Bremen, and is also a very large concern, owning a fleet of eighty steamships, with a total tonnage of over 225,000 and 200,000 indicated horse-power. Among these are a number of very fine express steamers, mostly Clyde-built and fitted up with all the latest improvements in machinery and decoration. The _Kaiser Wilhelm II._, the _Havel_, _Spree_, _Lahn_, _Trave_ and _Fulda_ are all well-known and favourite ships on the Atlantic route. Besides maintaining a weekly service between Southampton and New York, this company has a regular line running direct from New York to Genoa, Naples, Alexandria and other Mediterranean ports, and also lines running to India, China, Japan and Australia. A sad disaster was that which overtook the _Elbe_ of this line in January, 1895, when she was struck amidships by a trading steamer, the _Crathie_, and sank in a few minutes, with the loss of 332 lives, only twenty-seven of the whole ship’s company being saved. In December, 1896, the _Salier_, of this line, while on her voyage from Bremen to Buenos Ayres, foundered off the coast of Spain, when every soul on board perished, numbering about three hundred persons. [Illustration: “PENNSYLVANIA,” HAMBURG-AMERICAN LINE. The largest cargo steamer afloat.] [Illustration: “KAISER WILHELM DER GROSSE,” NORTH GERMAN LLOYD LINE. The largest passenger steamer afloat; holds the Blue Ribbon for the fastest voyage from Southampton to New York, the highest average speed, and the greatest day’s run.] Eight gigantic steamships are being added to the already numerous fleet. Some of these have already been launched at Stettin, Germany. The largest of these leviathans is the _Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse_, which arrived in New York on September 26th, 1897, having made her maiden voyage from Southampton in 5 days, 22 hours, 45 minutes, the fastest on record. Her average speed was over twenty-one knots an hour, and her daily runs as follows: 208, 531, 495, 512, 554, 564, 186; the total distance run was 3,050 knots. Not only has the biggest ship beaten the Southampton record, but on her maiden trip she has made the fastest single day’s run. This she did on the nautical day ending at noon on the 26th, when she reeled off 564 knots. At times she developed twenty-two knots. Her coal consumption, however, was heavy, being nearly five hundred tons a day. She was commanded by Captain H. Englebart. Her return voyage to Plymouth was made in 5 days, 15 hours, 10 minutes; her average speed was about 21.40 knots, and her daily runs were 367, 504, 500, 507, 510, 519, 55; total, 2,962 knots.[24]