[Image: Cropped map of 1871–1914 Europe; Text: Irish-Danish-German Heritage]

(Europe, 1871–1914)

SS Suevia

Irish–Danish–German Heritage

The SS Suevia of the Hamburg America Line was built in 1874. Suevia is the Latin name for the southwestern German region of Swabia, currently divided between the German states of Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria.

Relevant route:

Relevant passengers:

S.S. “Suevia”
Full
[Image: One-funnel, two-masted steamship near land]
Close-up of never-official 42-star United States flag
[Image: Close-up of United States flag on SS Suevia]

Source: Reproduced from image of dry-plate negative by John S. Johnston, “S.S. Suevia,” ca. 1890 (Detroit, MI: Detroit Publishing Co.), http://www.loc.gov/item/det1994001223/PP/; image cropped of white background, main caption in the original.

Note: The Library of Congress gives the photograph date as between 1890 and 1894. The photograph should be from between soon after 11 November 1889 and soon after 3 July 1890, as the ship’s foremast bears a 42-star United States flag that never became official. On 11 November 1889 Washington became the 42nd state of the United States. On the following 4 July 1890 the 42-star flag would have become official. But the day before, 3 July 1890, Idaho became the 43rd state and the official flag of 4 July 1890 had 43 stars. Seven days later, Wyoming became the 44th state, and on 4 July 1891 the 44-star flag became official (American National Flag: 42 Stars, Washington Statehood; An Unofficial State Count, c1890, Rare Flags, http://rareflags.com/RareFlags_Showcase_IAS_00276.htm; Flag Timeline, The Betsy Ross Homepage, http://www.ushistory.org/betsy/flagfact.html).

On the stern of the ship is the black-white-red flag of the German Empire (1871–1918), depicted below:
[Image: North German Confederation flag]

SS Suevia history
Ship nameDatesLineCountryEnd

Sources: Data from:
SS Suevia1874–1896Hamburg America Line (Hamburg-Amerikanische Packetfahrt-Actien-Gesellschaft [Hapag])Germanysold and renamed, 1896
SS Quatre Amis1896–1898[Unknown]Francescrapped, 1898
SS Suevia statistics

Sources: Data from:

  • American Shipmasters’ Association 1885, 918.
  • Lloyd 1878, 683.
TonnageNet tons: 2,454 [in 1878] / 2,700 [in 1885]
Gross tons: 3,609 [in 1878] / 3,704 [in 1885]
Length360.3 feet
Breadth (beam)41.0 feet
Depth26.0 feet
Horsepower500
Built1874, Caird & Co., Greenock, Scotland, U.K.
OwnerHamburg-Amerikanische Packetfahrt-Actien-Gesellschaft [Hamburg America Line]
NationGermany
Hailing portHamburg

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