Port of Registry: Hamburg, Germand
Flag of Registry: German
Funnel color: Buff
Company flag: Blue and white, diagonally quartered;
yellow shield in center with black anchor with H A P A G.
Signal Letters: R M S N
Wireless call letters: D D Z
Details: Accommodation: 60 first class, 1,200 third class; Steel hull; 2 funnels, 2 masts; twin screws; 3 decks; electric light; submarine signal; wireless.
Relationship to Titanic disaster / inquiries.
Westbound, Hamburg to Philadelphia. On Tuesday, April 16, sighted ice at 3:30 a.m., 42.03N., 48.57W. At daybreak saw a huge field of ice containing many large bergs, extending in a horseshoe shape from north to south as far as the eye could see.
The vessel altered her course to the south around 8 a.m., seeking a way through the ice. At 8:40 a.m. a suitable spot was found and the ship proceeded slowly through the ice field from 8:45 to 9:55 a.m., and gained open water at 10 a.m., and took up her true course, S85°W, at 41.37N., 50.14W.'
During the transit of the ice field, the chief steward took a photograph of an iceberg that showed a scar of red paint along its base, as though it had been in recent collision with a ship.
Data:
August 21, 1902
Launched
January 20, 1903
Maiden voyage, Hamburg- Brazil
1904-1906
Genoa-Naples-New York
1909-1912
Hamburg-Quebec-Montreal
1912-1914
Hamburg-Philadelphia
August 1914
Seized by Great Britain at Falmouth
1916
Renamed Princetown
1917
French owners (Cie Sud Atlantique). Renamed Alesia. Reconditioned in England
September 6, 1917
Near Ushant, France: Torpedoed, sunk by German submarine UC-50
' Prinz Adalbert was but one of several ships to sight "the" iceberg suspected of sinking Titanic. For an excellent discussion of ice and Titanic see Dr. Paul Lee's "RMS Titanic: Navigation and Ice Reports" at www. paullee.com/titanic/ice.html
