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Germany : Mecklenburg

Local services from Warnemunde (Rostock)  to coastal resorts and  cross-Baltic ferry service from to Gedser in Denmark

Warnemunde -  Gedser
A passenger steamer service was instituted by the Rostock-Nykjobing Dampfschiffahrts AG between the port city of Rostock and the Danish town of Nykobing in 1873 with the screw vessel Rostock partially subsidised by the Imperial Postal Service to also carry mail. With a new more direct railway route from near Berlin to Rostock and onwards to the port at Warnemunde opened in 1886, a revised route to Gedser in Denmark, itself on the tip of a peninsula and newly linked to the railway network, was introduced, considerably shortening the transit time. Traffic began to grow rapidly. The route was operated by Deutsch-Nordische Lloyd, which had financed the new railway line. Two paddle steamers were delivered by the Vulcan yard at Stettin for the new service and a third, smaller vessel, by the Schichau Shipyard at Elbing was purchased as a back-up vessel.  Rostock was not used by the new owners and eventually sold for service in Italy. The Danish company DFDS put their steamer Freya on the run (replaced by Edda in 1894).

In 1895 the Mecklenburg State Ministry of the Interior took over the ferry service and from 1903, with the railway further extended to a newly-built port terminal, a rail-ferry service was introduced, operated jointly by the Mecklenburg and Danish State railways. Two single-lane paddlers were purchased alongside two twin-lane screw vessels, the latter being primarily for goods traffic.  

Deutsch-Nordische Dampfschiffahrts Gesellschaft AG

Kaiser Wilhelm (1885-1903)
Built in 1885 by Vulkanwerft at Stettin
190.8 ft :  Compoud engine 32.5 and 61 x 49.5 in
Sold for use in Russia based at Yeisk on the Sea of Azov as Grigorij Kozlow
After a couple of changes of ownership and based at Taganrog, she became General N W Rouzsky in 1915

Konig Christian (1884-1903)
Built in 1885 by Vulkanwerft at Stettin
190.8 ft :  Compoud engine 32.5 and 61 x 49.5 in
Sold for use in Russia at Yeisk on the Sea of Azov as  Peterhof
After a couple of changes of ownership and based at Taganrog, she became General A A Brousilov in 1915

Grossherzog Friedrich  Franz  (1886-1896).
Built in 1885 by F Schichau at Elbing
52.3 m : 165 GT. Compound engine
Primarily a reserve ship for the Denmark route but employed on the Warnow river between Rostock and Warnemunde
Later renamed Sassnitz in the service of the Greifswalder Reederei Spruth for cruises from Greifswald to Stralsund and to and around the island of Rugen
From 1904 she sailed on the lower Elbe river for Altona owners FWC Luhr
1905 the vessel was sold for use at on the River Plate at Montevideo, Uruguay and renamed Maldonado

Mecklenburgischen Friedrich Franz Eisenbahn / Mecklenburgisch-Schweriner Landeseisenbahn (1918) / Deutsche Reichsbahn (1920) and Det Danske Statsbaner
Railway carriage-carrying paddle steamers


Above : Friedrich Franz IV (as built) : Post card view. Source : Wikicommons. Public Domain

Friedrich Franz IV 
Built by F Schichau at Elbing
85.2 m : 1402 GT (103.2 m : 1745 GT after lengthening and installation of a second rail track in 1906 at AG Neptun at Rostock)
Scrapped in 1926

Princesse Alexandrine 
Built by F Schichau at Elbing
86.5 m : 1449 GT  (102 m : 1733 GT after lengthening and installation of a second rail track in 1905 at Helsingors Jernskibs- of Maskinbryggeri, at Helsingor)
Danish State Railways
In reserve from 1922. Scrapped in 1935



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