Looking for info on the S.S. Hessen

speleobat2 · Post by **speleobat2** » Fri Jun 20, 2008 1:45 am

I started looking at links on this forum and have found myself awash in them!

What I need is a site which might have information on the ships of the Hamburg America Line circa 1927. I just received a copy of the death cert. for my great aunt Agnes Monro's husband David T. Monro and found that he died on board the S.S. Hessen in Kobe Harbour, Japan Apr. 25, 1927. He was a marine engineer.

The only information on a ship named S.S. Hessen that I found when I googled for it was for a German gunboat of some sort!

Since my great aunt and uncle were in the far east doing missionary work in China, I'm having trouble believing that this was the correct ship!

If someone could help me narrow the search, I would appreciate it!

Thanks,
Carol

Currie · Post by **Currie** » Fri Jun 20, 2008 11:06 am

Hello Carol,

I can see what you mean about the warship dominating the articles. There’s not much around for the civilian model.

Looks like the company had a few variations in its name: Hamburg-Amerikanische, Hamburg-Amerika and Hamburg-American etc.

According to http://www.theshipslist.com/ships/lines/hamburg.html the Hessen, 8,116 tons, was owned by them 1921 to 1935 when it was sold to Unterweser, Bremen, and renamed Fechenheim.

12 Feb, 1943, Russian submarine K-3 torpedoes and heavily damages the German merchant Fechenheim (8116 GRT) off the Batsfjord. The Fechenheim is beached to prevent sinking. Later the ship is salvaged and towed back to Germany but she was deemed beyond repair.
http://www.uboat.net/allies/warships/ship/5125.html

A search for hessen under the advertising category 1920-1936 in the London Times brought up a couple, Monday, Aug 01 and 15th, 1927, regarding the Hamburg-Amerika Linie - Hessen leaving Rotterdam Aug 17 1927, calling at Japan etc.

I think this page has all you need including a photo but I don’t speak German.
http://www.schiffe-maxim.de/Hessen.htm

How’s that,
Alan

speleobat2 · Post by **speleobat2** » Fri Jun 20, 2008 11:56 am

Thanks Alan,

I printed out the page in German. I don't know German either, but my next door neighbor does so I'll have her translate it! This doesn't look like it carried many passengers, but I guess people did travel on freighters sometimes.

The only pictures that I have of my great aunt show her in those long dresses with lots of draping, wide shoulder pads, high necklines etc. Picture her strolling the deck of this ship! Of course, this was 1927. Maybe she was a flapper by then!!!

Carol

speleobat2 · Post by **speleobat2** » Fri Jun 20, 2008 3:03 pm

Hi again,

The German article says basically the same things as the other articles, but does include the information that the Hessen had accomodations for 18 first class passengers.

Carol

heymarky · Post by **heymarky** » Fri Jun 20, 2008 8:55 pm

Wikipedia has an entry for the Kobe Municipal Foreign Cemetery. The page is in Japanese, but there are photos of the cemetery. The page lists some of the famous occupants, but none are named Monro and I find no mention of Scotland. (there is a bit about 11 French Sailors.)

The city of Kobe has an information page (in Japanese) with another photo.

Tried Google'ing (in Japanese) for 'historical newspaper' and various combinations of '1927 Kobe Hessen Monro' with no results.

Have you tried the British papers from 1927? (I'm thinking Gale Collection...)

speleobat2 · Post by **speleobat2** » Sat Jun 21, 2008 1:39 am

Hi Mark,

Thanks for the info. I found the page with the 4 pictures--think it was on Wikimedia. It looks like a very nice cemetery. Would be interesting to know if there was a gravestone there for my great uncle, but I suspect that given the limited space, the graves were considered abandoned after a certain length of time and reused. I can't remember anyone in my Dad's family ever talking about a gravesite in Japan.

Checked the papers as did Alan from the post above. Didn't find anything new. This is an interesting story to add to the family tree though!

Carol

heymarky · Post by **heymarky** » Sat Jun 21, 2008 5:50 am

Oops.

That's what I get for letting my daytime job distract me from more important things...

I could've sworn that I had read in your posting that you had a photo of his gravestone...thought you might be able to spot it in one of the pictures.

speleobat2 · Post by **speleobat2** » Sat Jun 21, 2008 11:37 am

Hi Mark,

I have a picture of his grave, but it was taken right after the burial. There are two wreaths on the grave, but no stone. My great aunt Agnes ended up back in Scotland. I don't know if she was in Japan long enough to put a stone on the grave and there is nothing really distinctive in the background to help point it out either. Thanks for trying though!

Carol

Currie · Post by **Currie** » Sun Jun 22, 2008 7:07 am

Back again Carol,

On my computer the picture of the Hessen has been squashed into the space made available for it on the web page. If you right click the picture and save it you may get an image more than twice the size. You will be able to clearly read the name on the ship’s side and the caption under the photo if you cannot at present.

If you want a picture of an almost identical ship from a different angle do the same with the first picture on this page. It’s quite a nice ship really. http://www.schiffe-maxim.de/Bayern.html

Alan

speleobat2 · Post by **speleobat2** » Sun Jun 22, 2008 11:51 am

Thanks Alan,

The second picture is much better. The main problem is my own ignorance. I just don't know much about large ships. Don't know much about small ones either really!

Carol