Josef Matula (18)

 

S/S MAIN     Norddeutscher Lloyd (North German Lloyd line)

departure: Bremen 14 April 1907

arrival: New York    27 April 1907

 

type of class: steerage; paid by brother- had $10 in his possession

 

destination: Port Chester, NY

brother: Gregory Matula

 

occupation: laborer

physical description: 5'2" dark complexion, brown hair, blue eyes

 

Source: NARS RG 85 T-715 Roll 877 Group 15 List 21

 

natualized US citizen 23 September 1945 Certificate 1332492

 

laborer in Port Chester, NY

Abendroth Foundry Company

American Vault Company

 

fraternal societies:

First Catholic Slovak

Br. 339 K.J.

SS. Peter & Paul Society

 

m. Emilia Kosina      4 May 1913     St. Mary's Catholic Church     Port Chester

 

 

S/S MAIN (1900) Built by Blohin & Voss, Hamburg, Germany. Tonnage: 10,067. Dimensions: 501' x 58' (520' o.1.). Twin-screw, 14 knots. Quadruple expansion engines. Four masts and one funnel. Tied up at Antwerp during 1914-1918. Came into British hands in 1919.

 

Post-war history: allocated to France which continued to use the same name. Scrapped in 1925.

 

Sister ships: NECKAR and RHEIN

 

Carried 370 cheap Second Class and 3,000 Steerage Class in New York and Baltimore services.

 

Source: Smith, Passenger Ships of the World, pp. 157-158

 

 

 

FATHER: Josef Kosina

age at time of immigration to US: 16

 

S/S Kronprinzessin Cecilie  Norddeutscher Lloyd (North German Lloyd line) (Express Service)

 

departure: Bremen 11 July 1911

arrival: New York   18 July 1911

 

Source: NARS RG 85 T-715 Roll 1710 Group 8 List 24

 

S/S Kronprinzessin Cecile (1906) Built by "Vulkan," Stettin, Germany. Tonnage: 19,503. Dimensions: 685' x 74' (706' o.1.). Twin-screw, 231/2 knots. Quadruple expansion engines. Three masts and fcur funnels. From keel to top of funnels was 131'. Maiden voyage: Bremen - Southhampton - New York, 6 August 1907. She never won the Atlantic speed record for those phenomenal liners like the LUSITANIA and the MAURETANIA were put into service and won the Blue Ribbon before the German steamship had any opportunity to try and annex it.  The Kronprinzessin Cecile was seized by the US in 1917.

Torpedoed 250 miles from Brest on 5 September 1918 between 3d & 4th boiler rooms while employed as the American troopship MOUNT VERNON. Ship listed 15 degrees and speed dropped to 6 knots, but managed to make port. 36 lives lost when it became necessary to close the water tight bulkheads of the engine room.

 

Post-war history: allocated to the US Mail Line, but never recrossed the Atlantic. She and the KAISER WILHELM II (AGAMEMNON) were laid up in the Chesapeake and steadily deteriorated. Both ships were vainly offered to Britain in 1940; scrapped at Baltimore later in the year.

 

Running mates: KAISER WILHELM II (identical), KRONPRINZ WILHELM, and KAISER DER GROSSE.

 

Source:

Smith, Passenger Ships of the World, pp. 137

Gibbs, Passenger Liners of the Western Oceans, pp. 114-145

 

730 First Class, 320 Second Class, and 750 Steerage Class. Consumed a daily 700 tons of coal and was the last non-turbine transatlantic vessel designed for really high speed.