Original German Pre-WWII Named Ocean Voyage 1936 Dated Tour Flag from HAPAG Ship SS Reliance – 17 ½” × 21 ½” Original Items

Original Item: Only One Available. Well this is something we have only had one of before! This is a vestige of the Pre-WWII days of trade, when one could travel the world working for a German shipping company, in this case the Hamburg America Line (HAPAG). The ship SS Reliance was a 19,821 gross register tons (GRT) transatlantic steam ocean liner launched in 1914. She was originally named after Johann Heinrich Burchard (1852–1912), a former Mayor of Hamburg. The ship was then sold to a Dutch shipping line in 1916, and renamed her the Limburgia in 1920.

She was then seized by the United States as World War I reparations in 1922. United American Lines (UAL) operated her until 1926, when HAPAG bought her back, renaming her “Reliance”. She was refit in 1927, and after 1928 used entirely for cruising, often going on a world cruise during the winter.

During one of these voyages, a German man named Karl Meyer was on board, and had this lovely “Tour Flag” made to commemorate all of the different countries he had been to, presumably while on board the ship. The flag measures 17 ½” × 21 ½” framed, and is fully embroidered, with the only painted area being the smoke from the ship. As with others we have seen, there is a lot of metal threading used, and the center of the flag there is a small portrait mounted in the center, which we presume is the owner. Surrounding this is an Asian style dragon or Sea Serpent, and t here is a really well executed eagle near the top, and embroidered text that reads:

ZUM ANDENKEN AN MEINE WELTREISE

This translates to “As a memory of my voyage around the world”, and below this is an embroidered image of the ship, and:

S.S. „RELIANCE“
1936
KARL MEYER

The flag is in very good shape, though it should be noted that the dye used on the green threading was most likely UV sensitive, resulting in all of the green fading to an almost grayish color. This also means that any yellow may have faded to an almost white color. From what we can tell, the flags shown are (in clockwise order):

– Japanese “Hinomaru” National Flag
– Panama National Flag
– Possibly the Belgian Flag (Yellow faded to White)
– Danish National Flag
– British Union Jack National Flag
– German NSDAP Reichskriegsflagge War Ensign
– German NSDAP National Flag
– Norwegian Flag (Yellow Faded to White)
– Republic of China National Flag
– Italian National Flag
– Norwegian Flag
– United States Flag

A fantastic embroidered flag from a 1930s era World tour! Definitely some interesting research potential here!