This book describes the lascinating history of the North American ocean liner services of Hapag-Lloyd AG, Germany's largest private transport company, since the inauguration of their North Atlantic service by the clipper "Deulschland" from Hamburg lo New York on the 15th October 1848 until today. It is at the same time the history of one of the most unusual shipping companies. For centuries after The discovery of the New World (1492) Germany was cut off by the shipping and trading monopolies of the colonial powers from direct access to the overseas markels. Despite her early seafaring activities at the time of the Hanse, Germany was subsequenlly reduced to a landlocked country. Being cut off from the rapidly expanding world ocean trade not only had economical but also considerable political and intellectual historical consequences. Only through the declaration of independence by the United States (1776) and by the Latin American countries (1816-1830) did the siluation change fundamentaliy. From now on the markets of the Weslern Hemisphere were also opened up to German merchants and shipping companies and the prospects for a better and more liberal life induced millions of Europeans to emigrate to America in the 19th century. The Hamburg-America Line (Hapag) and the North German Lloyd, Bremen, which amalgamated to form Hapag-Lloyd AG in 1970 provided the transport bridges to convey those tremendous streams of emigrants and the rapidly expanding freight traffic through their regular and dependable liner services to North America. Not only has this bridge fostered German- American relations to the benefit of their mutual foreign trade, it has also strengthened their countries' cullural ties.