One of my favorite stories in Bar Harbor Maine concerns an ocean liner, its cargo of gold and silver and some unusual navigation.
At the end of July 1914 the German ocean liner SS Kronprinzessin Cecilie sailed from New York harbor to Breman Germany. In addition to her full passenger list of 1200 people the ship carried a large amount of gold (over 10 million dollars) and silver (over 3 million). The Cecilie was built in 1906 and was a popular ship on the Atlantic trade. She was a little over 19,000 ton, 700 feet long with a top speed of 23-24 knots.
After an uneventful series of days at sea as the ship neared Liverpool its Captain received a coded message. War had been declared, British ships were probably searching for her and he was advised to turn back to America to avoid capture and loss of cargo. Captain Polark turned his ship about and headed back to American. To throw off any ship that spotted him he had the funnels repainted in White Star Line colors to fool passing ships into thinking he was the RMS Olympic.
But where to go? Both New York and Boston were out if the question. British ships would be patrolling off those ports and looking for enemy shipping. With dwindling coal supplies he headed for the Maine coast. One if his passengers, a summer resident of the town of Bar Harbor and a yachtsman offered to assist navigating them into the small harbor.
they came into the harbor at night. Quite a feat if navigation with the number of islands they had to slip through. When the sleepy town awake at dawn everyone was surprised to find a ocean liner in their small port. A number of passengers had summer residence in the town. They quickly had servants open their homes to wait while transportation to Boston and New York was arranged. Tours of the ship were quickly organized for the locals and just as quickly cancelled when numerous items on the ship disappear due to the fine American habit of taking souvenirs. Governments and bankers became involved in deciding who owned the gold and silver and who now owned the ship. While diplomacy played out the ships' band held daily concerts on the town green.
The ship and its crew were interned and in November they were transferred to Boston. Once America declared war on Germany the ship was sized. Turned into a transport and remained the USS Mount Vernon the old German liner became a troop ship bringing American soldiers to France. During one crossing the ship was hit by a torpedo but managed to limp back to Boston where it was repaired and continued service. Sadly after the war the ship was sold for scrap. A sad but common end for many not these beautiful ships.
Its a great story and each time I go up to Bar Harbor I like sit by the harbor on the green and imagine the ships band playing in the background and the ship sitting peacefully.
