Fifty Years of ND.L. and Melchers & Ca.
On June 29 the Norddeutscher Lloyd Line' celebrated the Golden Jublice of its Far Eastes? service and the firm of Melchers & Ca. the jubilee of their holding the agency of the ND.L, (60 years). The existence of the Norddeutscher Lloyd actually goes back to 1957, when enterprising Bremen merchants, after small begin" nings-in river shipping on the Wes founded the N.D.L. as an overseas shipping company "plying between Europe and America.
For thirty years, development was rapid, especially "in the service to America, and by 1882 the N.D.L. had almost 100 vessels, many of which ranked high in international shipping, but it was not until 1886 that attempt was made o invade the Far East. At" that time, Bismarck Sleamer service to the Orient and 'Australia, and-on June 20, 1886, the first Imperial mail steamer, the s. 'Oder, was commissioned for' the Far East, "leaving Bremerhaven for Shanghai,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.