The steamship LEIPZIG was built for Norddeutscher Lloyd by Caird & Co, Greenock, Scotland (yard #149), and was launched on 13 February 1869. 2,388 tons; 91,68 x 11,89 meters (length x breadth); clipper bow, 1 funnel, 2 masts; iron construction, screw propulsion, low-pressure, single expansion engine, 1,150 hp, service speed 10 knots; accommodation for 84 passengers in 1st class and 735 in steerage.

Built for Norddeutscher Lloyd's Bremen-Baltimore service. 5 May 1869, maiden voyage, Bremen - Southampton - Baltimore. 13 January 1872, first voyage, Bremen - Southampton - New York (5 roundtrip voyages). Winter 1876/77, forward cabin replaced by cargo hatch. 1883, compound engine and new boilers by Hennings & Co, Bremen; 1,250 hp, service speed 12 knots. 25 October 1883, first voyage, Bremen - South America. 12 May 1886, last voyage, Bremen-Baltimore. 10 May 1894, last voyage, Bremen-South America. September 1894, sold to Norddeutsche Bank; resold to F. K. Raben, Hamburg. Late 1894, broken up in Vegesack (register not closed until 26 January 1898).

Sources: Arnold Kludas, Die Seeschiffe des Norddeutschen Lloyd, Bd. 1: 1857 bis 1919 (Herford: Koehler, c1991), pp. 18-19 (photographs); Edwin Drechsel, Norddeutscher Lloyd Bremen, 1857-1970; History, Fleet, Ship Mails, vol. 1 (Vancouver: Cordillera Pub. Co., c1994), pp. 50-51, no. 24 (photograph); Noel Reginald Pixell Bonsor, North Atlantic Seaway; An Illustrated History of the Passenger Services Linking the Old World with the New (2nd ed.; Jersey, Channel Islands: Brookside Publications), vol. 2 (1978), p. 547; Noel Reginald Pixell Bonsor, South Atlantic Seaway; An illustrated history of the passenger lines and liners from Europe to Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina (Jersey, Channel Islands: Brookside Publications, c1983), p. 241.

The bremen ship LEONTINE was built at Vegesack/Grohn by Johann Lange for the Bremen firm of D. H. Wätjen & Co, and was launched on 19 April 1844. 287 Commerzlasten/648 tons, 37,8 x 9,2 x 6,4 meters (length x beam x depth of hold).

Under her first master, Wilhelm Ihno Ariaans, the LEONTINE was engaged in "packet" trade between Bremerhaven and America. In 1848, she also sailed with passengers from Bremerhaven to Adelaide, South Australia.

In October 1851, the LEONTINE, under the command of Capt. Ariaans, began a round-the-world voyage, via Rio de Janeiro, San Francisco, Honolulu, and Calcutta, to London. She was the first vessel belonging to Wätjen & Co to round Cape Horn (April 1852). During the voyage, Carl Hinrich Fechter took over command of the ship.

From 1853 for about 5 years the LEONTINE was again engaged in the cotton and tobacco trade with North America. In 1858, Carl L. Deetjen, master, she sailed under charter to the firm of Behn, Meyer & Co to Singapore, returning to Rotterdam with a cargo of coffee. She then made two voyages to the United States, returning on the first voyage to London and on the second to Bremerhaven with shipbuilding timber.

In 1860, the LEONTINE was sold for 20,000 Taler to J. F. Arens, of Bremen, who in 1864 sold her for 19,000 Taler to C. Hendrickson, of Tönsberg, Norway. The last master of the LEONTINE under the Bremen flag was Hermann Renjes, from Bremerhaven.

The LEONTINE appears to have sailed under the Norwegian flag until 1879. The Weser-Zeitung of 20 January 1879 prints the following report:

Vestervig, 17 January. The bark LEONTINE, Gundersen, from and for Tönsberg, from London, in ballast, stranded on the local coast and became a total wreck. The crew was saved.

Source: Peter-Michael Pawlik, Von der Weser in die Welt; Die Geschichte der Segelschiffe von Weser und Lesum und ihrer Bauwerften 1770 bis 1893, Schriften des Deutschen Schiffahrtsmuseums, Bd. 33 (Hamburg: Kabel, c1993), p. 205, no. 176.

The steamship LESSING was built for the Deutsche Transatlantische Dampfschiffahrts-Gesellschaft (more familiarly known as the Adler, or Eagle, Line) by A. Stephen & Sons, Glasgow, and was launched on 20 February 1874. 3,496 tons; 114,3 x 12,2 meters (length x breadth); straight stem, 1 funnel, 2 masts; iron construction, screw propulsion, service speed 13 knots; accommodation for 90 passengers in 1st class, 100 in 2nd class, and 800 in steerage; crew of 110.

28 May 1874, maiden voyage, Hamburg-New York. 4 May 1875, last voyage (of the Adler Line), New York - Plymouth - Cherbourg - Hamburg (6 roundtrip voyages). 29 May 1875, acquired by the Hamburg-America Line. 1 March 1876, first voyage for the Hamburg-America Line, Hamburg - Havre - New York. 1882 refit; 2 funnels. 22 April 1888, last voyage, Hamburg - Havre - New York. 7 June 1888, sold to Messageries Maritimes; renamed NERTHE. 1897, scrapped at Marseilles.

Sources: Arnold Kludas and Herbert Bischoff, Die Schiffe der Hamburg-Amerika Linie, Bd. 1: 1847-1906 (Herford: Koehler, 1979), pp. 34-35 (photograph); Walter Kresse, ed., Seeschiffs-Verzeichnis der Hamburger Reedereien, 1824-1888, Mitteilungen aus dem Museum für Hamburgische Geschichte, N. F., Bd. 5. (Hamburg: Museum für Hamburgische Geschichte, 1969), vol. 1, pp. 103 and 195; Noel Reginald Pixell Bonsor, North Atlantic Seaway; An Illustrated History of the Passenger Services Linking the Old World with the New (2nd ed.; Jersey, Channel Islands: Brookside Publications), vol. 1 (1975), p. 392; vol. 2 (1978), p. 952.