Black rayon with machine-woven gold-coloured celleon threading, inscribed "Norddeutscher Lloyd" and "D. KAISER WILHELM DER GROSSE" on either side of the blue, white and gold embroidered flag bearing an anchor crossed with a Bremen key and linked by a wreath of oak leaves, representative of the North German Lloyd (Norddeutscher Lloyd, AKA Bremen Line), 32 mm x 935 mm, scattered pinholes at either end, extremely fine.
Footnote: The North German Lloyd (Norddeutscher Lloyd = NDL) was a German shipping company. It was founded by Hermann Henrich Meier and Eduard Crüsemann in Bremen, on February 20, 1857. In the company emblem, an anchor and the Bremen key is crossing each other, surrounded by a wreath of oak leaves. The company was often called the "Bremen Line". It developed into one of the most important German shipping companies of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and was instrumental in the economic development of Bremen and Bremerhaven. In 1897, with the commissioning of SS Kaiser Wilhelm der Gross, the NDL finally had a major ship for the North Atlantic. This was the largest and fastest ship in the world, and the company benefited from the reputation advantage of the Blue Riband for the fastest Atlantic crossing, with an average speed of 22.3 knots. Between 1897 and 1907, the line followed with three further four-screw and four-funnel steamers of the Kaiser class, of 14,000–19,000 GT: the SS Kronprinz Wilhelm, the SS Kaiser Wilhelm II and the SS Kronprinzessin Cecilie. With these, the company offered a regular service across the Atlantic to its docks at Hoboken, New Jersey, across the Hudson River from New York. On September 1, 1970, the company merged with the Hamburg America Line (HAPAG) to form Hapag-Lloyd AG.