Black rayon with machine-woven gold-coloured celleon threading, inscribed "D. Sierra Cordoba" in running script, flanked by the red, white and gold embroidered Nazi flag at the left and a 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 870 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. The SS Sierra Cordoba was a Norddeutscher Lloyd passenger and cargo ship completed 1913 by AG Vulcan Stettin. The ship operated between Bremen and Buenos Aires on the line's South American service and was equipped with wireless and "submarine sounding apparatus"with accommodations for 116 first class, 74 second class and 1,270 "between decks" passengers. A description after the ship had been seized and restored in 1919 noted she was among the fastest and best equipped ships of the line with accommodations for 115 first class passengers and 1,572 third and steerage class passengers as well as a crew of 179 officers and men. During the First World War, Sierra Cordoba supplied German raiders, particularly SMS Dresden while hiding in the Straits of Magellan. After that ship and Sierra Cordoba moved northward in the Pacific, where the cruiser met British forces, the German liner interned herself in Callao, Peru, named Callao and later transferred to the United States Shipping Board, refurbished by Panama Canal personnel and briefly placed in commission with the United States Navy as USSCallao (ID-4036) to bring service people home from Europe. The ship was sold, renamed Ruth Alexander in 1923 and put into coastwise passenger and cargo service between Puget Sound and Mexico, typically calling at Seattle, Victoria, San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego and (by 1931) Ensenada, Mexico, until finally converted to a cargo ship in 1939. On December 9, 1941, Ruth Alexander arrived in Manila, the day after Manila had learned of the coming of war to the Pacific (December 8th Manila time). The ship survived bombing raids in Manila harbour before attempting to escape on December 28th, as United States forces were retreating into Bataan, and being bombed and abandoned on December 31st. One crew member was lost, four wounded, and all survivors were picked up by a Dutch Dornier 24 bomber. The ship finally sank on January 2nd. On September 1, 1970, the ship's original owners, the North German Lloyd (AKA Bremen Line) merged with the Hamburg America Line (HAPAG) to form Hapag-Lloyd AG.