Harland & Wolff increased her superstructure to four decks, Another glass screen separated her
ballroom and first class dining saloon instead of a
bulkhead. Other passenger comforts included a children's playground and an open air gymnasium. Third class public accommodation included space for dancing and a veranda café.
The New York Times claimed that the ship was fitted out with berths for 2,700 passengers, including 400 in
first class. On 11 July she left New York for Antwerp carrying 290 passengers in first class. On 10 November 1923 she reached
Ellis Island carrying 1,257 European migrants to the U.S., including 278 from the
USSR.
1924 Mediterranean cruise advertisement for
Belgenlands 1924
Mediterranean cruise In May 1923 the British travel agency
Thomas Cook & Son announced that it would
charter Belgenland for a
Mediterranean cruise. Despite her capacity for 2,500 passengers, Thomas Cook set a limit of 500, and secured bookings for 420.
Belgenland began the cruise on 19 January 1924, leaving New York for destinations including
Palestine and
Egypt. Passengers would have the option to see archæological sites including the
Tomb of Tutankhamun, whose recent discovery in November 1922 had inspired great popular interest in
Egyptology.
1924 transatlantic season By spring 1924 the
Scheldt had silted up too much for
Belgenland to reach Antwerp safely. Red Star Line temporarily changed her European terminus to
London. In 1924 her route included calls at
Cherbourg as well as Southampton, plus Halifax, Nova Scotia from June to October, and
Plymouth on eastbound voyages only. The
Scheldt was dredged, and on 7 August
Belgenland resumed sailings to Antwerp. On 20 November she ran aground on a mud bank in the Scheldt. She was briefly
dry docked for her hull to be inspected, found to be undamaged, and continued her voyage to New York. In July 1924 there was another case of theft by members of the ship's crew. It was reported from
Hamburg that 356
registered letters to addressees in
Germany and
Austria had been opened while in transit aboard
Belgenland, and the contents of 328 of those letters had been stolen.
1924–25 World cruise In 1924–25
Belgenland made her first cruise
around the World. Her route was 28,310 miles, and would take 133 days to visit 60 cities in 14 countries. Fares were $2,000 for a single berth and $4,000 for a double suite. The best de luxe suites were $25,000 for four people and $40,000 for six. Gross fare income for this first cruise was about $2 million.
Belgenland started from New York on 4 December 1924 carrying either 350 or 384 passengers (reports differ). She visited
Havana, where she loaded $80,000 worth of liquor, including 23,000 bottles of beer. She then became the largest liner to pass through the Panama Canal. She called at
San Pedro, and embarked another 100 passengers in
San Francisco. From there she crossed the
Pacific via
Honolulu to
Yokohama, then went via
Manila,
Java and
Singapore to the
Indian Ocean. She was then to call at
Port Sudan for her passengers to travel by rail to
Khartoum, and also to
Wadi Halfa to see the
Second Cataract of the Nile. At the time, Red Star Line claimed that
Belgenland was the largest ship to have circumnavigated the globe. The cruise also included a visit to
Shanghai, scheduled for 27 January 1925. But when she arrived, the Chinese fort at
Wusong had been firing at British shipping on the
Huangpu River, so
U.S. Navy Admiral
Charles B. McVay Jr. sent the destroyer to escort her safely in and out of port. When
Belgenland and
Borie anchored in the river, the commander of Wusong fort ordered them to move out of his line of fire, which they did. That night a
Royal Navy light cruiser joined
Belgenland and
Borie at their anchorage. On 18 July she reached New York from Antwerp carrying only 269 passengers. On 23 July she left again carrying only 320 passengers, of whom 122 were in first class. On 12 September she docked in New York carrying 1,326 passengers.
1925–26 World cruise On the night of 25–26 November
Belgenland left New York on her second cruise around the World. She carried 400 passengers, including nine
honeymooning couples. Her route was 30,000 miles and scheduled to take 132 days. She was to repeat her previous year's route via
Cuba, the Panama Canal and California, where she would embark another 75 passengers in San Francisco, and continue to
Hawaii,
Japan,
China,
Philippines, Java and
Malaya. She would then visit
India and
Ceylon, pass through the
Suez Canal, visit Egypt, Palestine,
Italy and
Gibraltar before returning across the Atlantic to New York, where it arrived on 7 April 1926. On 12 September she docked in New York carrying 1,300 passengers. On 24 May 1926
Violet Jessop joined
Belgenlands crew. She had previously been a stewardess and nurse for White Star Line, and survived the sinking of both RMS
Titanic in 1912 and in 1916, which earned her the nickname "Miss Unsinkable". Crew and passengers alike had a high regard for her. She remained with
Belgenland until 23 November 1931, and returned to the ship for summer cruises in 1932, '33 and '34.
1926–27 World cruise On 14 December 1926
Belgenland left New York at the start of her third cruise around the World. Her passengers included the lawyer
Samuel Untermyer, who had suite 27–31 stripped of its Red Star Line furniture and refurnished with furniture from his own home for the duration of the cruise. She followed route similar to that of her previous two World cruises. but instead she added a visit to Bangkok in
Siam.
Belgenland arrived back in New York on 24 April 1927, having covered 30,000 miles in 132 days and visited 23 ports in 15 countries.
1927 transatlantic season After her cruise,
Belgenland resumed her transatlantic service between Antwerp and New York. On 6 May 1927, on the ship's first eastbound voyage that year, a woman passenger found that she had been robbed of jewels, cash and
cheques worth a total of $12,000, and her passport. In 1927 IMM transferred ownership of
Belgenland from Red Star Line to another subsidiary, Frederick Leyland & Co. Red Star Line continued to manage her. photograph of
Belgenland, possibly just after she was refitted in 1923 On 5 December on a westbound crossing, a heavy sea swept over her
starboard bow, smashing the iron standard supporting her
ship's bell on
Belgenlands
forecastle and a ventilator to her crew's
galley. When she reached New York a new standard was installed, and her bell, which weighed , was re-hung.
1927–28 World cruise On the night of 13–14 December 1927
Belgenland left New York carrying 350 passengers on her fourth cruise around the World. Her itinerary had been increased to 28 ports. Bangkok, where she made an unscheduled extra call in January 1927, now became part of her scheduled itinerary. Also newly added were
Miyajima,
Formosa and
Piraeus. When she got back to New York on 26 April 1928 the ship was carrying 138 of her original passengers, plus 120 others who had embarked at Mediterranean ports.
1928 transatlantic season poster advertising
Belgenlands transatlantic sailings from
Antwerp Belgenland almost immediately returned to her transatlantic service, leaving New York on 3 May 1928 for Antwerp. In June she took a cargo of grain and general cargo from the U.S. to Antwerp. She was unable to complete discharging it in Antwerp, as Belgian
stevedores went on strike. On 21 June she left Antwerp on her next westbound voyage with some of the cargo still aboard. She discharged her general cargo in Southampton, and on 1 July reached New York. She was to land her grain in London if the strike in Antwerp continued.
1928–29 World cruise On the night of 17–18 December 1928
Belgenland left New York with 300 passengers at the start of her fifth cruise around the World. She followed her usual westbound route, and was scheduled to pass through the Panama Canal on Christmas Day 1928, and to embark another 175 passengers in San Francisco on 5 January 1929. One passenger took with him his own
motorboat. The cruise lasted until 1 May 1929, when the ship arrived back in New York. On 2 January 1929 a
Federal grand jury in New York indicted two men with conspiracy to smuggle diamonds into the
Port of New York. One of the accused was described as a
petty officer from
Belgenland. The other was a jeweller from
The Bronx. In 1928 the popularity of "tourist-third cabin class" berths on transatlantic liners increased. At the end of January 1929 IMM announced that it would convert the second class accommodation aboard the Red Star liners
Belgenland and to tourist third class. The company said
Belgenland would be converted after her return from her cruise around the World, with her 500 second class berths being replaced by 600 tourist-third class berths. Electric
elevators would be installed, and her staterooms were to have running hot and cold water.
1929 transatlantic season ,
Nancy Cook and
Marion Dickerman in 1926. In 1929 the trio crossed the Atlantic on
Belgenland with two of the Roosevelts' sons.
Belgenland resumed her transatlantic service on 4 May 1929, leaving New York for Antwerp via Plymouth and Cherbourg. That September her westbound passengers included Eleanor Roosevelt, her sons
Franklin Jr and
John II, and friends
Nancy Cook and
Marion Dickerman.
Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt came with a motorcycle escort to meet the ship when she reached New York on 15 September.
1929–30 World cruise On 20 December 1929
Belgenland left New York carrying 375 passengers at the start of her sixth cruise around the World. She reached Havana on Christmas Day. On 28 December she set a record by passing through the Panama Canal in only seven hours. At that time a normal passage through the canal took eight or nine.
1930 transatlantic season By 1930
Belgenlands
wireless telegraphy call sign had been changed to GMQJ. When
Belgenland left New York for Antwerp on 23 August 1930, her passengers included the gangster
Legs Diamond, travelling under the false name of John Nolan. The NYPD suspected that he might have left the U.S. aboard or , but he was not found on either ship when they reached Europe. The NYPD then sent a wireless telegraph message to
Belgenland, which replied that a man answering Diamond's description was among her passengers. The NYPD
telegraphed the police in Plymouth, Cherbourg and Antwerp, warning them that he was an undesirable character.
1930–31 World cruise Radiotelephone experiment When
Belgenland left Antwerp for New York on 2 December 1930,
AT&T announced that she would test experimental radiotelephone equipment. It was intended link the ship with
Bell System telephones in the U.S.,
Canada, Cuba and
Mexico, and via
shortwave radio to
GPO telephones in the UK. Four AT&T employees travelled on the ship to operate the equipment. On 18 December AT&T connected
Belgenlands radio telephone to New York, whence the call was routed by landline to
Buenos Aires. The voice communication over a distance of 6,500 miles was reported to be "unusually clear". spelling out her
code letters. In February
Belgenland was off the coast of China between Shanghai and Hong Kong when AT&T connected her radiotelephone to London, more than 7,000 miles away. On 2 April she was in the
Red Sea when AT&T successfully connected her radiotelephone to New York, about 6,000 miles away. The longest radiotelephone connection made on
Belgenlands voyage was between
Colombo and
Australia via
Imperial Wireless Chain stations in
England, a distance of about 18,000 miles. Signals were received at
Rugby Radio Station in
Warwickshire, and transmitted from
Baldock in
Hertfordshire. During the cruise a total of 200 radiotelephone calls were made between the ship and telephone customers all around the World. The ship reached New York on 11 December, and left on 15 December to start her next cruise westbound around the World. When the cruise started, the Einsteins remained aboard as far as California, to visit friends. On 19 December
Belgenland docked in Havana. Several thousand
Cuban Jews gathered to welcome Einstein to the Havana Jewish Centre, including a choir of schoolchildren who sang
Hatikvah and
La Bayamesa to him. On 23 December
Belgenland passed through the Panama Canal. The next day the Einsteins used the radiotelephone to broadcast a Christmas greeting to the people of the U.S. via the
Western Electric and
ABC Radio networks. The Professor spoke in German, which his wife translated into English.
Douglas Fairbanks and Victor Fleming Belgenland called at
Los Angeles on 1 January and San Francisco two days later. She left California with 303 passengers, which included a record number of embarkees from the Pacific coast. The ship made each of her cruises around the World in association with
American Express. When she left San Francisco, she carried 27 of the company's staff to serve the passengers. (right) shortly after his cruise on
Belgenland, meeting the former
President of the Philippines Emilio Aguinaldo (left) in March 1931 Passengers who joined
Belgenland in Los Angeles included actor Douglas Fairbanks, who planned visits to Japan, Siam and India followed by a hunting tour of
French Indochina. With him was the
film director Victor Fleming. On the voyage they started filming the documentary
Around the World in 80 Minutes with Douglas Fairbanks. On 15 January, four days after the ship left Honolulu, Fairbanks spoke via radiotelephone with his wife
Mary Pickford in New York. AT&T routed the call via its shortwave station at
Ocean Gate, New Jersey, a distance of about 7,400 miles. Later that month, when the ship was off Yokohama, Fairbanks spoke via radiotelephone with friends in San Francisco, a distance of about 10,000 miles.
Homecoming In
Naples or
Monaco many of
Belgenlands original passengers disembarked to tour in Europe, and other passengers joined to sail to New York. The ship called also at Antwerp, where she loaded 1,650 tons of
silver sand as ballast. She reached New York on 28 April 1931 carrying 172 of her original passengers. For her showboat cruises
Belgenland was equipped with a "
Lido Beach", with two open-air swimming pools, beach chairs and of white sand from the beach at
Ostend forming a beach several feet deep. The lido was on her tourist class promenade deck, which was part of 'A' deck. The pools were fore and aft of her mizzen mast. They were made by removing two hatch covers, and letting a large canvas bag down through each hatch to the hatch cover on the deck below, which was reinforced with timber to bear the weight of the water. Each pool had to be emptied daily, a deck-hand would scrub it clean, and the pool would then be refilled with a hose.
Belgenland faced competition on the New York – Halifax cruise route from
United States Lines' and White Star Line's
Olympic and .
Cunard Line was also sending its liners on short cruises between transatlantic crossings. was on
Belgenlands first showboat cruise. Being registered in the UK,
Belgenland was exempt from
U.S. alcohol prohibition law when outside U.S.
territorial waters. For her showboat cruises she had a large bar on her
quarterdeck serving refrigerated
lager. Fares for each six-day cruise started from $70 per passenger, inclusive of all meals. All liquor was extra, and it was from these sales that the cruises made much of their profit. There were cases of
prostitution on the showboat cruises. Red Star Line
blacklisted any passenger whom it found to be working as a prostitute.
Belgenland already had her own palm court orchestra, which was a Belgian
quintet who specialised in
chamber music, but also played for
balls and church services. For her first showboat cruise on 18 July she added a 14-piece
big band and embarked entertainers including
Lester Allen,
Johnny Burke,
Arthur "Bugs" Baer,
Milt Gross,
Harry Hershfield and
Claire Windsor. For her 18 July cruise
Belgenland embarked 700 passengers, 75 per cent of whom were women. The third showboat cruise, which left New York on 1 August, again attracted 700 passengers. On one cruise, entertainers included the
harmonica virtuoso
Larry Adler.
Typhoid cases Three of
Belgenlands showboat cruise passengers developed
typhoid after they returned home, and one of them died in the
French Hospital in
Manhattan. The
New York City Department of Health asked the
United States Public Health Service to help its investigation.
Westchester County Department of Health found that before the cruise that began on 8 August, an assistant cook on the ship had also contracted typhoid. He had been removed from the ship, and later died.
Fujimura disappearance On the fourth showboat cruise, which left New York on 8 August, the entertainers included
Mildred Harris, former wife of
Charlie Chaplin. The passengers included a Japanese merchant called Hisashi Fujimura of
Norwalk, Connecticut, and his seven-year-old daughter. With them were Fujimura's mistress Mary Reissner, formerly a
showgirl with the
stage name Mary Dale, who was posing as his daughter's
governess. Fujimura headed Asahi Corp, which had premises on
Madison Avenue, New York, and was one of the biggest U.S. importers of
silk. As
Belgenland was returning to New York on the morning of 14 August, Fujimura was reported missing. He was seen at 0100 hrs that morning, when the ship was east of
Fire Island,
United States Coast Guard Cutters searched unsuccessfully for Fujimura's body in waters beyond the
Ambrose Lightship. and once questioned Mildred Harris. Another Assistant U.S. Attorney, Edward Aronow, questioned a convicted
extortionist serving a sentence in
Suffolk County Jail on
Long Island, who was a close friend of Fujimura. The extortionist was said to know a
chauffeur whom Fujimura had recently dismissed. Fujimura had several
life insurance policies, with a total value of $290,000. One was a $50,000 policy that he had only recently taken out. Another was a $20,000 policy whose beneficiary he had changed from his
estate to his wife the day before
Belgenland sailed. For several months, Fujimura had had $335,412 on deposit in the
Bank of Manhattan Trust Company. All but $2 of this sum was withdrawn on 8 August, the same day that Fujimura sailed on
Belgenland. $100 was deposited in the same account sometime after the sailing. He had also begun a lawsuit before Justice
John F. Carew in the
New York Supreme Court to recover $40,000 from a company based in Madison Avenue. The case was outstanding when Fujimura disappeared. Between 1 and 8 May, Fujimura had paid out $229,000 to four men, apparently to settle gambling debts. During the investigation Reissner received two letters demanding $5,000, which led the NYPD to question a man and a woman on suspicion of
blackmail. Aronow said he believed that two men, posing as
United States Department of Justice officers, had tried to blackmail Fujimura, and had threatened to have him prosecuted under the
Mann Act. On 21 August
Belgenland reached New York at the end of her sixth showboat cruise, and resumed her transatlantic service the same day.
FBI investigators were aboard throughout the nine hours she was in port. However, on 5 October an electrician working at an apartment in West 35th Street found an empty black leather wallet with "Hasashi Fujimura" (sic) stamped on it in gold letters, and handed it in to the NYPD. Fujimura's widow returned to
Okayama in Japan, taking their four young children. His estate was not settled until 1935. Debts and expenses totalling $554,937 wiped out his assets of $538,133. On 22 October
Majestic made a similar day trip with nearly 500 passengers. As UK-registered ships, the three liners were able to serve alcohol as soon as they were outside the U.S. territorial limit. Dining room service was continuous. Catering Department staff were briefed that they would have no meal breaks, and should make sandwiches or fill rolls for themselves in advance so that they could work continuously all day. Supporters of prohibition alleged that the day trips violated the
Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution and the
Volstead Act. They alleged that the UK-registered ships were, in effect, engaging in U.S. coastal trade, which violated a
protectionist agreement between the U.S. and UK. They wrote to
Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon, calling for
Belgenland to be seized and fined.
1931 transatlantic season In autumn 1931
Belgenland returned to transatlantic service. That October she carried a consignment of gold bullion from New York to Le Havre. Her holds were rarely full, but that November she crossed from New York and Halifax to Antwerp with her cargo holds filled to the hatch covers with barrels of apples bound for Antwerp and London.
1932 short cruises Belgenland did not make a 1931–32 cruise around the World, as by then several newer and more luxurious liners were competing for that trade. Instead Red Star Line planned to send her on six cruises to the West Indies, leaving New York twice a month from 20 January 1932 until 5 April. But too many transatlantic liners were competing for cruises at the same time, flooding the market, so Red Star cancelled all of
Belgenlands cruises. On 17 June 1932
Belgenland left Antwerp on the same day as another Red Star liner, .
Belgenland carried cargo but no passengers and only a skeleton crew. On 27 June the two ships reached New York, where
Belgenland was to remain to resume cruising. In New York her crew was made up to a full complement by the addition of U.S. seafarers, and on 1 July she left New York for a short cruise to
Bermuda. Thereafter
Belgenland made a series of weekly six-day cruises. Each Saturday she left New York at noon. She would spend the Monday in Halifax, the Wednesday in Bermuda, and get back to New York at 0900 on Friday morning. This gave her crew a very short time between trips to clean all her cabins, kitchens and public rooms, take on water and victuals, bunker her, and embark the next set of passengers. The cruises continued until at least mid-August, but there were too few bookings for
Belgenland to make all the cruises that had been advertised. She was laid up in New York, and the US members of her crew were paid off, and the British and Belgian members were put on half pay. On 2 September
Belgenland reached New York and left the next day to start another short cruise, which took 850 passengers on a four-day round trip to Bermuda. After her return she was laid up. 340 of her crew sent home to Antwerp aboard when she left New York on 9 September.
Pennlands third-class accommodation was reopened specially to carry
Belgenlands crew, who were paid off when she reached Antwerp on 20 September. A skeleton crew of 21 officers, engineers and men remained to look after
Belgenland. Red Star Line hoped that she could resume work in the winter cruising season. A New York
socialite, Dorothy Clark, chartered
Belgenland to raise funds for the
Frontier Nursing Service in
Kentucky. On 14 January 1933 she held a supper dance aboard the laid-up ship in New York. The dance generated interest for a 15-day Caribbean cruise aboard
Belgenland to
Cristóbal, Colón,
La Guaira,
Curaçao and
Kingston, Jamaica. The cruise began from New York on 25 February. Passengers included
Mary Breckinridge, founder of the Frontier Nursing Service.
The Einsteins flee Nazism and
Albert Einstein on
Belgenlands gangplank at Antwerp in March 1933 After her charity cruise,
Belgenland made at least one transatlantic crossing. On 18 March 1933 she left New York for Antwerp via Le Havre with passengers including Albert Einstein, who planned to return home to
Germany. However, on 23 March the
Reichstag passed the
Enabling Act of 1933, which turned Germany into a
Nazi dictatorship. While still at sea, Einstein received news that the Nazis had raided his summer home at
Caputh. When
Belgenland reached Antwerp on 28 March, he disembarked and changed his destination to London, declared he had "no intention of ever returning to Germany", and renounced his German citizenship. In October 1933 the Einsteins emigrated to the United States. Each cruise visited
Algiers,
Istanbul and Piraeus (for
Athens). She was then laid up again at London, probably at Tilbury. ==
Columbia 1935–36==