“I hope you will excuse my writing in French to you, but you may reply to me in English. I have had a chat with Director Andersen, who told me that your discussions with him have led to nothing. I greatly regret this, both for personal reasons and in the interests of the business. I am convinced that your negotiations would have had the desired result if it had not been for some special obstacles with which this new company had to contend. It is such a pity that Mr. Andersen had to attend to so many other things. If you and he alone had had to deal with it, and if it had been purely a business matter, the agreement would certainly have been concluded at once. Perhaps you and Andersen will shortly discover a basis on which you can co-operate. I personally should highly appreciate an understanding between my company and yours if it could be brought about, so that you could work together hand in hand like two good friends. You must help me with it. Mr. Andersen was so charmed with your amiability when he came back. One other thing I must tell you, because I possess sufficient business experience to understand it, and that is that both he and I admire you as a man of business. I should be delighted if you could come here; but I request you to give a few days’ notice of your arrival. Wishing you every success in your undertakings and the best of luck during the new year,
“I remain, Yours faithfully,
(signed) “Marie.”
“My Dear Director,
“February 10th, 1905.
“I am so delighted to hear from Mr. Andersen that his company and yours intend to co-operate in the Danish West Indies and in Russia to your mutual interest. I have always held that such an understanding between you and Mr. Andersen would lead to good results, and you may feel convinced that I shall extend to you not only my personal assistance and sympathy, but also that of my family, and that of my Russian family, all of whom take a great interest in this matter. I am looking forward to seeing you in Hamburg early in March on my way to France. With my best regards,
“Yours faithfully,
(signed) “Marie.”
In June, 1904, after the close of Kiel Week, Ballin paid a visit to Copenhagen. There he met the Princess Marie and the King and Queen of Denmark, and was invited to dine with them at Bernstorff Castle. The business outcome of the negotiations was that in 1905 a joint service to the West Indies was established between the Hamburg-Amerika Linie and the Danish West Indian Company. Four of the big new steamers of the latter were leased to the Packetfahrt, and operated by that company, which thus not only increased the tonnage at its disposal, but also succeeded in eliminating an unnecessary competition.
At the same time the Packetfahrt bought the larger part of the shares of the Russian East Asiatic S.S. Company owned by the Danish firm. The object of the purchase was to establish a community of interests with the Russian Company. The Kaiser took great interest in this scheme, and during his visits to Copenhagen in 1903 and 1905 Mr. Andersen reported to him on the subject. It was intended to bring about close business relations between Germany, Russia, and Denmark for the special purpose of developing Russian trade, and to organize the Russian East Asiatic S.S. Company on such lines as would make it a suitable instrument to this end. It is to be regretted that the community of interest agreement then concluded was not of long duration. The Russian bureaucracy made all sorts of difficulties, and it is possible that the representatives of the Hamburg-Amerika Linie in Russia did not display as much discretion in their dealings with these functionaries as they ought to have done. At any rate, the Packetfahrt was so little satisfied with its participation in this Russian concern that it re-sold its rights to the interested Copenhagen parties in 1906, not without incurring a considerable loss on the transaction. The West Indies agreement automatically lapsed when the Packetfahrt acquired sole possession of the four Danish steamers.
Later on some sort of co-operation with the Russian company was brought about once more by the admission of that company to the transatlantic steerage pool. The Packetfahrt also had an opportunity of profiting from the technical experience gained by the Danish East Asiatic Company, which was the first shipping concern to specialize in the use of motor-ships. It was enabled to do so by the support it received from the shipbuilding firm of Messrs. Burmeister and Wain, of Copenhagen, who had applied the Diesel engine, a German invention, to the propulsion of ships, and who subsequently built a fleet of excellent motor-ships for the East Asiatic Company. One of these vessels was afterwards acquired by the Hamburg-Amerika Linie for studying purposes. The new type of vessel proved exceedingly remunerative during the war, as it made the owners independent of the supply of British bunker coal, and relieved them of the numerous difficulties connected with obtaining it. This great practical success of the Danish shipbuilders became possible only because they applied themselves consistently to the development of one particular type of engine, whereas in Germany endless experiments were made with a great variety of different types which led to no tangible results. It was only when the war came, and when the building of numerous submarines became necessary that German engineering skill obtained a chance of showing what it could do, and then, indeed, it proved itself worthy of the occasion.
In 1904 war broke out between Russia and Japan, an event which exercised such an influence on the Packetfahrt that it is hardly an exaggeration to say that the rapid progress the company made during the next few years amounted to a re-birth. The war provided the company with a chance to sell a large number of its units at a considerable rate of profit, and the contract concluded with the Russian Government for the coal supply added enormously to its revenues. The Russian Government partly converted the purchased steamers into auxiliary cruisers for the purpose of checking and disorganizing Japanese sea-borne trade, and it partly used them to accompany its Baltic fleet on its way to the Far East. As an illustration of the magnitude and the complexity of this transaction, it may be permitted to quote a few extracts from Ballin’s notes referring to it: