On May 8, 1914, a special meeting of M. Welte & Sons, Inc., was held
to make changes to the personnel of its officers and directors.  The
following Tuesday, May 12, Edwin Welte sailed for Germany aboard the
North German Lloyd liner SS Kronprinzessin Cecilie, just weeks before
the outbreak of World War One.  Edwin got stuck in Germany and was
drafted into the German army for the duration of the war.

Later, after returning to the U.S. and leaving once again for Germany,
the Kronprinzessin Cecilie was at sea when the war broke out and,
rather than tempting fate with the British Navy, turned back and found
safe haven at Bar Harbor, Maine.  She was laid up there until the entry
of the U.S.A. into the war and her seizure and renaming to the USS Mount
Vernon.

She retained much of her beautiful interior decor, including a
Welte-Mignon cabinet piano with many rolls in the smoking room, in
which, I am sure, Edwin, on his fateful voyage, spent much time.

And, is this a Welte Orchestrion in the Vienna Cafe?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Vienna_Caf%C3%A9_on_the_SS_Kronprinzessin_Cecilie.jpg 

Dave Krall

 [ More history of the Kronprinzessin Cecilie at
 [ http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-civil/civsh-k/krnpzn-c.htm  and
 [ http://freepages.family.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~gregkrenzelok/Kronprinzessin%20Cecilie.html 
 [ -- Robbie