Photographer Richard Fleischhut was a witness to the early northern boat trips of Emperor William II, known as the “travel emperor” for his annual cruises among the fjords aboard his yacht, the “Hohenzollern”. As early as 1914, Fleischhut was on board a Lloyd liner off the coast of Norway. “A selected travel audience of nearly 800 passengers enlivens the ship”, he later wrote, “all eagerly waiting to catch a glimpse of the emperor”. But in July 1914, with World War I looming, the leader was already on his way to Germany, never to return. Richard Fleischhut did return to the north and as onboard photographer for exclusive arctic cruises with the Lloyd liners München (1925) and Berlin (1928), he shot film of the life on board and the excursions to land – footage that today presents a fascinating look at what sea travel was like in an era long before mass tourism.