The history of Knape Line LTD begins in 1820 when Johan Karlsson founded Knape Line is Goteborg, Sweden with his brother Oskar. The first vessel of Knape Line was named Svea and started her maiden voyage on October 24th, 1820 from Gotheburg, Sweden to New York, United States. Sverige was a part of a class of 4 that where built. In 1845, Knape Line built a new class of Liner to keep up with Public demand, the ships where 65 meters long and 20 meters wide. The class was named the Scandinavian class and the 2 ships where called Sverige and Norge and joined Svea and her sister's in the route. In 1850, Knape Line added Southampton to the route and made the first docking there with the SS Sverige. In 1880, Knape Line's SS Sverige and her sisters retired and SS Sverige was bought by a Swedish hotel business and is still around today in Stockholm as the SS Sverige hotel. In 1914, Knape Line constructed the largest vessels the world had seen. The Oden class was to be the largest ocean liners the world has seen! The same year, the Rederiaktiebolaget Sverige-Nordamerika (Shipping Line Sweden-North America, and more famously known as the Swedish American Line.) was founded and became a competetor in the Gothenburg - New York route.