De Rijn was the fourth German steamboat that provided regular service on the Rhine.

In September she steamed up the Rhine for the Dampfschiffahrts-Gesellschaft von Rhein und Main which had been founded in Mainz.

The Cologne chamber of commerce had been in contact with NSM for a while, and had come up with the idea to let King Frederick William III of Prussia make a trip on a steamboat.

On 11 September De Rijn with three representatives of the chamber of commerce and the band of the 28th regiment, left Cologne to go upstream and arrived in Coblenz in the evening.

Immediately after arrival, the merchants from Frankfurt (represented by Bethmann, Dusan and Brevillier) and those of Mainz contracted with NSM.

In the evening there was a dinner hosted by the Mainz chamber of commerce, with Roentgen, the merchants, the Central Commission for Navigation on the Rhine, Johann Friedrich Cotta and others attending.

[12] On 21 September De Rijn reached Kehl, proving that steamboats would be used on the Upper Rhine.

These were primarily merchants, members of the Central Commission for Navigation on the Rhine from Mainz, and officials from the governments, the military, and the chambers of commerce.

[15] King Frederick William then allowed De Rijn to be renamed Friedrich Wilhelm to commemorate his trip on board from Coblenz to Cologne.

[16] The renaming ceremony took place on 17 October 1825, and was part of big festivities to commemorate the Battle of Leipzig.

[1][17] In late November 1825 Friedrich Wilhelm hit the pontoon bridge of Wesel while on a return trip from Cologne.

The accident was blamed on the supposedly careless captain, and caused a lot of damage because Friedrich Wilhelm took half of the pontoons with her.

[22] The price was 60,000 guilders, and PRDG got Prinses Marianne, which had engines by Cockerill[23] Back with the NSM Prinz Friedrich got the convenient name Prins Frederik.

In Cologne Sir Walter Scott boarded Prinz Friedrich on 9 June 1832, heading for Rotterdam.