Compagnie Générale Transatlantique

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The Transat flag.

The Compagnie Générale Transatlantique (shortened to "CIE. GLE. TRANSATLANTIQUE", or CGT, and commonly named "Transat"), known overseas as the French Line, was a shipping company established in 1861 as an attempt to revive the French merchant marine, the poor state of which was painfully highlighted during the Crimean War of 1856. The company's first vessel, the S.S. Washington, undertook her maiden voyage on 15 June 1864. Aside from operating ocean liners, the company also had a significant fleet of freighters. The company survived both World Wars, but the arrival of jet travel doomed its mainstay passenger liner business. In 1977 the company merged with the Compagnie des Messageries Maritimes to form the Compagnie Générale Maritime.

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[edit] History

In 1855, the Péreire brothers, Emile and Isaac, created the Compagnie Générale Maritime, which later became the Compagnie Générale Transatlantique. They were already the owners of the Société Générale de Crédit Mobilier, which became the main shareholder. Five years later they signed an agreement with the French government. The company undertook to create a fleet and to provide liner service and carry mail for 20 years on the following routes: Le Havre - New York with calls at Brest, Saint-Nazaire, and the Isthmus of Panama, with 3 additional services for Guadeloupe, Mexico and Cayenne. In return, the government would provide the company with an annual subsidy.

In 1861 Compagnie Générale Maritime changed its name to the Compagnie Générale Transatlantique. The Pereire brothers also established a shipyard at Penhoët, near Saint-Nazaire. The next year saw the first trip to the West Indies and Mexico by the Louisiane. Two years later the New York - Le Havre line started service, with the paddle-steamer Washington providing postal service. In 1867 the company switched from paddle wheels to propellers for its vessels, in part because they were mor4e fuel efficient.

An economic and financial crisis in 1868 forced the Pereire brothers to file a petition in bankruptcy and to resign from the company's board. The company, however, survived.

Technical progress continued and the company modified its vessels to transport more goods. Still, in 1873 the line suffered its first major accident. The Ville du Havre collided with the sailing ship Loch Earn, with a loss of life of about 226 people.

In 1879 the French government awarded the company the concession for postal services for the Mediterranean. That same year the company incorporated. Between 1882 and 1884 the government renewed the earlier fleet and postal agreements.

In 1886 La Bourgogne made the le Havre - New-York transit in a little over 7 days. This gave the company first place in the New-York postal service, and ignited a competition for the record in the trans-Atlantic run. In 1894 the company offered the first cruise for American passengers when La Touraine initiated service from New-York to Constantinople.

Between 1897 and 1904 crisis set in. European competition intensified and the company suffered two major maritime disasters. The Ville de Saint-Nazaire had to be abandoned at sea in 1897 and La Bourgogne sank with 568 passengers in 1898. Furthermore, labor strife developed as strikes came to affect all ports and all staff. The strikes continue up until 1923.

In 1904 Jules Charles-Roux became president and instituted a reorganization. The company re-oriented its strategy to emphasize the quality of life aboard ship rather than the race against time. The next year it initiated Le Havre - New York cargo service.

The company did not become a dominant player in the trans-Atlantic ocean liner trade until after World War I. In 1907 and 1908, when immigration to the United States was its greatest, the company's share of the market was a mere 10%. In line with its strategy, the company did not have ships of either great speed or size, but instead became renowned during the early 20th century for its luxuriously appointed liners. The most notable of these early ships was the S.S. France, which entered service in 1912.

[{World War I]] saw the company transform its vessels into warships, hospital vessels and troopships. By the end of the war, the company had lost a third of the fleet. Still, the company recovered during the post-war period, with several famous ships entering service. In 1927, the SS Ile de France, the first ship to be styled in Art Deco, undertook its maiden voyage.

The company also diversified. In 1919 it introduced the first tourist motor car circuit in North Africa.and followed this in 1925 by creating the Société des Voyages et Hôtels Nord Africains (S.V.H.N.A.).

Travel brochure: Century of Progress International Exposition at Chicago in 1933.
Advertisement circa 1937.

The Great Depression caused the company to suffer a significant drop in profits as costs increased and revenues fell as passenger numbers plummeted. The company responded by decommissioning vessels and discontinuing unprofitable routes. A generous government subsidy enabled the company in 1935, to finance the construction its most famous vessel, the SS Normandie. At the time of completion, the ship was the largest in the world and also the fastest, capturing the Blue Riband from the Italian liner, the SS Rex. Her Art Deco interiors were legendary and her streamlined hull design was years ahead of its time. She won the Blue Ribbon trophy on its first trip with a speed of 30 knots. Unfortunately, however, she was never a commercial success and a fire in 1942 ended her career.

In 1939-1940, at the onset of World War II, the company was subject to the mobilization or drafting of more than a third of the staff. The Department of Shipping & Maritime Transport chartered or requisitioned the company's. The company also received 95 vessels to management for the war effort. By 1946, the loss of several vessels due to the war had diminished the company's fleet, though the company was able to acquire several Liberty ships. The company also acquired Liberté, the former German liner SS Europa, which France had claimed as reparations.

Passenger traffic grew post-war, but the advent of commercial air travel in 1958, was to spell disaster for the French Line's passenger ships. Despite the launch of a new flagship, the 66,000 ton SS France in 1961, passenger demand slumped as no ship could match the convenience of plane flights that could transport passengers in a matter of hours over a distance that by ship would take several days. The ocean liner fleet became dependent on government subsidies, which were finally withdrawn in 1974. The fleet was subsequently mothballed.

France was laid up until 1979 when Norwegian Cruise Line bought her and renamed her Norway. In 2008, Norway was beached at Alang, India in 2008, and broken up for scrap.

In 1977 the company merged with the Compagnie des Messageries Maritimes to form the Compagnie Générale Maritime.

[edit] Vessels

Some of the ships of the French Line include

[edit] Further reading

  • Miller, William H. Jr., The First Great Ocean Liners in Photographs, 1984, Dover
  • Fox, Robert, Liners, the Golden Age, 1999, Könemann
  • McAuley, Robert, The Liners, 1997, Boxtree
  • Maddocks, Melvin, The Great Liners, 1978, Time-Life

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compagnie_G%C3%A9n%C3%A9rale_Transatlantique"