The Compagnie Générale Transatlantique (CGT, and commonly named "Transat"), typically known overseas as the French Line, was a French shipping company. Established in 1855 by the brothers Émile and Issac Péreire under the name Compagnie Générale Maritime, the company was entrusted by the French government to transport mail to North America. In 1861, the name of the company was changed to Compagnie Générale Transatlantique. The company's first ship, SS Washington, had its maiden voyage on 15 June 1864. After a period of trial and error in the late 19th century, the company, under the direction of its presidents Jules Charles-Roux and John Dal Piaz, gained fame in the 1910s and 1930s with its famous ocean liners such as SS Paris (1916), SS Île de France, and especially SS Normandie. Weakened by World War II, the company regained its fame in 1962 with the famous SS France (1960), but the ship suffered major competition from air transport and was retired from service in 1974. In 1977, the company merged with the Compagnie des Messageries Maritimes to form the Compagnie Générale Maritime (CGM). Then, in 1996, the company and the Compagnie Maritime d'Affrètement (CMA) merged to form the CMA CGM.
Contrary to what its name suggests, the company did not operate only on the North Atlantic route. It also offered service to Central America and even, for a time, the Pacific coast. From the beginning of the 20th century, it offered crossings between Marseille and Algiers, creating a tourist circuit in North Africa in the 1920s. In the 1930s, the company briefly became involved in aviation through Air France Translatlantique. Other than operating ocean liners, the company also had a significant fleet of cargo ships. The cargo service was started in the 1900s.
The ocean liners of CGT were often symbolic works of art of their time; they were intended to represent an image of France abroad. The quality of services aboard, such as that of meals and wines, had attracted wealthy clientele, including Americans at the time of the Prohibition in the United States. Years after the company's demise, its heritage continues to attract collectors and is showcased in exhibitions.
History
Founding and first trials and errors (1855–1861)
In 1855, the Péreire brothers, Emile and Isaac, founded the Compagnie Générale Maritime in Granville, Manche. Already owners of many railway companies, they were a part of a current of French industrialists who founded large companies under the leadership of Napoleon III. In the 1850s, there was a strong need for a French merchant fleet. The Pereires were also at the head of a credit organization, Société Générale de Crédit Mobilier, which became the main shareholder of the new company.[1]
The Compagnie Générale Maritime was thus officially founded on February 24, 1855, and Adolphe d'Eichthal became its first president until 1861.[2] The company was founded upon the takeover of the “Terreneuvienne”, a cod fishing company founded two years previously which owned many sailboats.[3] The first years of the company were disorganized: the shipping routes multiplied in an anarchic way, using up a great part of the company's initial capital.
List of presidents
The presidents of the CGT were:[82]
- Compagnie générale maritime
- Adolphe d'Eichthal, 1855–1861
- Compagnie générale transatlantique
- Émile Péreire, 1861–1868
- Mathieu Dollfus, 1869–1871
- Édouard Vandal, 1871–1875
- Eugène Péreire, 1875–1904
- Jules Charles-Roux, 1904–1918
- Gaston de Pellerin de Latouche, 1918–1920
- John Dal Piaz, 1920–1928
- André Homberg, 1928–1931
- Raoul Dautry, 1931–1932
- Marcel Olivier, 1932–1939
Activities
Routes
The main route served by the Compagnie Générale Transatlantique is the Le Havre – New York route, inaugurated in 1864 and operated almost continuously until 1974. It was on this route that the most advantageous postal agreements were negotiated, that the passengers were the most numerous, and the liners the most prestigious. The company's flagships, from SS La Champagne to SS Normandie to SS France, were built for this route, which brought in more than half of the revenues of the company.[83] This did not prevent the liners from taking part, in the off-season, in cruises, such as the Mediterranean cruises of SS La Provence, the around-the world cruise of the France, or the cruise of the Normandie to Rio de Janeiro.[84]
The demand for routes to Central America and the West Indies were also heavily exploited. The route to Mexico was the first, opened by the company in 1862.[10] Several aged liners were, once replaced on the New York route, assigned near the end of their career to this route.
Ships
Technological evolution
From its inception, the CGT gradually adopted new technological innovations. This was particularly the case with propulsion. Washington, when it entered service in 1864, was propelled by paddle wheels. In 1868, it was refitted to become the first liner to be propelled by twin propellers, which allowed for higher speeds.[96] At that time, passengers still showed some suspicion towards steam propulsion, however, and until the 1890s all of the company's ships were fitted with masts capable of carrying sails. Thus, the first express liners of the company, SS La Normandie and SS La Champagne, traveled using both sails and steam.[97] The last liner of the company to travel using both these at the same time was SS La Touraine. It was then considered from that point on that multiple propellers were sufficient precaution in the event of engine failure. The masts were not abandoned, however, since they served as a support for the lookout nests, lighting, and later, the telegraph cables.[96]
Legacy
In its 120 years of existence, the Compagnie Générale Transatlantique has acquired a special place within the French shipping industry, and a particular prestige with foreign customers, especially Americans. Its large liners, especially SS Normandie and SS France, have been the subject of numerous works.[121] The company benefited from a special aura, in particular thanks to the celebrities who have traveled aboard its ships.[122] Traveling aboard also inspired artists: it was after a trip aboard SS Flandre (then renamed Carla C) that a passenger wrote a book titled Love Boats.[123] The French film Paris-New York was filmed aboard Normandie in 1939, with Michel Simon and Gaby Morlay as star actors.[124] SS France of 1962 served as the setting for the final scene of the French film The Brain with Bourvil and Jean-Paul Belmondo, as well as for Gendarme in New York, with Louis de Funès.[125]
See also
Bibliography
Further reading
- Fox, Robert (1999). Liners, the Golden Age, Könemann
- McAuley, Robert (1997). The Liners, Boxtree
- Maddocks, Melvin (1978). The Great Liners, Time-Life
- Miller, William H. Jr. (1984). The First Great Ocean Liners in Photographs, Dover
External links
- CGT French Line History and Ephemera GG Archives
- Official website
- French Lines
- The Last Ocean Liners – French Line – trade routes and ships of the French Line in the 1960s and 1970s