The Cosulich Line, formally the Cosulich Società Triestina di Navigazione, is a steamship line that was based in Trieste, Italy. The company had been founded in 1889 by Antonio F. Cosulich's son as a family business. In 1903 as Unione Austriaca di Navigazione, more commonly called the Austro-American or Austro-Americana Line, when Trieste was under the rule of Austria-Hungary. After the first World War, the company became an Italian-based shipping company. In 1932 the company was forced to merge with the Lloyd Sabaudo and the Navigazione Generale Italiana, to form the Italian Line.
History
In 1857 Captain Antonio F. Cosulich launched the family business with the 500-tonne ship Fides[1] built-in Cherso, a Kavner Island of Istria.[2] The company's first four ships were purchased from England in the year it was founded. The first voyages took place every six weeks and went from Trieste to Mobile, Brunswick, Charleston, Wilmington, and Newport News, as well as to other ports on the East Coast as required.