Sud-Atlantique


Buenos Aires Terminal (WS)

"France will not stay away", proclaimed the French Minister President Thiers in 1840, facing the British progress on the North Atlantic. Apart from North America, also the West Indies, Brazil and Argentina should have been connected with France by steamship lines. However, it was not before 1856, that the Compagnie franco-americaine, founded by the brothers Gauthier, undertook to start North and South Atlantic services. In 1854 the company Louis Arnaud, Touache & Co. equipped their "France" with a steam/ether engine. In 1856 the little passenger ship departed from Marseilles, but in Bahia it caught fire and henceforth ether was forbidden. Soon it became clear that the small enterprises without subsidies could not survive. Under Napoleon III, the government decided in 1857 to award a mail contract for New York as well as West Indies services to the Union Maritime, but the attempt failed.

Messageries Maritimes
In 1857 a contract for services from Bordeaux, alternating with Marseilles, to Rio de Janeiro and a branch line Rio - Buenos Aires was awarded to the Compagnie des Services Maritimes des Messageries Imperiales, which was engaged already in Mediterranean traffic from Marseilles. Seven steamers were laid down. The service Bordeaux - Rio de Janeiro was opened in 1857 with the 1,845-ton paddle-wheeler "Guienne", built at La Ciotat, then joined by the "Navarre", "Estremadura" and "Bearn". With the little steamers "Saitonge", "Carmel" and "Aulis" the connection from Rio to Montevideo and Buenos Aires was provided. For passengers with Santiago de Chile as a destination, through-tickets for using the combined rail and mule route across the Andes were issued (the Trans Andine railway was completed not before 1910. When Napoleon III abdicated in 1871 after the war with Prussia, the company was renamed Compagnie des Messageries Maritimes. In the late '80s the newbuilt "Bresil", "Portugal" and "La Plata" were placed in service. The "Portugal" was listed in 1887 as the largest French vessel on the South Atlantic route. Towards the end of the century the Messageries Maritimes connected Bordeaux directly with Buenos Aires, via Lisbon, Rio and Montevideo. Leonce Peillard ("Sur les chemins de l' ocean") concluded: "The South America services of Messageries Maritimes were maintained until the outbreak of World War I. To the disappointment of the Marseilles-based company (...) the mail lines to the South American continent were confined to the Atlantic ports of Saint-Nazaire, Bordeaux and Le Havre".

Chargeurs Reunis
A private enterprise, the Compagnie Maritime des Chargeurs Reunis, had been founded in Le Havre. In 1872 their three 1,435-ton steamers of the Villes class opened passenger/cargo services to South America, followed by three slightly larger ships. Peillard described their misfortune: in 1874 the "Moreno" capsized on her first return trip from Rio de Janeiro, in 1880 the "Rivadavia" stranded at Cape Villano, in 1887 the "Ville de Rio de Janeiro" collided with the transatlantic liner "Champagne" and in 1889 the "San Martin" sank near Montevideo. Nevertheless the company, which later introduced the larger Admiral class, operated modest passenger/cargo services successfully on the five oceans.

Sud-Atlantique
It was the Compagnie de Navigation Sud-Atlantique, which became the pride of France on the South Atlantic The French government had decided in 1910 to create that company for mail services to South America under participation of other enterprises, including the Compagnie Generale Transatlantique (CGT). The "Lutetia" and the "Gallia" were commissioned for delivery in 1913. Already before, in 1912, the Bordeaux-based company placed on the River Plate route the "Burdigala", the former 12,481-ton "Kaiser Friedrich" of Norddeutscher Lloyd, built in 1898. The ship had been sold to the French for insufficiency, but then she was with her 20 knots the fastest on the South Atlantic (in 1916 she sank in the Aegean Sea, hitting a mine). A new flagship of the Sud-Atlantique, the "Lutetia" of 1913, was with her size of 14,873 tons and a speed of 20 knots far ahead of every French predecessor. The 15,363-ton "Massilia", delivered in 1920, surpassed her slightly in size.


"Burdigala", ex "Kaiser Friedrich" (old card, coll. WS)

"Lutetia" (old card, coll. WS)

"Massilia" at Bordeaux (old card, coll. WS)

"Massilia" (old card, coll. WS)

The proudest ship however was to become "L'Atlantique" of 1931, with the black hull, white superstructure and three buff, black-topped funnels resembling her predecessors, but with a tonnage of 42,512 being more than twice as large. Her speed of 20 to 21 knots moderate in comparison with North Atlantic liners, was common practice on the South Atlantic, good for a voyage to Rio de Janeiro within 11 days. Her comfort and her famed French cuisine attracted discriminating passengers. A promenade, the Atlantic Road, was the shopping-mall of the high society where evening dresses and, as being reported, even luxury motorcars were on offer.

Sadly, "L' Atlantique" had only a very short career. On the night of 3rd January 1933 she was on transfer from the Gironde to Le Havre for maintenance, only a small crew aboard. As the sea was rough, Captain Shoofs ordered to reduce speed. At 4:30 in the morning he was informed that fire had broken out in one of the empty cabins. When he inspected the burning deck, the fire had already spread so rapidly that he could only climb up to the bridge and give order to send S.O.S., before he collapsed, almost suffocated. The ship was listing in the sea and the crew set out aboard the life-boats. Most crew members were saved by cargo ships. When Captain Shoofs after his arrival in Le Havre was informed that "L' Atlantique" was still afloat, he decided to return to the ship. Aboard the tug "Abeille XXIV" he learned that in the meantime British, Dutch and French salvage vessels were battling like pirates for the considerable salvage reward. Finally "L' Altantique" was tugged to Cherbourg, only for being scrapped.

"L' Atlantique" after fire (contemporary press, coll. HSch)

Traditional port of departure for the Sud-Atlantique was Bordeaux. "L' Atlantique" however departed from Pauillac, further downstream on the river Gironde, initiated already in the 1890s by Emile Pereire of the CGT, connected with Paris by special trains. Of course also the harbour of Bordeaux had its specials to and from Paris. The Wagons-Lits timetable listed e.g. in 1938 sleeping-cars in the trains connecting at Bordeaux with the "Massilia", a diner Paris - Boulogne for passengers of the Hamburg-Sued and "Wagons-Salons-Restaurants" Paris - Cherbourg for the Royal Mail calling there. After WWI there were ambitions to make Bordeaux attractive for Americans travelling to the southeast of Europe, resulting in a train service from Bordeaux in connection with the Simplon-Orient-Express, unsuccessful however. Facing the difficulties of the Gironde passage, the new 'Mole du Verdon' was erected close to the river mouth in 1933, commercially not successful. A far away relief harbour on the Atlantic coast had been completed already in 1890 at La Pallice, close to La Rochelle. The first liner to call there was the "Sorata" of the Pacific Steam Navigation Co. Though later also used by Chargeurs Reunis and the Cie. Belge maritime du Congo, that port could never compete with Bordeaux.

The highlight among French South Atlantic activities has been a cruise of the "Normandie" to South America. But also regular shipping was to get a new ship of prestige. It was the 4-screw steamer "Pasteur", completed in 1939 at Penhoet, close to Saint-Nazaire, where most French liners have been built. With 29,253 tons she was not as large as "L' Atlantique", but with 23 knots somewhat faster. She had the traditional strait funnel, one however instead of three. Due to the outbreak of World War II, she could never enter the South Atlantic trade. After service as a trooper, she was acquired in 1957 by Norddeutscher Lloyd. Rebuilt and refitted with a streamlined funnel and new interiors, she got a good reputation as the German post-war flagship "Bremen".


"Pasteur" (old card, coll. WS)

"Aeropostale II", aquarelle by Geo Ham (Deutsches Museum Munich)

The End
Already in 1928 Aeropostale, the pioneer among French airlines, had opened a mail service Toulouse - Buenos Aires. Between Dakar in Senegal and Natal in Brazil, the mail was initially carried across the Atlantic by converted destroyers, the "Aeropostale I", "II" and "Air France III". L'Illustration (27 August 1932) mentioned 4 boats, one of them, the "Aeropostale II", missing since 12 August of that year due to a tornado. Natal - Dakar was covered within 95 hours at a speed of 20 knots. The "Aeropostale II" was described with a length of 59 m and a beam of only 7.10 m, sometimes causing sea-sickness among the crew members.

After WWII, air traffic was the clear winner. The Societe Generale des Transports Maritimes (SGTM) employed from 1951 the new 20,000-ton steamers "Provence" and "Bretagne" on a route from Marseilles and other Mediterranean ports to Buenos Aires via Dakar. In 1954 the "Provence" had a collision with a tanker on the La Plata and after repair she operated from 1962 for Costa, later being renamed "Enrico C".

In the '60s the last French liners on the La Plata route were operated by the Cie. des Messageries Maritimes. Frick mentioned the motor ships "Charles Tellier" (1952 / 12,006 gt), "Louis Lumiere" (1952 / 12,359 gt) and the new white motor ship "Pasteur" (1966 / 16,500 gt) on a route from Hamburg and Le Havre to Buenos Aires. The steamer "Provence" (1952 / 15,889 gt) had in 1954 a collision on the La Plata. She was chartered in 1962 by Costa Armatori, later renamed "Enrico C". The "Pasteur" should initially have become the "Australia". The "Louis Lumiere" was chartered out to the Club Mediterranee for cruises and the "Charles Tellier" was for sale. In 1969 (according to Peillard), every French liner service to the River Plate ended.

"Provence" of SGTM (old card, coll. WS)