Messageries Maritimes

The Messageries Maritimes is an old French maritime company. It was originally created in 1851 as Messageries Nationales, later called Messageries Impériales, and in 1871, Compagnie des Messageries Maritimes.

History

In 1851, a little ship owner from Marseille, M. Rostand, proposed to Ernest Simons, director of a terrestrial common carrier company the messageries nationales, to merge to create a common shipping carrier company, first called Messageries Nationales, then Messageries Impériales, and finally in 1871 the "Compagnie des Messageries Maritimes". Two engineers, Dupuy de Lôme and Armand Brehic joined the project encouraging the purchase of the ship building yards of La Ciotat in 1849.

In the beginning, the Company operated om routes to the middle east. Its ships were used as troop carriers during the Crimea war, and were so helpful for the army that the Emperor gave the company the right to operate on the Bordeaux-Brazil route as thanks. This was the first French transatlantic line equipped with steamers. The following year, the Societe Generale Maritime (future Compagnie Generale Transatlantique) received the North Atlantic lines.

The burning Messageries Maritimes ship "Guadalquivir" in the Port of Thessaloniki, after the Thessaloniki bombings in April 1903

From 1871 to 1914, the Compagnie des Messageries maritimes saw its Golden Age. This was the period of French colonial expansion and of interventionism in the Middle and Far East. The Marseille liners continuously served the Mediterrannean sea, the Black sea, then the Red sea, the Indian Ocean, the China sea and finally the Pacific ocean. In the West, the south atlantic line fills out. Even the North Atlantic knew the ships with the typical double funnel, which make the line London-Dunkerke-Le Havre-Marseille. In the Middle-East, the ports of call are Malta, Alexandria, Port-Saïd, Beyrouth, Syria, Smyrna, Constantinopolis, and the Black Sea. In the Indian Ocean, the line serves Mahé des Seychelles, La Réunion, Maurice, Zanzibar and of course Madagascar.But also the French establishments in India. In Puducherry, the inadequate harbour needs the use of "loading boats".

The Far East is the private field of the MM Company. Saïgon was rapidly becoming the second homeport of the Company.The "stationnaires", ships of small tonnage afforded to the local lines departed from there. They go to Hanoi, Hong-Kong, Shangai, Australia and New Caledonia.

In the South Atlantic, the Bresil line goes as far as Montevideo. Less important, and above all less known, its homeport is Bordeaux.

References

• "History of the Line". The Messageries Maritimes page. URL accessed 2006-06-11.