Last modified: 2006-12-23 by ivan sache
Keywords: altaras | caune | lion (brown) |
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![[Flag of Altaras]](../images/f/fr~hfalt.gif)
House flag of Altaras - Image by Ivan Sache, 8 February 2004
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Société Phocéenne de Navigation Altaras, Caune & Cie was founded in 1856 by members of the families Altaras and Caune, who were involved
in production and commerce of soap - the famous savon de Marseille.
The company was later renamed Cie Altaras-Cohen and eventually Cie
Altaras et Neveu.
The company operated a bimonthly service to Messina (Sicily), Smyrna
(now Izmir, in Turkey) and Constantinople (now Istanbul), later extended
to Rhodes, Mersin (Turkey) and Beirut. Later, a second line was opened
between Marseilles and the Algerian cities of Philippeville (now Skikda)
and Bone (now Annaba). The company went out off business in 1877.
Source: Paul Bois. Armements marseillais - Compagnies de navigation et navires à vapeur (1831-1988), published by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry Marseille-Provence [boi03].
Isaac Jacomo Bartolomeo Altaras (1786-1873) was born in Aleppo (Syria).
He came to Marseilles in 1805 and changed his name into Jacques Isaac
Altaras in 1808.
Altaras traded with Leghorn, Cyprus and Syria and founded at the end of
the Restauration the only French establishment in Calcutta. He was Vice-President (1835) and later President (1849) of the Jewish Consistory in Marseilles. He was one of the main funders of the synagogue built rue de Breteuil in 1864, giving a grant of 5,000 francs.
The Caune dynasty started with Jean-Baptiste Henry Caune (1796-1869),
who was hired as a book-keeper in 1818 by a wool broker. He purchased
the wool business in 1833 and was succedeed by seven of his relatives.
He was the only broker member of the Chamber of Commerce of Marseilles
and an important member of the Legitimist Party.
Among the other members of the Caune family, the soap manufacturer
Toussaint Auguste Caune (1826-1894) is mostly known as the organist of
the St. Joseph church. He was also a composer highly estimated by Liszt
and Massenet, who encouraged him to publish his works. His master work
is a Messe en ré (Mass in D), which was played in Marseilles, Leipzig
and Geneva. Caune reorganized the Conservatoire of Marseilles in 1865
and popularized classic music with the foundation of the Concerts
Classiques.
Soap industry was once very important in Marseilles, the product being
known as savon de Marseille. Only one soap factory is still active
today in the town.
Source: Pierre Guiral & Félix Reynaud (Eds.). Les Marseillais dans l'histoire, Privat (Toulouse, 1988)
Ivan Sache, 26 December 2005
The house flag of Altaras, Caune & Cie is yellow with a brown animal in the middle. On the source quoted below, the animal looks more or less like a lion, but could have been a horse, too. Therefore, the image shown on the top of this page is only tentative.
Source: Paul Bois. Armements marseillais - Compagnies de navigation et navires à vapeur (1831-1988), published by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry Marseille-Provence [boi03].
Ivan Sache, 8 February 2004