Last modified: 2004-10-02 by ivan sache
Keywords: societe generale des transports maritimes a vapeur | letters: sg (white) | letters: tm (blue) |
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![[SGTM house flag]](../images/f/fr~hfsgt.gif)
by
Ivan Sache
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The Société Générale des Transports Maritimes à Vapeur was founded in March 1865 by Paulin Talabot (1799-1885). Talabot was the founder of the
P.L.M. (Paris-Lyon-Méditerranée) railway and the director of the bank
Société Générale. He also exploited the iron mine of Mokta-el-Habib, near Bone (Annaba), in Algeria. Talabot was a wise manager and decided
to found a shipping line to bring the iron ore from his mine to
Marseilles, from where it would be brought to the smelting furnaces of the
south and center of France by his P.L.M. railway.
In 1866, Talabot bought nine ore tankers from the shipyard of La Seyne,
all of them being named after a French province: SS Alsace, Artois,
Auvergne, Bretagne, Dauphiné, Franche-Comté, Lorraine, Normandie and Touraine.
The purchase by Talabot of this series of tankers was such an extraordinary event that these ships were nicknamed talabots. However, the name talabot seems not to have spread out of Marseilles and might have rapidly been forgotten, since the Grand Robert de la
Langue Française has not entry for talabot.
Several other ships of the SGTM, mostly cargo-passenger ships, had similar names: SS Savoie, Poitou, Picardie, Bourgogne (1867); Anjou (1868); Bretagne (2) (1876); Navarre, Béarn (1881); Auvergne (2) (188); Provence, Languedoc, Berry (1884); Aquitaine (1891); Orléanais, Nivernais (1901); Flandre (1909); Maine (1910)... However, the yield of the iron mine was lower than expected and part of the 1867 fleet was reallocated to the transport of material required for the building of the Canal of Suez, with cotton as the return cargo. The Suez temporary line disappeared in 1870.
In September 1867, Talabot bought four second-hand liners (mentioned
above) and opened a monthly service to Brasil. The line was very
profitable, so that, in 1871, the SGTM bought its flagship SS La France,
which would remain for ten years the biggest merchant ship under the
French flag.
In 1870, the company owned 17 ships and operated lines to South America
and Northern Africa. The latter lines was extended to Senegal in 1883.
When Talabot died in 1885, he was one of the most respected men in Marseilles. He remained famous for the "castle Talabot", a big house built in pseudo-oriental style in the posh borough of Roucas-Blanc, surrounded with greenhouses and exotic gardens.
In 1893, the SGTM set up an alliance with the Compagnie de Navigation Mixte and Caillol in order to provide a less expensive service to Algeria. The alliance worked ten years. In 1896, the company was granted a state contract for the line Marseilles-Oran, served by SS Russie. The launching of the sister-ships SS Les-Alpes and Les-Andes increased the service to South America. The SGTM owned 22 ships in 1900. Three years later, the company bought SS Ile-de-France, allocated to leisure cruises, which was extermely original at that time.
In 1909, the Spanish government passed new laws on the transport of
emigrants to South America. The SGTM created a subsidiary called
Compagnie de Navigation France-Amérique.
In 1914, the SGTM owned 25 ships, most of them being commissioned by the
French state. However, the company did not stop its activity and took
over the contract granted by the sugar producers of the French Antilles
to the Austrian shipping company Cosulich. The Caribbean line was opened in 1915 and doubled next year by a line to Mexico and New Orleans, which
was used for the resupplying of France during the war.
Seven cargo-passenger ships and five cargo ships were lost during the
war, representing half the tonnage of the SGTM, which was reorganized in
1919. The company was granted German ships and built seven
cargo-passenger ships and six cargo ships. In 1930, the SGTM operated 30
ships and was the fourth biggest shipping company in France, after the
Compagnie Générale Transatlantique, the Messageries Maritimes and
the Chargeurs Réunis, and the biggest company completely based in Marseilles.
The economical crisis of the 1930s caused a dramatical reduction of the tonnage, and the SGTM kept only 15 ships in 1939, serving South America, Algeria and the Antilles and the Gulf of Mexico. In this last area, cargo ships carried mostly sugar and rhum and there was no passenger service. The SGTM lost nine ships during the Second World War and had once again to reorganize with the help of the state. However, the golden age of the shipping lines was over because of the quick development of air transport. The economical crisis that broke out in South America forced the SGTM to abandon the line in 1961, although the company had built the modern liners MS Provence and MS Bretagne specifically for that line. The war and the independence of Algeria suppressed most of the Mediterranean trafic of the SGTM.
In 1960, Fraissinet took control of the SGTM. Fraissinet later merged with Chargeurs. In 1964, Fabre and the SGTM merged as Cie Fabre - Transports Maritimes à Vapeur, under the control of Fraissinet-Chargeurs. In 1974, the SGTM sold its last ship, MS Mont-Aigoual and definitively lowered its house flag.
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, 13 February 2004
The flag of the SGTM is quartered white-blue-white-blue with T (blue), S (white), M (blue), G (white) in the quarters, respectively.
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, 13 February 2004