House Flags of German Shipping Companies (s) - part 1

Deutsche Reedreiflaggen (s) Teil 1

Last modified: 2012-07-25 by klaus-michael schneider
Keywords: sabban | sandkamp | satrans | sauber gebr | scanscot | seedienst ostpreussen | seele | seetouristik | seetransit | seetzen | semper | seyd | sibum | siemsen | sietas(dockyard) | sietas(heinrich) | siegbold | sievers | silvain |
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• Reederei Hans August Sabban
• Erich Sandkamp
• Satrans
• Sauber Gebr.
• Scanscot
• Seedienst Ostpreussen
• F.M.A. Seele
• Seetouristik G.m.b.H. & Co.
• Seetransit Speditions
• Seetzen Gebrüder
• 'Semper' Schiffahrts-Gesellschaft
• Frachtschiffahrt Erik Seyd
• Reederei Bernd Sibum
• Peter Siemsen & Co
• Sietas Werft
• Heinrich Sietas
• Heinz Siegbold
• Claus Sievers
• H & J Sievers
• J. Silvain
• Comp. Havraise Peninsulaire de Navigation
(J. Silvain)

• House Flags of German Shipping Companies
• House Flags of Shipping Companies
• Germany

Reederei Hans August Sabban

Reederei Hans August Sabban, Hamburg - flag horizontal black over red, white "S".
Image after Brown's Flags and Funnels Shipping Companies of the World, compiled by J.L. Loughran, Glasgow, 1995 [lgr95]
Jarig Bakker, 17 Jan 2006

Erich Sandkamp

The company was located in Tornesch-Esingen and Uetersen (both Pinneberg county). It is a red flag divided by a white saltire. In the centre of the flag is a black disc, fimbriated white and containing a white capital "S".
Source: "Flaggen, Schornsteine, Reedereien- Flaggen und Schornsteine der deutschen Reedereien und ihre Schiffe über 300 BRT"; Hamburg 1957; p.F25
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 13 Apr 2009

Satrans

Satrans Speditionsgesellschaft mbH - Basically an orange-light green-orange horizontal triband. A blue stripe covers the orange stripes in the lower hoist and upper fly, creating an 'S' in the center.
Jorge Candeias, 12 Mar 1999

Sauber Gebr.

This one is another flag that is pretty clear in all its details. The flag itself is white with a red cross and a blue S over all. And the caption reads "Sauber Gabr." I have some doubts about the Gabr., but none about the Sauber.
Jorge Candeias, 30 Nov 2004

A Sauber Gebr. firm of Hamburg is mentioned in a thread on Norwegian ships sunk in WWI, which appeared on a Norwegian Merchant Fleet forum.
Ned Smith, 1 Dec 2004

And a neat flag it is ('sauber' means 'clean') - see on-line 1912 Lloyds Flags & Funnels, under No. 1091 'Sauber Gebr., Hamburg'.
Jan Mertens, 2 Dec 2004

"Gebr." in English means "Bros."
 Sauber Gebr. were founded on July 6, 1839 in Hamburg as a wholesale and retail business für British coal. In 1845 they started importing coal from Newcastle with chartered ships. 1871 they started building teir first own coal freighter steamship by the name of "John Sauber".
During and after WW 1 business came to a standstill. All ships were confiscated. Business began slowly again because the old ties to Newcastle were still there. In WW II the same thing happened all over again.
Start after WW II was very difficult, but again in the 1950s own and chartered ships transported Newcastle coal. With the advent of oil and has heating the retail and import business withered away until the company went into bankrupcy in the 1960s.
Wolf Knipfer, 5 Feb 2009

Scanscot

A Scanscot house flag was recently offered on German eBay and this recently founded shipping company already has its article-in-progress on (also German) Wikipedia: br>Dark green field with three horizontal white lines in the lower half, two thin ones above a single broad one resting on the flag's lower edge; a large white disk bleeding into the lower stripe contains a stylized italic initial "S", sharply serifed, in black.
Hamburg based Scanscot was founded in 1995 by Thominvest of Finland, finally operating about a dozen multibulk ships equipped with impressive cranes active as trampers and most of them flying the Isle of Man flag. Occasionally others ships were chartered as well. Financial difficulties led to bankruptcy in 2010. The flag may be espied on some Shipspotting photos:
Jan Mertens 1 Jun 2011

Seedienst Ostpreussen

This page presents the ?Seedienst Ostpreussen? (Maritime Service East Prussia or East Prussian Naval Service):
Founded in 1920, its aim was to ensure a direct link between Germany and its post-1919 exclave, East Prussia. (Train journeys across the ?Polish Corridor? were judged onerous.) Ships of existing firms ? Gribel, Braeunlich, Norddeutscher Lloyd , etc. - made up the fleet of this government-supported company which started operating its own ships in 1926. The vessels were commandeered when war broke out in 1939; the year 1944 saw the end of the 'Seedienst'.

Its flag is shown on a poster shown on above webpage. On a red field, between black capital letters ?S? and ?O?, fimbriated white, is a white shield bearing a black Latin cross. The shield is given some relief while the letters are in a font I cannot identify.
Jan Mertens, 30 May 2005

F.M.A. Seele

The flag is quartered per saltire, black in the top quarter, white in the bottom one and red in the other two. The white quarter has a black sans serifed capital S in the center. And the caption, if I'm not seriously mistaken, reads F. M. A. Sede. (A little trivia: "sede" is portuguese for "thirst" - funny name for a navigation company).
Jorge Candeias, 27 Dec 2004

"F.M.A. Seele, Hamburg", see here. The ship in the first picture ("Colmar") was sold to this firm in 1883. Unfortunately, no house flag is shown.In any case this is another example of a house flag repeating the (former) national German colours.
Jan Mertens, 29 Dec 2004

Seetouristik G.m.b.H. & Co.

Seetouristik G.m.b.H. & Co. K.G., Norden Hafen - flag horizontal blue over yellow; white shield, black "S".
Image after Brown's Flags and Funnels Shipping Companies of the World, compiled by J.L. Loughran, Glasgow, 1995 [lgr95]
Jarig Bakker, 2 Feb 2006

Seetransit Speditions

Seetransit Speditions & Schiffahrts G.m.b.H., Duisburg - Spanish style green - white - green; on white 4 green blocks.
Image after Brown's Flags and Funnels Shipping Companies of the World, compiled by J.L. Loughran, Glasgow, 1995 [lgr95]
Jarig Bakker, 6 Oct 2005

Seetzen Gebrüder

The flag is white with a narrow chequy band at the hoist, consisting of 9x2 red and white squares, and a sans-seriffed black "S" capital centered on the remainder. The caption may eventually, if my guesses are correct (which is doubtful), read "Senien Gem".
Jorge Candeias, 6 Dec 2004

That is Seetzen Gebrüder, Bremen. Loughran's Survey of Mercantile Houseflags and Funnels, 1979, has this flag with at top and bottom af the fly a red border (1/8 flagheight), and a serifed S.
Jarig Bakker, 8 Dec 2004

'Semper' Schiffahrts-Gesellschaft

The company was located in Hamburg. The flag is the nearly the same like that one of Franz Hagen in Hamburg, has however a celestial blue basic colour.
Source: "Flaggen, Schornsteine, Reedereien- Flaggen und Schornsteine der deutschen Reedereien und ihre Schiffe über 300 BRT"; Hamburg 1957; p.F26
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 14 Apr 2009

Frachtschiffahrt Erik Seyd

The company was probably located in Hamburg. Source gives Walter Lass in brackets. The latter exists still today and has a bureau at Johannisbollwerk in Hamburg. The red flag is divided per bend by a black stripe fimbriated white. Within the black stripe are descending white capitals "FES".
Source: "Flaggen, Schornsteine, Reedereien- Flaggen und Schornsteine der deutschen Reedereien und ihre Schiffe über 300 BRT"; Hamburg 1957; p.F9
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 20 May 2010

Reederei Bernd Sibum

The "Bernd Sibum" shipping company is based at Haren (Ems). The Sibum family has been involved in ship building since the XIXth century; in 1953, the brothers Stefan and Hermann Sibum founded a shipping company and purchased their first ship, MS "Gerd". They were succeeded by Stefan's son, Bernd Sibum, who registered the "Reederei Bernd Sibum GmbH & Co. KG" on 1 November 1995. The company operates 11 ships, all named after a member of the Sibum family. Company website.

The house flag of Sibum is blue with a yellow diamond nearly touching the edges of the flag and charged with a blue "S". Shown as a graphic all over the company website, the flag can be seen on photographs of ships, for instance MS "Anna-Maria Sibum",  "Rita Sibum" and "Grete Sibum". Tzibum, Tzibum.
Ivan Sache, 7 Sep 2008

Peter Siemsen & Co

image by , 7 Jan 2005

image by Klaus-Michael Schneider, 2 Apr 2007

The flag is clear: white with two narrow blue stripes near the bottom and top (or, in other words, a striped flag of white and blue, with proportions close to 1:1:4:1:1) and large black initials in the center: "P.S.&Co"
Jorge Candeias, 7 Jan 2005

The caption is 'Peter Siemsen & Co.', no ghost this time as there are some traces on the net the most interesting of which is this one, concerning Peter Siemsen 1787-1854, a trader (and later also senator) of Hamburg. Quote: "He, together with his brother, my grand uncle Jan, comprised until his early death in 1854 the firm Peter Siemsen and Co, which my uncle Nölting with my uncle Peter also joined."'
Jan Mertens, 6 Apr 2007

Peter Siemsen & Co. - The company used a white flag with two blue horizontal stripes and a blue serifed inscription "PS&Co." (the "o" is smaller and higher / right image)).
Source: Jürgen Meyer: "Hamburger Segelschiffe von 1795-1945"; ISBN 3-89225-400-1; Hamburg 1999; inside cover.
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 2 Apr 2007

Sietas Werft

?J.J. Sietas KG Schiffswerft GmbH u. Co.? meaning ?Sietas Wharf? in short is established at Hamburg, more exactly at the place where the little river Este joins the Elbe.  English version of company website, showing a modest little pennant: ?One of the oldest family-owned shipyards in the world,? Sietas has a very distinguished history starting in 1635 building wooden vessels for local traffic and fishing boats.   The wharf started building schooners from 1870 on; steel made its entrance in 1908 but WWI and inflation stopped shipbuilding, leaving repairs, till 1933.  From then on the construction of coasters relaunched the wharf; another milestone was the first true container ship, built 1966.  Nowadays the versatile firm employs about 900 people. ?Versatile? as exemplified by the ?Products? section showing a wide array of passenger and cargo ships (Ro/Ro of Ro/Lo, container, heavy loads, coasters, tankers, fishing boats, etc.).  Partnerships include Norderwerft, a repair and conversion wharf (nice house flag).

A blue pennant is shown as a drawing, bearing white initials ?J.J. Sietas? (standing for ?Johann Jacob? I believe).  A bigger image is shown here (page explaining SLS or Sietas Loading System): here is a picture, part of another German eBay offer (item no. 180128662301, valid till 18 June 2007, dimensions given as 300 x 400 mm).   The colour is admittedly different but could be the result of ageing: it was part of a rather old file.
Jan Mertens, 28 Aug 2007

Heinrich Sietas

The company was located in Grünendeich (Stade county ?). It is a black over white over black horizontal triband with red capitals "HS" in the white stripe.
Source: "Flaggen, Schornsteine, Reedereien- Flaggen und Schornsteine der deutschen Reedereien und ihre Schiffe über 300 BRT"; Hamburg 1957; p.F27
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 14 Apr 2009

Heinz Siegbold

The company was located in Bremerhaven. It is a white flag having a green bordure at three edges, approx double width at the hoist and none at the fly. In the white field is a red "M" superimposing a bigger red "S".
Source: "Flaggen, Schornsteine, Reedereien- Flaggen und Schornsteine der deutschen Reedereien und ihre Schiffe über 300 BRT"; Hamburg 1957; p.F27
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 14 Apr 2009

Claus Sievers

The company was located in Breiholz near Rendsburg. It is a white flag divided by a red saltire, which is cotized blue and white. In the centre of the flag is a black disc containing a white capital "S".
Source: "Flaggen, Schornsteine, Reedereien- Flaggen und Schornsteine der deutschen Reedereien und ihre Schiffe über 300 BRT"; Hamburg 1957; p.F27
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 14 Apr 2009

H & J Sievers

It was red over white over red horizontal triband. In the white stripe was a black inscription "H&J S".
Source: Gratis Beilage zu Deicken und Behrmann's Neuen Monatsheften Neue Ausgabe Sommer 1897
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 13 May 2012

J. Silvain

And here's another readable caption, this time reading "J. Silvain". The flag is white with 5 red 5-pointed stars, disposed in saltire.
Jorge Candeias, 19 May 2004

The very same houseflag was used by the French shipping company "Chargeurs Réunis".
The name "Silvain" sounds French but does not necessarily indicate a link between the two companies. It is more probable that the ancestors of J. Silvain were Protestant traders or shipowners very wisely expelled from France by king Louis XIV for the benefit of the economical, social and cultural development of the Lutherian countries.
Ivan Sache, 20 May 2004

Comp. Havraise Peninsulaire de Navigation (J. Silvain)

It is a red flag with a green border. In the red field are white initials "CHR".
Please note, we have this flag among French shipping lines, but the 3rd initial is a "P", which would be normal. I could find no reason for replacing it by an "R". The image in this source is probably erroneous.
Source: Gratis Beilage zu Deicken und Behrmann's Neuen Monatsheften Neue Ausgabe Sommer 1897
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 25 Apr 2012

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