Last modified: 2013-12-28 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)
House flag of SGTM - Image by Ivan Sache, 13 February 2004
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Société Générale des Transports Maritimes à Vapeur (SGTM) 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 Bône (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 it.
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, SGTM set up an alliance with 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. SGTM owned 22 ships in 1900. Three years
later, the company bought SS Île-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. SGTM created a subsidiary called
Compagnie de Navigation France-Amérique.
In 1914, 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 SGTM, which was reorganized in
1919. The company was granted German ships and built seven
cargo-passenger ships and six cargo ships. In 1930, SGTM operated 30
ships and was the fourth biggest shipping company in France, after
Compagnie Générale Transatlantique, Messageries Maritimes and
Chargeurs Réunis, and the biggest company completely based in Marseilles.
The economical crisis of the 1930s caused a dramatical reduction of the
tonnage, and 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.
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
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 SGTM.
In 1960, Fraissinet took control of SGTM. Fraissinet later merged with Chargeurs. In 1964, Fabre and SGTM merged as Cie Fabre - Transports Maritimes à Vapeur, under the control of
Fraissinet-Chargeurs. In 1974, 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
P. Bois [boi03] shows the house flag of SGTM is quartered white-blue-white-blue with the letters "T" (blue), "S" (white), "M" (blue), and "G" (white) in the quarters, respectively.
Ivan Sache, 13 February 2004