L'Atlantique
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The L'Atlantique was a transatlantic passenger steamer put into service in 1930 by the French shipping company Compagnie de Navigation Sud-Atlantique . In its time it was the largest ocean liner on the route between Europe and South America . On January 4, 1933, the ship burned so badly in the English Channel that it was not worth repairing. The L'Atlantique was in 1936 Scotland scrapped.
The ship
The keel of L'Atlantique was laid on November 28, 1928 at the Chantiers de Penhoët shipyard in Saint-Nazaire . The owner was the Compagnie de Navigation Sud-Atlantique, a subdivision of the Compagnie Générale Transatlantique (CGT). This shipping company mainly served the South American routes. For this also was L'Atlantique built. She was a 223 meter long, 28 meter wide ocean liner with a volume of 42,514 GRT. It had two masts , three chimneys and four propellers . The L'Atlantique was powered by four sets of triple expansion steam engines producing 45,000 shaft horsepower (SHP) and a speed of 21 knots.
She was considered a very modern and luxurious ocean liner with many unusual details, such as particularly wide main corridors (more than six meters), a shopping center and a three- deck high foyer amidships. There was also a swimming pool , a tennis court and a library . Most of the interior was Art Deco . The interior consisted mainly of glass, marble and different types of wood, which gave L'Atlantique a more subtle atmosphere than was found on other ships of the company, such as the Île de France . The interior was designed by Albert Besnard and Pierre Patout from Messieurs Raguenet et Maillard. A total of 1238 passengers could be accommodated, of which 488 in the first, 88 in the second and 662 in the third class.
On April 15, 1930, the L'Atlantique was launched and on September 29, 1930, she cast off in Bordeaux on her maiden voyage to Rio de Janeiro , Santos , Montevideo and Buenos Aires . Outwardly, the L'Atlantique looked top-heavy , so in 1932 the chimneys were lengthened by five meters to make the ship look more elegant.
The fire
On January 4, 1933, the L'Atlantique was under the command of Captain René Schoofs with 229 crew members on board on a trip from Bordeaux to Le Havre , where she was to be repaired for her next voyage to South America. Passengers were not on board on this trip. The fire that broke out in one of the first class cabins was discovered by the crew around 3:30 a.m. The ship was at the time 25 nautical miles west of the Channel Island of Guernsey . Before an organized fire fight could be initiated, the fire had already worked its way through many cabins by following the pipes. When the alarm was triggered, the fire could no longer be controlled.
Shortly before 6 a.m., Captain Schoofs ordered the evacuation of the ship. The emergency call of L'Atlantique was followed by four freighters, the Achilles , the Erato , the Ford Castle and the Ruhr . The Danish Achilles took on the crew of the burning ship. Captain Schoofs was the last to jump overboard. 19 crew members were killed in the accident, including seven or eight who were thrown into the Atlantic from a capsizing lifeboat . Others perished because they stayed on their wards. The L'Atlantique that the bow to the stern burned, developed a severe blow side to the port side .
On January 5, 1933, the French Navy Ministry declared L'Atlantique to be a total loss . French, German and Dutch tugs hauled the burned-out wreck to Cherbourg , where the fire was extinguished on January 8th. The ship stayed there until the owners and insurers could agree on the further procedure. The result was an insurance payout to Compagnie de Navigation Sud-Atlantique of $ 6.8 million. In February 1936, L'Atlantique was finally sold for demolition and shortly afterwards scrapped at Smith & Houston in Port Glasgow .
Web links
- Summary of technical data and course of the accident
- The history of L'Atlantique (with photos and videos)