La Gascony
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The La Gascogne was put into operation in 1886 Transatlantic - passenger steamer of the French shipping company Compagnie Générale Transatlantique (CGT), which for the passenger service from Le Havre to New York was built. It was sold in 1912 and scrapped in Italy in 1919 .
The ship
The La Gascogne was the third in a series of four new transatlantic liners that the Compagnie Générale Transatlantique put into service in succession for transatlantic passenger and mail traffic on the North Atlantic in 1886 . The other three were La Champagne with 7,087 GRT, La Bretagne with 6,754 GRT and La Bourgogne with 7,395 GRT. The four sister ships , which were named after regions of France , were furnished by the Parisian interior designer Jules Allard et Fils, one of the most popular interior designers of his time, who was particularly known for his extravagant fashion design .
The ship was laid down at the Forges et Chantiers de la Méditerranée (FCM) shipyard in La Seyne-sur-Mer under the name L'Algerie and was launched in January 1886. The 150 meter long and 15.96 meter wide steamship was completed as La Gascogne . It had two chimneys, four masts and a propeller . The ocean liner was powered by a six-cylinder quadruple expansion steam engine that developed 9,000 hp and could accelerate the ship to up to 17.5 knots. On board there was space for 390 passengers in the first, 65 in the second and 600 in the third class.
On September 18, 1886, the La Gascogne left Le Havre on her maiden voyage to New York. When she left Le Havre for New York on November 8, 1886, she had Ferdinand de Lesseps and the French delegation on board on the way to the inauguration of the Statue of Liberty . In 1894, after eight years of service, it was extensively overhauled, with two of the four masts being dismantled and the machinery replaced. The passenger capacity of the third class increased in this course to 1,500 people. On June 3, 1907, she took part in a fleet survey and a round trip from Le Havre to Spithead and Cowes on the occasion of a visit by the Spanish King Alfonso XIII. part. On March 4, 1911, she left for her last trip for the CGT from Le Havre to New York. On April 24, 1912, she was sold to the Compagnie de Navigation Sud-Atlantique for their liner service from Bordeaux to South America . After some technical changes, the La Gascogne ran out for the first time in Bordeaux for the new owners on November 2, 1912.
In August 1914, the La Gascogne was converted into an armed auxiliary cruiser , but returned to her owners shortly afterwards. On February 26, 1915, the steamer was chartered again by the CGT, its original shipping company, and used for three crossings from Bordeaux to New York. Later in the same year she was requested again by the French Navy and used as a depot ship near Thessaloniki . In November 1918, La Gascogne was disarmed in Bordeaux and on July 1, 1919, it arrived in Genoa, Italy, to be scrapped.