ROPiT
The Russian Society for steam shipping and trade ( Russian Русское общество пароходства и торговли (РОПиТ) , abbreviated Ropit , English Russian Steam Navigation and Trading Company , also Russian SNCO. ) Was a 1856 founded, listed shipping company in the Russian Empire , headquartered in Odessa .
history
Founded in 1856 and boomed until 1914
The company was founded in 1856 after the end of the Crimean War . The goal was to resume and expand Russian merchant shipping in the Black Sea and the Mediterranean . The foundation of the company, whose statutes were approved by the decree of Emperor Alexander II on August 3, 1856, took place with significant participation of the Russian government, which also appointed the captain 1st rank Nikolai Arkas ( Николай Андреевич Аркас ) as the company's first director . The government also appointed half of the board members. It also granted the company a twenty year loan . The company's shares were traded on the St. Petersburg Stock Exchange, where another seat of the company was located next to Odessa on Nevsky Prospect 45.
Two years after it was founded, the company had 35 ships built in English and French shipyards, carrying 123,000 passengers and 4,000,000 pounds of cargo on 12 routes. In 1858 the company was able to generate a profit of 746,000 rubles . In the same year, a contract for the use of the port of Villefranche-sur-Mer was concluded with the Kingdom of Sardinia for a period of 25 years.
Since 1869, the ROPiT has regularly served 14 domestic and 6 foreign 20 destinations, including Egypt and France, with a fleet of 63 ships and 38 barges . The company had developed into the leading shipping company in trade with Turkey, mainly transporting kerosene, grain, alcohol, metal products and textiles from Russia and bringing there coffee, tobacco, raisins, nuts and a variety of exotic goods. The company also took over the transport and return of exhibits for the Vienna World Exhibition in 1873 and even granted them free of charge. In 1901 the company's fleet had grown to 72 steamers. In addition to commercial freight, ROPiT also transported mail and couriers as well as some troops and military equipment on behalf of the government.
With its own pavilion designed by AN Klepinin, ROPiT took part in the 1910 All-Russian Exhibition of Industry, Agriculture and Art in Odessa.
Development during the First World War, the post-war period and the end of society in 1932
Use of ships in the First World War
During the First World War , due to the fighting on the seas, the company's merchant ships could no longer navigate their original routes, which also applied to most of the ships of the other European shipping companies. The ROPiT was only able to maintain ship operations in the eastern part of the Black Sea. According to official orders, several ships had to be made available to support the war fleet as troop transport, supply and hospital ships . The troop transport ships included u. a. 1889 by & Richardson Co. in Newcastle to Hamburg HAPAG under the name Russia Delivered and 1899 purchased by Ropit Odessa or 1901 by Ansaldo in Genoa for the Navigazione Generale Italiana built Lombardia - a sister ship SS Afon - and 1911 by Ropit acquired Jerousalim . The ships of the ROPiT suffered considerable damage. 12 sank after attacks by German submarines and after mine explosions .
ROPiT management escapes to France
During the ensuing civil war , many of the company's ships fell into the hands of various White Guard units operating in the Black Sea . In 1918, the company's management fled to Paris, while the ships it was launching moored in the port of Marseille . However, some of them had to be sold in order to pay off existing debts. After France had officially recognized the Soviet Union through an exchange of dispatches on October 28, 1924 , the management carried out a registration of the company under French law as "Compagnie Russe de Navigation et de Commerce", analogous to the original, in order to save the part of the fleet that remained in their hands Company name in Russia. The Soviet Union sued the Marseilles Commercial Court (Tribunal de Commerce) for the return of the ships evacuated from Odessa to Marseille because they were owned by the nationalized Soviet shipping company. However, the dismissal of the action was confirmed in the second instance in 1926 by the court of appeal in Aix (Cour d'appel d'Aix-en-Provence) - the decision was then upheld by the highest court in 1928 by the court of cassation in Paris .
The basis of the further activities of the ROPiT in France in 1925 were still 11 ships with the home port of Marseille; they were now sailing under the French flag. These included the: Cesarevitch Georgij , Afon , Bestujev (ex: Grand Duke Konstantin ), Jerousalim , Mouravjef-Apostol (ex Grand Duchess Xenia ), Odessa (II), Tigre , Euphrates , Trouvor (II), Aju-Dag and Chersonesos (II) . In 1926 they were joined by Askold . Most of the ships had Russian crews, and so they kept their Russian names on board. 14 of the company's ships in France were sold to foreign companies for scrapping between 1924 and 1926. Since the competition in the merchant shipping increased steadily, which led to increasing indebtedness of the shipping company, the remaining 12 ships had to be sold later gradually. The fate of the individual ships was as follows: The Cesarevitch Georgij were scrapped or sold for scrap value in 1927 , the Afon , Aju-Dag , Askold , Bestujev , Mouravjef-Apostol and Odessa (II) in 1928, the Jerousalim in 1930 and the Tigre in 1931 and Trouvor (II). Only the Chersones (II) was sold to a Swedish shipping company in 1929 and was only scrapped in Ystad in 1955 . The 75-year history of the ROPiT, which - as far as French society was concerned - was separated from its original homeland by the political developments after the First World War ended with the auction of the Euphrates at scrap value in March 1932.
Reorganization of the merchant fleet in the Black Sea in the Soviet Union
The express steamers that came under the control of Soviet Russia during and as a result of the civil war became state property. After the Soviet government gained complete control of the Black Sea coast, it began to restore the merchant fleet, using only 5% of the merchant ships that existed before the war. On June 13, 1922, the Soviet for Labor and Defense of the Republic founded the state shipping company "Black Sea-Azov Sea Steamship" (Черноморское-Азовское пароходство), which u. a. the Babushka (1870), scrapped in Kerch in 1926 , or the Chicherin (1903, ex "Princess Eugenia Oldenburgskaja") were assigned for further use.
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List of ships of the ROPiT in 1909
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ROPiT ships
- Imperator Aleksander II (Император Александр II) (1858)
- Veliky Knjas Konstantin (Великий Князь Константин) (1858)
- Oleg (Олег) (1859)
- Lasar (Лазар) (1863)
- Rostov (Ростов) (1867)
- Imperatriza Maria (Императрица Мария) (1877)
- Chuanpu (Хуанпу) (1882)
- Tsar (Царь) (1883)
- Swet (Свет) (1815)
- Lutsch (Луч) (1886)
- Odessa (Одесса) (1889)
- Veliki Knjaz Aleksei (Великий Князь Алексей) (1890)
- Blesk (Блеск) (1890)
- Veliky Knjas Konstantin (Великий Князь Константин) (II) (1890)
- Veliky Knjas Konstantin (Великий Князь Константин) (III) (1890)
- Svyatoi Nikolai (Святой Николай) (1893)
- Koroljewa Olga (Королева Ольга) (1893)
- Emperor Nikolai II (Император Николай II) (1895)
- Chtyr Dag (Чатыр Даг) (1896)
- Diana (Диана) (1899)
- Tschichachev (Чихачёв) (1892)
- Alton (Алтон) (1901)
- Meteor (Метеор) (1901)
- Chersonese (Херсонес) (1903)
- Ewrat (Евфрат) (1906)
- Metschta (Мечта) (1884)
- Prinzessa Evgenija Oldenburgskaja (Принцесса Евгения Ольденбургская) (1903)
- Emperor Nikolai I (Император Николай I) (1913)
- Imperatritsa Ekaterine II (Императрица Екатерина II)
- Imperator Aleksander III (Император Александр III)
- Emperor Pyotr Veliky (Император Пётр Великий)
- Tsar Mikhail Fyodorovich (Царь Михаил Фёдорович) (1914)
- Tsesarevich Aleksei Nikolajewitsch (Цесаревич Алексей Николаевич) (1914)
SS "Veliki Knjas Konstantin" ( Великий Князь Константин / Grand Prince Konstantin )
SS "Imperator Nikolai I." ( Император Николай I / Tsar Nicholas I ) (1913)
SS "Imperator Pjotr Veliki" ( Император Пётр Великий / Tsar Peter the Great )
SS "Zesarewitsch Aleksei Nikolajewitsch" ( Цесаревич Алексей Николаевич / Tsarewitsch Alexei Nikolajewitsch Romanow ) (1914)
Deck plans of SS "Zar" (1883) and SS "Tschichatschjow" (1892)
Deck plan of SS "Koroljewa Olga" (1893) and SS "Imperator Nikolai II." (1895)
Passenger rides
The company also offered passenger rides. For the 1907 season z. B. weekly services on the routes “Constantinople-Smyrna-Piraeus-Alexandria, Constantinople-Odessa” - the Bulgarian ports of Burgas and Varna were also called every fortnight - and “Constantinople- Sevastopol ” was occupied. Until 1914 the ROPiT then operated a direct line from Odessa via Constantinople to Alexandria as well as a round line and a "Macedonian line" there. Black Sea-only courses were also offered. The “Bulgarian-Anatolian Line” ran from Odessa via u. a. Burgas, Constantinople and Trebizond to Batum and the "Anatolian Line" from Constantinople to Batum.
Postal service
ROPiT agencies
The ROPiT operated a postal service with agencies in a number of mainly port cities of the Ottoman Empire (after the names customary at the time, initially in Constantinople , Ineboli , Sinope , Samsun , Tireboli , Ordu , Kerasunde , Trapezunt , Rizeh , Smyrna , Chios , Alexandrette , Latakia , Beirut , Jaffa , Jerusalem , Metelin , Saloniki , as well as on the Dardanelles and on Mount Athos ).
For franking purposes, the company issued three stamp issues in Ottoman currency between 1865 and 1868 , each of which comprised two stamps (10 Para and 2 piasters / Kurus ) and were labeled
ROPi T.
Russian State Post
In May 1868 the postal service was taken over by the Russian State Post . However, the mail delivery remained in the hands of ROPiT. The larger number of postage stamps issued by the “Russian Post in the Levant ”, as it is called in the German-speaking area, no longer bears any references to the ROPiT in the following years up to the beginning of the First World War . Initially it was stamps with the inscription Vostochnaja korrespondenzija (Russian Восточная корреспонденція , "Levantine correspondence"), from 1900 on normal stamps of the Russian Empire with imprints of values in Ottoman currency. An exception to this is a set of special stamps for the 50th anniversary of the company in 1907. These stamps also appear later with additional imprints of the place of use in French.
On October 1, 1914, just under a month before the Ottoman Empire entered the war , the post offices were closed and the mail delivery by the ROPiT ceased accordingly.
shipbuilding
In addition to merchant shipping, the company was also active in the field of shipbuilding. For example, the three gunboats Kubanez , Uralez and Terez of the Imperial Russian Navy were built at the company's shipyards. In times of war, some of the company's ships were used as auxiliary ships for the Russian Navy.
Flag of society
The company's first flag, introduced in 1858, already featured the national coat of arms of the Russian Empire with a double-headed eagle and breast shield on the blue field of the Russian tricolor . From January 1, 1898, the company carried a new flag approved by the Russian Emperor and the Ministry of the Navy, which carried a golden Russian imperial crown on the left in the upper, white field of the tricolor and a golden post horn on the right .
Uniforms from 1899
On February 19, 1899, new uniforms were introduced for service on ROPiT ships. For officers, the parade uniform consisted of a coat and black trousers. The velvet collar tabs had an anchor and stars above them, with the captain receiving three, the senior assistant and the chief mechanic each receiving two, the second assistant and the first mechanic each receiving two stars. The collar tabs of the 3rd assistant, the 2nd mechanic and the navigation student remained without stars.
The sailors wore the usual naval pattern: blue flannel and white uniform shirts, black trousers and striped striped shirts. Blue collars and cuffs from white shirts were wrapped in double white braid. The letters "ROPT" were embroidered on the chest of the flannel shirt. The sailor's hats had no peak and had a white border and a black ribbon on top. The name of the ship and the initials of the company were printed in gold on the ribbon in the form "RO [ship's name] PT". There were no cockades on the caps. A special feature of the sailors' uniform was the colored so-called cummerbund in ROPiT red.
The winter uniforms were sewn from black fabric, the summer uniforms from white linen. The buttons were different on the uniforms of the officers and the crew. The following illustrations give an impression of the uniform look.
- Uniforms of the ROPiT shipping service (selection)
Parade :
Commanding (1)
Maritime Inspector (2)
Duty:
Chief Mechanic (3)
Boatswain (4)
Service:
2nd mechanic (1)
Sailor (2)
Epaulets and collar tabs:
Inspector of the Maritime Department (1)
Captain (2),
Senior Assistant (3) Chief Mechanic (4), 2nd Assistant (5)
1st Mechanic (6), 3rd Assistant (7)
2nd Mechanic (8)
Cockade (1a)
uniform button:
officers (1b)
crew (1c)
Agencies, tickets, promotional materials, guides
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ROPiT travel guide, 1902 edition, front cover and title page (130 × 230 mm)
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According to a timetable booklet from 1909, passengers in many European capitals were able to purchase passenger tickets from large travel agencies, including:
- In the German Empire from the Hamburg-America Line travel agency in Berlin, Unter den Linden 8, and from AL Mende in Dresden, Sidonienstrasse. 7.00
in Austria-Hungary at the international travel agency Schenker & Compagnie in Vienna, Schottenring 3, and at the travel agency “Courier” von Nagel u. Wortmann in Vienna (I.), Operngasse 6, as well as at the Bureau Central de Voyages des Chemins de fer de l'Etat Hongrois in Budapest, Vigadótér 1,
- in Belgium with the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits et des Grands Express Européens in Brussels , 29, rue Ducale,
- in Great Britain at Thos, Cook & Son in London (EC) Ludgate Circus.
Most of the cooperation partners were maintained by ROPiT in Paris. At the turn of the century there were four offices in charge of ticket sales. a. Les Grands Voyages G. Le Bourgeois & C-ie (38, Boulevard des Italiens) and Agence Lubin (36, Boulevard Haussmann). Due to the routing to Egypt, the GS Alschewsky office acted as agent for the company.
The former Lehnkering & Cie. AG represented the interests of ROPiT in Germany.
A boat ticket for the III. Class from Odessa to Jaffa is on the Russian website “Organization of Postal Service in the Middle East. Historical-cultural aspect ”.
The company has also published travel guides with additional information about the ROPiT destinations in order to satisfy the needs of passengers and at the same time to advertise potential customers. Here the company tied in with similar projects by other large shipping companies, such as the Österreichischer Lloyd in Trieste. Around the turn of the century, at least until 1914, there was probably annual editions - the sixth was reached in 1902 (see illustration), which suggests that the editions should begin in 1897 - an illustrated travel guide for the Crimea, the Caucasus, of almost 500 pages and the Middle East (Constantinople, Cairo); French-language editions are also known.
For example, the travel guide published by Baron EE Steiger in 1902 under the editorship of NN Lender and costing just 25 kopecks provides detailed information on the fleet, the company's agents and correspondents as well as descriptions of the eponymous locations in Russia and the Middle East in a separately numbered section to the travel conditions, timetables and tariffs for passengers and luggage. Two maps for the Baltic Sea, the Black Sea and the Eastern Mediterranean as well as for Italy and the French Riviera are included as an illustration. The brochure is supplemented by information on post and telegraphy regulations as well as the currency situation in foreign travel destinations. The editorial section is preceded and followed by around 40 advertisements, such as from the famous goldsmith Fabergé , the agent of the Austrian Lloyd in Odessa for the Lloyd lines Odessa-Trieste and Odessa-Alexandria - here the ROPiT was in direct competition - that of two German trading company Kunst und Albers , founded in Vladivostok , the publisher of Novoje wremja Alexei Sergejewitsch Suworin or the Russian Schuckert branch.
In 1914, the Russian artist Boris Wassiljewitsch Sworykin designed an advertising booklet for the company in postcard format with timetables and images of ships.
literature
- Ю. Н. Трифонов, Б. В. Лемачко: Русское общество пароходства и торговли. 1856-1932 годы . Санкт-Петербург 2009 (JN Trifonow, BW Lematschko: Russian Society for Steamship and Trade. 1856–1932 . St. Petersburg 2009)
- В. В. Яровой: Русское общество пароходства и торговли. Историчөский список судового состава 1856–1932 гг . Издательство ФЛП Карпөнков О.И., Одесса 2017 (WW Jarowoi: ROPiT. Historical list of the ship inventory from 1856–1932 )
- РОПиТ и Черноморский флот , Морской флот №3, 2007 ( ROPiT and the Black Sea Fleet ), Morskoi flot No. 3) (Russian)
- Русское Общество Пароходства и Торговли: Путеводитель по Крыму, Кавкасу и Востоку (Константин). Под рөдакціей Путника (Н.Н. Лендера) . Одесса 1902 (German: travel guide for the Crimea, the Caucasus and the East (Constantinople - Cairo))
Web links
- ROPiT on photographs (Russian)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Compare the Russian Wikipedia for his biography .
- ↑ The representative office building of the ROPiT in Odessa, which encompassed a whole block between Lansheronowski and Deribasowskistraße, is shown in photographs (Russian) on the ROPiT website .
- ↑ see The Villafranca Affair in: The New York Times, November 18, 1858
- ^ Wiener Weltausstellung-Zeitung of November 20, 1872 ( ANNO digitized version ).
- ↑ see The Russian Mercantile Marine in: The New York Times, December 22, 1901
- ↑ Compare the Russian Wikipedia on the exhibition in Odessa and the biography of AN Klepinin .
- ↑ See the website messageries-maritimes .
- ↑ See the website messageries-maritimes .
- ↑ See the website messageries-maritimes .
- ↑ See the website Timbres, enveloppes, cartes postales et tout support d'histoire postale
- ↑ Académie de droit international de La Haye : Recueil Des Cours 1931 , Tome 35 de la collection, pp. 549 ff. ( Online [French]).
- ^ JN Trifonow, BW Lematschko: Russian Society for Steam Shipping and Trade. 1856-1932 . St. Petersburg 2009, p. 5 f.
- ↑ WW Jarowoi: Ropit. Historical list of the ship inventory from 1856–1932, p. 99
- ↑ WW Jarowoi: Ropit. Historical list of the ship inventory from 1856–1932, p. 242
- ↑ a b c Compagnie Russe de Navigation à Vapeur et de Commerce: Untitled [timetable booklet 1909], o. O
- ↑ Compare the Russian Wikipedia with the data of this second ship put into service with ROPiT .
- ^ Meyer's travel books. The Mediterranean . Bibliographisches Institut, Leipzig and Vienna 1907, intent: "Steamship connections in the Mediterranean 1907", p. VIII
- ↑ Baedeker's Constantinople and Asia Minor , Verlag Karl Baedeker, Leipzig 1914, preliminary remarks: “Steamship Overview”, p. LXIX f.
- ↑ The card is franked with two 2-kopeck stamps "Bосточная корреспонденція".
- ↑ Michel Russia Special Catalog 2005/2006 . Schwaneberger, Munich 2005, ISBN 3-87858-386-9 .
- ↑ see Ведомственные флаги Российской империи (часть 2)
- ↑ The information is based on the journal article by К. С. Васильев: Форма одежды команд судов РОПИТ и КВЖД образца 1899 г. Петербургский коллекционер (журнал), СПб. 2019. - № 1 (110). - С. 109-112 (KS Vasiliev: The uniform of the crews of the ships of the ROPIT and the КВЖД from 1899 (Russian), Der Petersburger Collector (magazine), St. Petersburg 2019, No. 1/2019 (110), pp. 109-112 .)
- ↑ The 40-page brochure - due to its foldability, has two numbers on each page - provides potential passengers with comprehensive information material about the ROPiT, with precise information on the management staff, the ship's fleet, the lines traveled along with timetables and tariffs, the conditions of carriage and are delivered to representations at home and abroad.
- ↑ Compagnie Russe de Navigation à Vapeur et de Commerce: Untitled [timetable booklet 1909], o. O., 38 p., Folded (French)
- ↑ a b See the website Organization of the Postal Service in the Middle East. Historical-cultural aspect .
- ↑ The 1914 edition is shown on the Internet . Due to the outbreak of the First World War , the company's further scheduled services, as with the other European shipping companies whose home countries were warring parties, came to a standstill.
- ↑ Due to the inferior printing paper used for comparable travel destinations compared to travel guides from other publishers ( Baedeker , Österreichischer Lloyd), it can be assumed that the travel guide should only be used for current use and then thrown away.
