Red Star Line
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The Red Star Line (RSL) was a Belgian / US- American shipping company with headquarters in Antwerp . The company operated a liner service on the North Atlantic between Europe and North America with Philadelphia , later New York as destination ports. This shipping company is not to be confused with the Red Star Line founded in 1818 by Byrnes, Trimble & Co. from New York .
history
In 1872 the shipping company was founded as "Societé Anonyme de Navigation Belge-Americaine SA" by the US shipping company International Navigation Company (INCo) with headquarters in Antwerp. The shipping company flag showed a red star on a white background, from which the name "Red Star Line" was later derived. As an external identification mark, the chimneys of the ships were black with a white band. The ship names all ended in “… .land”.
In the beginning, Philadelphia was the final port in North America. From 1876 the line ran from Antwerp to New York and in 1904 Dover was added to the route. The ships used were initially quite small, but the Westernland , which was commissioned in 1883 , with her 5736 GRT , did not have to hide from any contemporary steamer. The Friesland , built in 1889, had 7,116 GRT and the sister ships Vaderland and Zeeland from 1900 and 1901 came to 11,905 GRT.
In 1900 the International Navigation Co., and with it the Red Star Line, was bought up by the US banker JP Morgan . In 1904 the INCo became the "International Mercantile Marine Company" ( IMMC ), which also included the White Star Line and the Atlantic Transport Line . The Red Star Line continued to exist. With more funds, the expansion of the fleet proceeded rapidly: in 1902 the Finland and the Kroonland (12,760 GRT each) came into service and in 1908 the Lapland with 17,540 GRT.
Shortly before the outbreak of the First World War , in 1913, the Red Star Line ordered the Belgenland , measured at 27,132 GRT , but the war prevented its scheduled commissioning in 1914. After the conquest of Belgium by Germany, the Belgenland was requisitioned by the Royal Navy as a troop transport. At that time it was called Belgic and was managed by the White Star Line .
In 1915, the parent company IMMC went bankrupt and came under the trusteeship of the US government.
After the end of the war, the IMMC was restructured into the state-owned United States Lines , and there was no more space for foreign shipping companies. The Leyland Line had taken over the European part of the IMMC and thus also the responsibility for the partial shipping companies, including the Red Star Line. The old liner services were resumed and the Belgenland was put into service in 1923.
After the global economic crisis , the business became more and more loss-making. In 1935 the Leyland Line went bankrupt and the future of the Red Star Line was on the brink. The German shipowner and businessman Arnold M. Bernstein bought the line in the same year and restructured it as "Red Star Line GmbH, Hamburg". Bernstein was Jewish and had increasing problems in Germany in the late 1930s. In 1937 he was by the Nazis arrested and 1938 to two years in prison convicted. Friends helped Bernstein shortly before the outbreak of World War II . He was ransomed and was able to move to the USA in 1939 for a large sum of money. The Red Star Line was disbanded in 1939 and their ships were sold or scrapped. All contracts and port regulations were taken over by Holland-America Line (Rotterdam).
Ships
| year | Surname | tonnage | shipyard | Status / fate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1872 | Vaderland (I) | 2748 GRT | Palmers Bros. & Co. Ltd. , Jarrow | Renamed Geographique in 1889 and sunk after collision |
| 1873 | Nederland | 2839 GRT | Palmers Bros. & Co. Ltd., Jarrow | 1906 out of service |
| 1874 | Switzerland | 2839 GRT | Palmers Bros. & Co. Ltd., Jarrow | Sold in 1905 |
| 1877 ( 1873 ) | Russia | 2595 GRT | k. A. | 1873: ex Kenilworth , American Line / 1877 to RSL / sunk in 1877 |
| 1878 ( 1865 ) | Zeeland (I) | 2866 GRT | J. & G. Thomson Ltd., Glasgow | 1865: ex Java , Cunard Line / 1878 sold to RSL / 1889 to France |
| 1879 | Rhynland | 3692 GRT | Barrow Shipbuilding Co. Ltd., Barrows | 1906 out of service |
| 1879 | Belgenland (I) | 3692 GRT | Barrow Shipbuilding Co. Ltd., Barrows | Sold in 1905 |
| 1880 ( 1867 ) | Waesland | 2960 GRT | J. & G. Thomson Ltd., Glasgow | 1867: ex Russia , Cunard Line / 1880 to RSL / 1902 sunk near Anglesey |
| 1882 ( 1870 ) | Pennland (I) | 3428 GRT | J. & G. Thomson Ltd., Glasgow | 1870: ex Algeria , Cunard Line / 1882 to RSL / 1903 out of service |
| 1882 | Conemaugh | 2328 GRT | Bartram & Sons | Bought in 1890 (ex Sacrobosco ); Lost in 1904 off Cape Horn |
| 1883 | Westernland (I) | 5736 GRT | Laird Bros. & Co. Ltd., Birkenhead | 1912 out of service |
| 1884 | Noordland | 5212 GRT | Laird Bros. & Co. Ltd., Birkenhead | 1900 out of service |
| 1889 | Friesland | 7116 GRT | J. & G. Thomson Ltd., Glasgow | Sold in 1911 |
| 1900 | Vaderland (II) | 11899 GRT | J. Brown & Co. Ltd., Clydebank | Torpedoed and sunk in 1917 |
| 1901 | Zeeland (II) | 11,905 GRT | J. Brown & Co. Ltd., Clydebank | Sold in 1927 |
| 1902 | Finland | 12,760 GRT | W. Cramp & Sons Ltd., New York | 1928 out of service and demolished |
| 1902 | Kroonland | 12,760 GRT | W. Cramp & Sons Ltd., New York | Launched in 1932 / canceled in 1934 |
| 1903 | Samland | 7913 GRT | Harland & Wolff Ltd., Belfast | 1931 out of service and demolished |
| 1906 (1930) | Traunstein | 2811 GRT | Clyde Shipbuilding & Engineering Co., Port Glasgow | ex Sharistan Frank C. Strick; 1939 sold to Robert Bornhofen; Wrecked in 1950 |
| 1906 (1938) | Gravenstein | 3522 GRT | Burmeister & Wain, Copenhagen | ex Tranquebar Det Ostasiatiske Kompagni; ex Hansa steam shipping company Visurgis ; 1928 sold to shipping company Arnold Bernstein ; 1939 forcibly sold to Horn-Linie ; 1941 to the Navy , sunk in Gotenhafen as a harbor barrier in 1945 |
| 1907 (1938) | Koenigstein | 9626 GRT | Hunter & Wigham Richardson, Newcastle | ex Arawa Shaw, Savill & Albion Steamship Company ; Sold in 1939; Sunk by U 135 in 1942 |
| 1908 | Lapland | 17,540 GRT | Harland & Wolff Ltd., Belfast | 1934 out of service and demolished |
| 1908 ( 1893 ) | Gothland | 7755 GRT | Harland & Wolff Ltd., Belfast | 1893: ex Gothic , White Star Line / 1908 RSL / 1925 out of service and demolished |
| 1920 | Pennland (II) | 16 322 GRT | Harland & Wolff Ltd., Belfast | Sold in 1938 |
| 1929 | Westernland (II) | 16,313 GRT | Harland & Wolff Ltd., Glasgow | 1917: ex Regina , sold in 1939 |
| 1921 ( 1898 ) | Poland | 6849 GRT | Furness, Withy & Co., West Hartlepool | 1905: ex Manitou , ATL / 1921 RSL / 1925 out of service and demolished |
| 1923 | Belgenland (II) | 27,132 GRT | Harland & Wolff Ltd., Belfast | Sold in 1934 |
Red Star Line Migration Museum
In the warehouses on Montevideostraat in Antwerp, the overseas passengers had been disinfected and medically examined, and it was there that it was also decided who was allowed to travel to the United States and Canada. In 2013 the Red Star Line Museum was opened there as a migration museum. The permanent exhibition shows the emigration of passengers to North America in connection with the Red Star Line, from a travel agency in Warsaw to train compartments and ship cabins to their arrival on Ellis Island and the future in the United States. The local aspect of the city of Antwerp and its port is taken up as well as the accompanying Belgian and European history and the different motives for emigration of the migrants (including anti-Semitism , poverty , subsequent travel to friends and family reunification).
literature
- Arnold Bernstein: From Breslau via Hamburg to New York: A Jewish shipowner . Convent Verlag, Hamburg / Bremerhaven 2001, ISBN 3-934613-18-7
Web links
- redstarline.eu (English)
- Objects relating to the Red Star Line in the holdings of the Jewish Museum Berlin
- s: A trip from Philadelphia to Antwerp | A trip from Philadelphia to Antwerp with the "Vaderland" travel report from 1873
Individual evidence
- ↑ The Vaderland on Miramar Ship Index (English) viewed May 19, 2009 ( Memento of the original from September 7, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Red Star Line Museum . EUROM, accessed November 8, 2019.
