French Line - CGT - Page 2
Mediterranean Car Ferry Services 1960-1969
CGTM (1969-1976)
SNCM - Page 1 (1976-)
This page continues the postcard history of CGT fleet (Compagnie Generale Transatlantique), and is devoted to CGT Mediterranean car ferry services, beginning with the
Napoleon
of 1960. In 1969, the routes were transferred to a new organisation, Compagnie Generale Transmediterraneenne (CGTM), and this company is also covered on this page. This situation was short-lived, and services passed to SNCM in 1976. The SNCM years of ex-CGT and ex-CGTM ferries are also shown on this page - whereas ferries built new for SNCM are covered
on this link
.
The table
below shows complete career histories of selected ships in postcards.
Below the table
are commercial and official cards of the
fleet in chronological order
. Dates given in headings are those within the CGT, CGTM and SNCM fleets.
Ships on this Page:-
Avenir
Comte de Nice
Corse
Fred Scamaroni
Ile de Beaute
Napoleon
Provence
Roussillon
Ships on Page 1A (Mediterranean CGT ships - part 1):-
Charles-Roux
- 1908-1936
Carthage
- 1910-1915
Duc D'Aumale
- 1913-1950
Gouverneur Generale Chanzy
- 1921-1963
Gouverneur Generale Grevy
- 1921-1946
Gouverneur Generale Gueydon
- 1922-1945
Gouverneur Generale Jonnart
- 1922-1948
Lamorciere
- 1920-1942
Le Gard
- 1890-1918
Marechal Bugeaud
- 1890-1927
Oudjda
- 1881-1929
Timgad
- 1911-1939
Ville d'Alger
- 1935-1966
Ville de Naples
- 1881-1929
Ville d'Oran
- 1936-1965
Ships on Page 1B (Mediterranean CGT ships - part 1):-
Commandant Quere
- (1948-1968)
Cyrnos
- (1948-1966)
Fred Scamaroni
- (1948-1953)
Maroc
- (1948-1968)
Sampiero Corso
- (1951-1967)
Ville d'Ajaccio
- (1948-1960)
Ville de Bordeaux
- (1956-1964)
Ville de Marseille
- (1948-1968)
Ville de Tunis
- (1952-1967)
Associated Pages:-
French Line Header Page
French Line Page 1A
- African & Mediterranean Services up to 1945
French Line Page 1B
- African & Mediterranean Services 1945-1960
French Line Page 2
- Mediterranean Car Ferries from 1960 - this page!
French Line Page 3
- Transat Vessels pre-1910
French Line Page 4
- Transat Vessels 1910-1914
French Line Page 5
- Transat Vessels 1914-1930
French Line Page 6
- Transat Vessels 1930-1945
French Line Page 7
- Transat Vessels 1945-1976
SNCM Page 2
- Later Mediterranean car ferries built new for SNCM
French Liner Postcards
Simplon Postcards Home Page
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Table of Ship Histories
Name
Other Names
Built
Rousillon
Prins Hamlet, Prinz Hamlet (1), Kamiros
1966
Ile de Beaute
Sunward, Grand Flotel, Saudi Moon, Ocean Quest
1966
CGT/CGTM/SNCM
Car Ferries Fleet List - Page 1
Napoleon
(CGT: 1960-69, CGTM: 1969-74)
Napoleon
entered service in January 1960 for CGT on their Corsican services. In winter she operated an overnight service from Marseille to Ajaccio and Bastia, whilst in summer she ran a day service from Nice to Bastia and Calvi. She carried 74 cars which were loaded through doors in the port side and stern. In 1969,
Napoleon
was transferred to Cie.Gen.Transmediterraneenne (CGTM), along with the other Mediterranean units of the CGT fleet. She was sold to Saudi Lines as
Alpasha
in 1974, and scrapped in 1988.
This official CGT card was printed by Editions Estel of Blois.
A Labo Photo Sud-Est card (Paris) of
Napoleon
. dressed overall.
An Editions Yvon card (Paris) of
Napoleon
.
An Editions Kalliste card (Ajaccio) of
Napoleon
at Propriano. (s/n 713).
An Editions A.Rion card (Nice) of
Napoleon
(s/n 94/140).
Photo-Spirale card (Marseille) of
Napoleon
.
An Editions la Cigogne card (Ajaccio) of
Napoleon
(s/n 20.000.102).
An Editions la Cigogne card (Ajaccio) of
Napoleon
at Ajaccio.
(s/n 20.999.95, posted July 1962 from Ajaccio).
An Editions Gilletta card (Nice) of
Napoleon
leaving Nice (s/n 91).
An enlargement of the ship is shown below.
An Editions la Cigogne card (Monaco) of
Napoleon
leaving Nice (s/n 06.088.140).
An enlargement of the ship is shown below.
This card is an official Cie.Gen.Transmediterraneenne (CGTM) card, showing the white band added to the CGT funnel colours.
An Editions Yvon card (Paris) of
Napoleon
entering Ajaccio in CGTM colours (s/n 10 20 0262).
Fred Scamaroni
(CGT: 1966-69, CGTM: 1969-76, SNCM: 1976-80)
Fred Scamaroni
entered service in 1966 for CGT on Corsica services. In 1969, she was transferred to Cie.Gen.Transmediterraneenne (CGTM), along with the other Mediterranean units of the CGT fleet. In 1976, she was transferred again to the newly formed SNCM. In 1980
Fred Scamaroni
was replaced by the new
Liberte
, and was sold to Ole Lauritzen. He had previously started the successful Olau Line between Sheerness and Vlissingen. Having sold Olau Line to TT-Line, he tried to start a new service from Ramsgate to Dunkerque using the
Fred Scamaroni
(renamed
Nuits St Georges
). The service was not a success for various reasons (French blockades of Dunkerque by protesting fishermen, inadequate dredging at Ramsgate and the exposed location of Ramsgate, amongst others) and
Nuits St Georges
was sold to Middle Eastern owners. She served under various names until 1991 when she was wrecked with the loss of over 460 lives.
Editions "La Cigogne" card (s/n 20.999.206) of
Fred Scamaroni
in CGT colours at Ajaccio.
Editions "La Cigogne" card (s/n 20.033.141) of
Fred Scamaroni
in CGT colours at Bastia.
Editions "YPA" card of
Fred Scamaroni
in CGT colours at Nice.
Editions "A.Rion" card (s/n 94/174 A.21/125) of
Fred Scamaroni
in CGT colours at Nice.
Official CGTM card of
Fred Scamaroni
. An enlarged image of the ship is shown below.
Corse
(CGT: 1966-69, CGTM: 1969-76, SNCM: 1976-81)
Corse
entered service in 1966 for CGT on Corsica services. In 1969, she was transferred to Cie.Gen.Transmediterraneenne (CGTM), along with the other Mediterranean units of the CGT fleet. In 1976, she was transferred again to the newly formed SNCM. In 1981
Corse
was sold to Greek owners and renamed
Golden Vergina
. In 1999 she passed to the Minoan Flying Dolphin subsidiary Hellas Ferries and renamed
Express Samina
.
Express Samina
was lost with loss of life after hitting some rocks in 2000.
Editions "CAP" card (s/n A333) of
Corse
in CGT colours leaving Nice.
Editions "A.Rion" card (s/n 94/139 223) of
Corse
in CGT colours, with an enlarged image of the ship shown below.
Enlarged image of the
Corse
from the protcard above.
Editions "La Cigogne" card (s/n 20.000.96) of
Corse
in CGT colours.
Editions Kalliste (Ajaccio) postcard of
Corse
, leaving Ile de Beaute.
Official CGTM card of
Corse
, issued to cover both sisters
Corse
and
Comte de Nice
.
Provence - Comte de Nice
(CGT: 1966-69, CGTM: 1969-76, SNCM: 1976-83)
Comte de Nice,
sister of
Corse,
also entered service in 1966 for CGT on Corsica services. She was the last car ferry built for CGT, and was launched as the
Provence
, but renamed
Comte de Nice
before entering service. In 1969, she was transferred to Cie.Gen.Transmediterraneenne (CGTM), along with the other Mediterranean units of the CGT fleet. In 1976, she was transferred again to the newly formed SNCM. In 1983
Comte de Nice
was sold to Greek owners and renamed
Naias II
. In 1999 she passed to the Minoan Flying Dolphin subsidiary Hellas Ferries and renamed
Express Naias
.
Editions "La Cigogne" card (s/n 20.000.95) of
Comte de Nice
in CGT colours.
The same Editions "La Cigogne" card (s/n 20.000.95) of
Comte de Nice
as shown above, reissued to show CGTM colours.
Editions "A.Rion" card (s/n 94/7025) of
Comte de Nice
in SNCM colours at Bonifacio, with an enlarged image of the ship shown below.
Avenir
(CNM: 1967, CGTM: 1969-75)
Avenir
was built in 1967 for Cie.de Navigation Mixte (CNM) operating on their service to Tunis. In 1969, she was transferred to Cie.Gen.Transmediterraneenne (CGTM), along with the other Mediterranean units of the CNM fleet. She was sold to Italian owners as
Espresso Corinto
in 1975. In 1985 she was sold again, becoming the
Shahrazad
, but sank following a fire on 21st September of the same year.
Official Cie.de Navigation Mixte (CNM) card of
Avenir
.
Official CGTM card of
Avenir
.
Rousillon
(CGT: 1970, CGTM: 1970-76, SNCM: 1976-80)
Rousillon
was built in 1966 as
Prins Hamlet
(later
Prinz Hamlet (1)
) by Wärtsilä Chrichton Vulcan, Åbo, Finland, in 1966 for
Lion Ferry Ab
, Halmstad, Sweden. Her sisterships were
Finnpartner
,
Finnhansa
and
Bohème
.
Prins Hamlet
initially operated on the
Prinz Ferries
route from Bremerhaven to Harwich. During her first winter, she also ran some cruises from Copenhagen to the Canary Isles. In the winters of 1967 and 1968,
Prins Hamlet
ran cruises to Brazil. In 1969
Prins Hamlet
was sold to Hafendampschiffart AG (HADAG), Hamburg, who took part ownership of
Prinz Ferries
. Her name was changed to the German spelling of
Prinz Hamlet
. Her route was tranferred to a new one from Hamburg to Harwich, and the Hamburg terminal was on the famous St. Pauli Landungsbrücken.
Prinz Hamlet
was bought by CGT in 1970, but did not enter service until after services had transferred to Cie.Gen.Transmediterraneenne (CGTM), so never carried the red/black French Line colours. It was announced that she would be called
Languedoc
, but she appeared in service as the
Rousillon
.
Rousillon
operated on routes from Marseille to Tunisia and Corsica. She was sold to Greek owners as
Kamiros
in 1980, running for
Dane Sea Lines
betwen Piraeus and Rhodes. In 1997,
Kamiros
was sold to Ascot Seatrade Co, Valletta, Malta. Renamed
Thessaloniki
, she served on a route Brindisi-Igoumenitsa-Patras for 1997 only, followed by lay-up in Eleusis Bay. Although renamed
Queen Calliope
in 2000, she did not sail again until she left for Turkey and beaking up in 2002, under the temporary name of
Opi
.
There is a complete history of this ship
on this link
.
Official CGTM card of
Rousillon
.
Editions "A.Rion" card (s/n 94/383) of
Rousillon
in CGTM colours.
Official SNCM postcard of
Rousillon
.