SS L'Atlantique
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The L' Atlantique was a 1930 put into operation in trans-Atlantic passenger steamers of the French shipping company Compagnie de Navigation Sud -Atlantique. She was in her time the largest ocean liner on the route between Europe and South America. On January 4, 1933, the ship in the English Channel was burnt out so strong that a repair is not worthwhile. The L' Atlantique was scrapped in 1936 in Scotland.
History
The keel of the L' Atlantique has been paid to the shipyard Chantiers de Penhoët on 28 November 1928 in Saint- Nazaire. Owner was the Compagnie de Navigation Sud -Atlantique, a division of Compagnie Générale Transatlantique (CGT ). This shipping company operated mainly South America routes. For this, the L' Atlantique was built. She was a 223 meter long, 28 meter wide ocean liner with a capacity of 42,514 tons. She had two masts, three chimneys and four propellers. The L' Atlantique was powered by four sets of triple expansion steam engines, 45,000 Shaft Horsepower ( SHP) contributed and allowed a speed of 21 knots.
She was amidships as very modern and luxurious ocean liners with many unusual details, such as extra-wide main corridors ( over six feet ), a shopping center and three decks high foyer. There were also a swimming pool, a tennis court and a library. The interior was largely decorated in Art Deco. The interior consisted mainly of glass, marble and various types of wood, which the L' Atlantique was a more subtle atmosphere, as they had on other ships of the company, such as the Ile de France to encounter. The interior design was by Albert Besnard and Pierre Patout of Messieurs et Raguenet Maillard. A total of 1238 passengers could be accommodated, including 488 in the first, 88 in the second and 662 in third class.
On April 15, 1930 ran the L' Atlantique from the stack and put them on September 29, 1930 in Bordeaux on her maiden voyage to Rio de Janeiro, Santos, Montevideo and Buenos Aires from. Outwardly, the L' Atlantique had topp -heavy, so in 1932 the chimneys were extended by five meters to make the ship look more elegant.
On January 4, 1933, the L' Atlantique was under the command of Captain René Schoofs with 229 crew members on board on a road trip from Bordeaux to Le Havre, where they should be repaired for her next trip to South America. Passengers were on this trip not on board. The fire, which broke out in one of the cabins of the First Class, was discovered around 3:30 clock in the morning by the crew. The ship was at the time 25 nautical miles west of the Channel Island of Guernsey. Before an organized fire fighting could be initiated, the fire had already worked through many cabins by had followed the line pipe. When the alarm is triggered, the fire was no longer to control.
Short date 6 clock in the morning ordered captain Schoofs the evacuation of the ship. The emergency of L' Atlantique 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. Schoofs captain jumped overboard as the last. 19 crew members died in the disaster killed, including seven or eight that have been thrown from a capsizing lifeboat in the Atlantic. Others came around because they remained at their stations. The L' Atlantique, which burned from bow to stern, developed a severe list to port.
On 5 January 1933, the French Ministry of the Navy, the L' Atlantique declared a total loss. French, German and Dutch tug towed the charred wreckage to Cherbourg, where the fire was extinguished on 8 January. There was the ship until the owner and insurer could agree on how to proceed. The result was an insurance payout to Compagnie de Navigation Sud -Atlantique in the amount of 6.8 million U.S. dollars. In February 1936, the L' Atlantique was finally sold for demolition and scrapped shortly afterwards at Smith & Houston in Port Glasgow.