liner CHANTILLY

Compagnie des Messageries Maritimes, 1923 - 1951

History

Cargo and passenger steamer repurchased by the State on slipway from the Chargeurs Réunis which had ordered a series of 10, of which 3 appeared in excess, she was to be named KERGUELEN. Transferred to Services Contractuels des Messageries Maritimes, she is transformed to be used on the line of Far East. Baptized CHANTILLY, she carries out her first departure on January 17, 1923. From 1932 to 1940 she alternates with the line of Indian Ocean. July 24, 1936 she runs aground in the river of Saigon. January 8, 1937, she loses a propeller in Canal of Suez and must go in drydock in Diego Suarez. At the beginning of September 1939 she accomplishes a transport of troops with COMPIEGNE from Madagascar bound for Beirut, then on May 8, 1940 she belongs to the 5th convoy of Brest bound for Norway, which stops in Clyde, after the decision to evacuate Narvik. She will be given back on December 20 in Casablanca. The 1st January 1941 she is hailed at the level of the cape of Tres Forcas close to Melilla by HMS JAGUAR. Two passengers are killed by a burst of machine-gun. Seized on behalf of Ministry of War Transport, she is managed by British India then by Gray Dawes & Co. Transformed into ship hospital in 1944, she is given back to the French Government in 1945 which charges Services Contractuels des Messageries Maritimes to operate her. Given in service always like ship hospital, she accomplishes voyages on Madagascar and Indo-China until 1949. Her first voyage begins on August 2, 1946 in Marseille bound for Tamatave then Saigon with Vietnamese passengers and Malgaches (soldiers, patients and wounded). Many damages of machines which have occurred after the stopover of Port Said for coal loading, compel her to call in Aden. In Tamatave, the captain Louvet, disembarked while sick dies. Returns again on October 5 towards Marseille which she will reach on November 22 and the passengers are transferred at the time of a stopover in Port Sudan on the SOMMERSETSHIRE who arrives on October 22 to Saigon. Given back to the State on January 17, 1951, she is sold to Société du Matériel Naval du Midi in Marseille for demolition on October 28, 1951.