liner COMPIèGNE

Compagnie des Messageries Maritimes, 1923 - 1954

History

Mixed 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 called JAMAICA. Transferred to Services Contractuels des Messageries Maritimes, she is transformed to be used on the line of Far East. Christened COMPIEGNE, she carries out her first departure on March 15, 1924. From the 5 to April 11, 1931 she accomplishes a special voyage to Palermo for the marriage of Count of Paris. From 1932 to 1940, alternates with the line of Indian Ocean. In 1935 she is present at the time of the festivals of tercentenary of Port Louis at Maurice. At the beginning of September 1939 she accomplishes a transport of troops with CHANTILLY of Madagascar bound for Beirut. May 8, 1940 she leaves Brest with the last convoy for Norway, which stops in Clyde, after the decision to evacuate Narvik. Blocked by the signature of the armistice in Lisbon where she took refuge. Released on December 13 she joins Marseille from where she sets out again for Saigon in March 1941. November 3, 1941, after having made a stopover in Madagascar at the time of the return voyage, she is hailed at 350 miles of Port Elisabeth and is led to East London where she is seized on November 8. Managed by Union Castle Mail Line, she is brought back to England to Gravesend where she is transformed into barracks ship for the juniors of the Navy with masts and chimney cut. Returned on November 7, 1945 to the French government and Services Contractuels des Messageries Maritimes, she is sent to Brest to be reconditionned. The dockyard being destroyed, she is sent back to the shipyards of Dunkerque. On the way she runs against a mine off Fécamp the 2nd July and must be stranded. Refloated and towed in Dunkerque, she is the first ship to enter the drydock hardly repaired. From 1946 to 1947 she is repaired and modified. The coal-fired boilers are replaced by oil-fired boilers, and the old coal bunkers transformed into crew's quarters. After tests in January 1948 which reveal problems on the starboard turbine, she leaves Dunkerque on April 17, should be careened in Cherbourg, joins Marseille from where she leaves on May 15 for Indian Ocean. Her second voyage, departure on September 6, 1948, is marked by damages to the boilers and the pumps in Red Sea, compelling to a 12 days stopover in Aden for repairs, port which she leaves the lst October to there return on the 9 due to an excessive water consumption of the boilers. The ATHOS II is diverted from Djeddah to take the 398 passengers and to lead them to Madagascar and La Réunion. October 31 she joins again Diego Suarez for passage in the drydock, then continues her voyage to join Marseille January 20, 1949 after 137 days of voyage instead of 74 foreseen. Important repairs are carried out in Marseilles and she then continues to be operated on the line of Indian Ocean until her withdrawal on April 7, 1954. She is sold for the demolition in La Seyne.