# L'atlantique



## david (Oct 14, 2004)

While noting the corrospondence on the "Pasteur" and her giant funnel, I was reminded of another belonging to that Company that had an extraordinarily short career of less than TWO years before she burnt in 1933 and after a long tussle with the insurers, was scrapped in 1936. 
I know that I am only a novice on this site, but I find it extraordinary that other than a few old postcard views and grainy pics, there is next to nothing on the web that I can find about a ship that was the largest ever built for the Europe-South America service.
Can any members put me on the right track please.


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## R58484956 (Apr 19, 2004)

Go to

http://ocean-liners.schuminweb.com/ships/l'atlantique.asp

see thread 6 for online click, this one does not click


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## Creese (Feb 26, 2006)

Also : http://francois.delboca.free.fr/fsatlan1.html


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## fred henderson (Jun 13, 2005)

*Web site*

Sorry R58484956, I could not get the site address to connect, so I tried adding www. but with no success. Could you check please?

Fred (Thumb)


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## Bruce Carson (Jun 14, 2005)

A couple of interesting thumbnails of the L'Atlantique arriving on the Clyde to be scrapped.
http://www.portglasgow4u.co.uk/shipyards/latlantique.html
The funnels were originally of normal length:
http://perso.wanadoo.fr/damien.jullemier/jul/jul-atlantique.htm

Bruce C.


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## Hugh MacLean (Nov 18, 2005)

fred henderson said:


> Sorry R58484956, I could not get the site address to connect, so I tried adding www. but with no success. Could you check please?
> 
> Fred (Thumb)


Here it is Fred:

http://ocean-liners.schuminweb.com/ships/l'atlantique.asp
Rgds


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## fred henderson (Jun 13, 2005)

*l'Atlantique*

Thank you Hugh. I agree with the diplomatic comments on the website. I think that externally, she was probably the ugliest passenger ship to be built between the Wars. No sheer, very upright, divide the length by four and place a squat funnel at each of the intermediate points. 
The replacement, Pasteur was the second ugliest. Continue to divide the hull by four and place a stupidly high funnel at the first intermediate point from the bow.
Interestingly, most of the publicity material is artist drawings that ignore how clumsy both designs were, or bow shots that foreshorten the profile.

Fred


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## david (Oct 14, 2004)

S..t guys that was an absolutly amazing response!!!
Thanks heaps.
Yes I agree with the comments that they really must be amongst the ugliest Liners ever in pre WW2 times, with maybe the exception of the weird square funneled ships of Messageries Maritimes during the same period.
I wonder why the Frog Naval architects who were able to produce the glorious Normandie (amongst others) could design such duds!!
The wonderful rendering of one of the interior spaces on the wanadoo site really looks as if it had been copied from a Normandie brochure. I wonder if there are any other pix of her interiors anywhere?
The pic on the francois site really looks like those artists impressions on postcards and posters in the old days where the ship featured was shown totally out of proportion to the vessels fussing around them.
Many thanks for the rapid and interesting responses.
David.


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## R58484956 (Apr 19, 2004)

All part of the service offered by members


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## brianh (Jul 2, 2006)

In the 1930's the artist Cassandre produced an advertising poster of the L'Atlantique showing a very impressive looking liner. I'm guessing he was not provided with a clear picture of what the real ship would look like...or perhaps he was and realized it needed to be jazzed up a bit. In reality she was far from beautiful. Her interiors were of course a totally different story. Perhaps second only to the Normandie in that grand art deco style. It was a shame she was destroyed so soon after her debut. 
I have always felt that a moderate makeover would have made this duck into a swan. Add a deck to the bow forward of the bridge to overcome that stubby look, give her a clipper stem to make her look more modern, and a rounded bridge front which just always looks good, and perhaps a new funnel design and that might have done it. Had she survived the fire and the war perhaps she would have been modernized with those features. 
A few years later Cassandre produced yet another beautiful ship poster which remains world famous to this day. That remarkable poster was of the Normandie. No need for him to improvise on that one....the poster shows an exact replica of the real deal. And what a thing of beauty she was!


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## Bruce Carson (Jun 14, 2005)

The last thing on Cassandre's mind was realism:
L'atlantique
http://www.cyprien-fabre.com/images/atlantique affiche.jpg
Normandie
http://embruns.net/lifelog/2005/11/27.html

Bruce C


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## david (Oct 14, 2004)

Well shipmates, I appreciate all the help and comments,especially from Brianh about the Cassandre Posters. 
Now for the good news, I discovered that a book about her was published in the UK, by a Les Streater in 04 or 05. I tracked it down on Amazon uk , and should have it in my hands mid month.
Will do a review if anyone is interested.
Regards
David D.
,


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## brianh (Jul 2, 2006)

A review of the L'Atlantique book would be great David. 
I wonder if any of her interiors were undamaged by the fire and salvaged prior to her being scrapped? Perhaps some of her still exists today, like some of the decorative elements of Normandie that were stripped from her before her tragic fire.


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## david (Oct 14, 2004)

Brian,
Have finished reading my book.
What a ripper!!
She was totally burned out and there is no mention of anything at all being retreived.
I have posted a brief review in the BOOKS etc section today.
Regards 
David D. (Thumb)


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## brianh (Jul 2, 2006)

David,
Thank you for your review of the "L'Atlantique" book. It was disappointing to find out that all her beautiful interiors were lost in the fire. Her destruction so soon after entering service must have been heart-breaking to all the workers and artists that designed, built and decorated this lovely ship. 
As a huge fan of the Normandie, I find the L'Atlantique just as interesting, at least regarding her interiors. Her exterior is not to my liking, but I have always felt that with just a few changes to her hull and super-structure, she too could have had external beauty to match her interiors. Funny how these two liners, both of French design and construction, born just a few years apart, so similar in the spirit of their decor, and both died too young and both by fire. 
The Normandie will be forever known as one of the greatest creations of man, but the L'Atlantique with perhaps the second most beautiful Art Deco interiors ever placed onboard an ocean liner seems now all but forgotten.


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## Gijsha (Mar 2, 2015)

*l'Atlantique*

Who knows which French, German and Dutch tugs were involved in the salvage of the l'Atlantique in January 1933? Established so far:
Dutch: Roode Zee, Simson, Witte Zee, Lauwerzee
French: Abeille 22, Abeille 24, Minotaure, Iroise, Yucca, Rival du Chanvre et du Lin


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## eddyw (Nov 6, 2007)

Apparently the intense competition among salvagers resulted at one point in a tug-of-war with the Dutch tugs towing from the bows and the French tugs towing in the opposite direction from the stern. Eventually they agreed to let the lawyers sort out the rival claims and towed the smouldering hulk to Cherbourg Roads.


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## Gijsha (Mar 2, 2015)

*Simson*

The Simson was Bugsier owned, so German. Not to be confused with the Wijsmuller tugs of the same name.


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