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Compagnie Auxiliaire de Navigation (Shipping company, France)

Auxinavi

House flag of Auxinavi - Image by Ivan Sache, 9 March 2014

Presentation of Auxinavi
House flag of Auxinavi
Compagnie Africaine d'Armement

See also:

Presentation of Auxinavi

The Compagnie Auxiliaire de Navigation (CAN / Auxinavi) was established in 1912 in Nantes by A. Capel to transport coal.
The company was delivered in 1913 five cargo ships build by the Ateliers et Chantiers de la Loire in Nantes, known as the Marie-Louise series (3,100 t): SS Marie-Louise (prototype), SS Berthe, SS Constance, SS Isabelle and SS Henriette. SS Berthe went missing between Gibraltar and Bizerte (5 March 1916). SS Constance was torpedoed off the north coast of Crete by the U-14 (23 August 1917). SS Henriette was torpedoed southwest of the Isles of Scilly by the U-62 (24 August 1917). SS Isabelle II was torpedoed by the UC-47 (9 November 1917).

In 1919, the company entered the market of crude oil transportation, purchasing four tankers, SS Myriam, SS Melpomène, SS Mérope and SS Monique. SS Melpomène beached in Sète (10-11 April 1928) and was released only one week later. SS Monique was air-raided and sunk in the south of the Bay of Biscay (21 June 1940).
In 1950, the Chantiers de l'Atlantique built for the company MS Bérénice, then the biggest tanker in the world (31,000 t; 202 m in length).

The company was merged in 1978 with the Compagnie Navale des Pétroles to form Total Compagnie Française de Navigation, and eventually closed in 1993.

Ivan Sache, 9 March 2014

House flag of Auxinavi

The house flag of Auxinavi, as shown in Merchant Marine Houseflags and Stack Insignia (US Navy Hydrographic Office, 1961), is vertically divided red-white-red-white-red-white, with the blue letters "C", "A" and "N" in the respective white stripes.

Ivan Sache & Klaus-Michael Schneider, 9 March 2014

Compagnie Africaine d'Armement

House flag of Compagnie Africaine d'Armement - Image by Ivan Sache, 9 March 2014

The Compagnie Africaine d'Armement (CAA) was established in April 1920 by the Compagnie Auxiliaire de Navigation, group Saint-Gobain and the bank Vernes.
The CAA operated four cargo ships, which transported ore and coal between France, Spain and North Africa. The company was severely damaged by the economical crisis, so that it had no more shipping activity In 1934.
Shipping activity resumed the same year, with the tanker Mérope transporting oil between Europe and South America. Granted an American tanker in 1947, the CAA resumed its activity, relocated in East Mediterranean Sea and in the Persian Gulf.
[National Archives]

The house flag of the CAA, as shown in Merchant Marine Houseflags and Stack Insignia (US Navy Hydrographic Office, 1961), is vertically divided blue-yellow-blue-yellow-blue-yellow, with the red letters "C", "A" and "A" in the respective yellow stripes. Not unexpectedly, the flag has the same pattern as the flag of the CAA, with the colours and initials changed.

Ivan Sache & Klaus-Michael Schneider, 9 March 2014