Last modified: 2021-06-28 by rob raeside
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image by Eugene Ipavec, 10 January 2008
The complete name of “Garibaldi” at Genoa was
‘Società Anonima Cooperativa di Navigazione
“Garibaldi” (i.e. Cooperative Shipping Company
“Garibaldi” Ltd). “Was” since I have the
impression this firm no longer exists – possibly succeeded
by ‘G.
Giuletti’ since 1995.
So we know that “Garibaldi” was founded by Captain
Giuseppe Giulietti in 1918; Our Spanish 1940 source shows a
(dark) blue flag bearing
a descending white diagonal. In 1936 the firm issued shares
showing the house flag
– as spotted on eBay on 7 Jan 2007 (item 230205442193 put up
by “montalpino”) with a slightly wider stripe or so it
seems.
Giulietti must have been quite a character – chairman of a
socialist seamen’s union; friend of Malatesta, the
anarchist; being involved in d’Annunzio’s Fiume
adventure, etc. A book on him (in Italian) at <www.tuttostoria.net>.
Jan Mertens, 10 January 2008
image by Eugene Ipavec, 11 November 2007
One of many flagoid sporting homepages is the one belonging to
the maritime Garolla Group, established at Naples at <www.sardabunkers.it>.
The following history page
gives us the essentials: Founded by Federico Garolla - a Genoan -
at Naples in 1870, as a bunkering and coal importing company
‘Ditta [Federico] Garolla”. Coal for the steamers was
brought from Great Britain, then distributed locally by tug-towed
barges. Sons and successors Roberto and Augusto bought a tanker
in 1927 to import oil from the Black Sea area, illustrating the
move from coal to oil driven ships.
After WWII the firm was renamed ‘Augusto Garolla &
Co.” (later named ‘Sarda Bunkers’), worked for
major suppliers such as Esso, Shell, and local
Agip. Bunkering activities expanded to Salerno and
Cagliari.
As evidenced by the homepage, Garolla is now technically a group
made up of ‘Sarda Bunkers’ which retains the bunkering
activity and ‘Med Offshore’ (the former
‘Vigliena’ taken over in 2004) which is an offshore
service provider operating supply vessels. The site’s
‘Fleet’ section offers many details as well as
clickable photos of most vessels.
A flag drawing is shown being identical for both companies.
Divided by a descending diagonal, red in the hoist and blue in
the fly which last bears a large white initial ‘G’
(serifed).
Jan Mertens, 9 November 2007
image by Miles Li, 3
July 2016
At the 1940 page at <www.24flotilla.com>:
‘Giovanni Gavarone’ at Genoa is the last of the fourth
(complete) row. The flag
is red and bears a large white initial ‘G’, serifed,
next to the hoist.
Besides Giovanni, a Giuseppe Gavarone is also found on the net:
sometimes “Fratelli Gavarone” are mentioned without
specifying whether these brothers formed a company or not.
In any case various ships have left their traces (many of
them sunk during WWII) and were in operation between 1913 and
1960 (first and last year as found). One example, the
‘Grazio Quarto’, appears at (see ‘G’ on
funnel): <www.agenziabozzo.it>.
Domenico Gavarone, perhaps related to the above, was a ship's
portrait artist active in Genoa (1840-75). This page
lists a number of this works: <www.fineartemporium.com>.
Jan Mertens, 10 April 2008
Colin Stewart's Flags, Funnels and Hull Colours [ste63]
shows it as a red burgee rather than a rectangular flag, with the letter 'G' in
white.
(A point of clarification: Giovanni Gavarone was the owner of INSA
Società di Navigazione; INSA being the initials for 'Industrie Navali Società
anonima')
Miles Li, 3 July 2016
image by Eugene Ipavec, 19 february 2008
Above name, strictly speaking, is a short and easy way of
referring to an Italian fishery company represented in the 1940
Spanish house flag source (see fifth of first complete row,
between ‘Ligure’ and the ‘Ignazio Messina’
pennant). Full name was ‘Comp[agnia] Gen[erale] Italiana
della Grande Pesca" (i.e. General Italian Co. for Fishing on
the High Seas) based at Livorno (Leghorn).
House flag: Dark blue
field bearing an upright trident vertically divided green and
red, accompanied by or issuing from horizontally divided waves
green above white above red; in the upper hoist, a large yellow
initial ‘G’ without serifs. The use of the national
colours is evident, even more so if we include 'azzuro'.
This page (in
Italian) recounts the industrial beginnings of Giolfo &
Calcagno (Genoa/Livorno), pioneer sellers of frozen fish to the
Italian public: explaining the advantages of an Atlantic fishery
fleet – Genepesca, their supplier – and on board
freezing of catch.
Unilever took over Genepesca in 1968; used as a brand name, it
was as popular and well-known as nowadays Findus or Captain
Igloo.
Apparently a large ‘G’ and a trident, although less
striking than the one on the house flag, served as product
symbol.
Jan Mertens, 6 february 2008
image by Jarig Bakker, 14 January 2005
Nav. Generale Gerolomich & Co., Trieste - red flag, white
diamond, black "G".
Source: Brown's Flags and Funnels of British and Foreign
Steamship Companies, compiled by F.J.N. Wedge, Glasgow, 1926 [wed26].
Jarig Bakker, 14 January 2005
At the 1940 page at <www.24flotilla.com>:
"Gerolemich", Genoa - The 1940 initial is green, our
1926 source gives a black one. I will have to come
back to this as the on-line 1912 Lloyds Flags & Funnels shows
the same pattern with, however, three black initials (and an
alternative name).
Jan Mertens, 5 January 2008
'Gerolimich & Co.' was an alternative name for
‘Nav[igazione] Gen[erale] Austriaca’ of NGA (see below)
as shown in the on-line 1912 Lloyds Flags & Funnels, no. 85,
first on this page: <www.mysticseaport.org>:
Red field with white diamond bearing black initials
‘NGA’, serifed.
Same firm, now using the family name only, in the 1940 source and
resembling the version above with a green initial ‘G’.
However, Wedge 1926 (see image
here) is right about the initial but not the colour – surely
the use of the national (Italian) colours is not a
coincidence.
Jan Mertens,6 January 2008
Nav. Gen. Austriaca
image by Ivan Sache, 24 March 2008
Lloyd's Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows the house
flag of "Nav. Gen. Austriaca (Gerolimich & Co.)"
(#85, p. 41), a company based in Trieste (then in
Austria-Hungary), as red with a white diamond charged with the
black letters "NGA". The flag of "Nav. Generale
Gerolimich & Co." is of a similar pattern, but only with
"G". I guess that the "Austrian" epithet was
dropped from the company name after the First World War and,
accordingly, from the house flag. The company was subsequently
renamed "Società di Navigazione Generale Gerolimich".
Ivan Sache, 24 March 2008
image by Miles Li, 28 June
2016
Source: Colin Stewart, Flags, Funnels and Hull Colours [ste63]
Miles Li, 18 June 2016
image by Jorge Candeias, 24 February 1999
Dark red over dark blue with a white stripe separating the two
main fields and a white "G" over all. The "G"
is very similar in shape to those of Grimaldi. Perhaps a member
of the Grimaldi Group?
Jorge Candeias, 24 February 1999
From Fratelli Grimaldi formed in 1947 has come the Grimaldi Group operating in two divisions based
in Genoa and Naples respectively. Included in the former is
Gilnavi Società di Navigazione S.r.l. Indications are that the
various companies have differing liveries but in this case the
logo used appears to have come from the agency company Sealine
S.a.r.l.. whereas that indicated by the company website is for a
swallowtail horizontal biband of ordinary red over dark blue with
the white "G" as shown. This "G" format also
figures in some of the other liveries with a logo for Grimaldi
Group suggesting a dark blue swallowtailed flag with a white
"GG" on it, whilst Brown 1995 shows a blue ordinary
flag with a single white "G" for Grimaldi Compagnia di
Navigazione S.p.A. which appears to be a member of the Naples
division (company website) although itself based in Genoa
(according to Lloyds). Going by the funnel of the latter company
their shade of blue is lighter than the other variations.
Neale Rosanoski, 11 April 2003
image by Jarig Bakker, 11 July 2004
At <www.omniainformatica.it>
there is an houseflag for
this company.
Jan Mertens, 31 October 2003
Horizontal BWB with in the center the company logo: capital M
superimposed by a long C, both red.
Jarig Bakker, 11 July 2004
image by Jarig Bakker, 11 July 2004
The flag of this company can be seen in the company site.
Dov Gutterman, 23 January 1999
Previous Flag (?)
image by Jarig Bakker, 10 December 2005
Grimaldi Compagnia di Navigazione S.p.A., Genoa - blue flag,
white italic "G" (just the one G, perhaps predecessor
of the one above with two G's).
Source: Brown's Flags and Funnels Shipping Companies of
the World, compiled by J.L. Loughran, Glasgow, 1995.
Jarig Bakker, 10 December 2005
The blue swallowtail with "GG" logo no longer
appears through the provided link as the Group has changed its
websites around. I have a download of the image on file but it is
insufficiently clear to definitely state that the
letters are as portrayed. I would tend to guess that they are
more likely to be in the flowing
style in line with the second flag [but more othodox] shown
by Jarig from Brown 1995 which is given as being for the
subsidiary Grimaldi Compagnia di Navigazione S.p.A. As
previously commented my guess is that the swallowtail
with the "GG" may have been a previous Group flag . It
is now replaced by a blue swallowtail
with a single white "G" for which a logo appears on
the current website <www.grimaldi.napoli.it>
though in both cases I doubt whether it was/is used as a sea
flag. The subsidiaries under which the shipping operate, with
ships interchangeable, all have their own funnel liveries and
perhaps their own flags. One definite flag is the recatangle of
Grimaldi Compagnia di Navigazione S.p.A. although the Brown
letter does not quite agree with the actual which I have taken
from a foto of a stem jack
worn by the "Grande Napoli". The "G" on
the flag is similar to that on the funnel but is more spread out,
presumably to occupy more of the flag field.
Neale Rosanoski, 6 February 2007
image by Jarig Bakker and Miles Li, 10 December 2005 and 19 June 2016
Swallow-tail with a single white "G".
Miles Li, 19 June 2016
image by Miles Li, 19 June 2016
The Grimaldi Group was founded in 1947 as Fratelli Grimaldi Armatori.
Miles Li, 19 June 2016
image by Ivan Sache, 24 March 2008
Lloyd's Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows the house
flag of "Henry Piaggio" (#99, p. 41), a company based
in Genoa, as blue with a white diamond charged with the blue
letters R.G..
There is a Henry Piaggio mentioned as the owner of an Italian
American shipyard at Pascagoula, Texas. "Piaggio was born in
Italy (probably Genoa) on March 17, 1874, and was from a
prominent well-to-do family. He came to Pensacola,
Florida, as a teenager to work in and learn the sawmill and
lumber exporting business his father owned. He was
reported to have served in the U. S. Army during the Spanish
American War, although an extensive records search at the
National Archives, Washington, DC, failed to substantiate this.
In the early 1900s, Piaggio went to Gulfport and opened a lumber
export office. While traveling in Europe, Piaggio met Margret
Muldowned of Mt. Vernon, Ohio, in London, England. After they
married, they traveled to Russia and then returned to the United
States. Records indicated Piaggio was involved in exporting
timber in the early 1900s.
An insurance document was issued by the Maritime Insurance
Association of the Sea and Docks in Genoa, Italy. It was provided
by the Maritime Security Police for Cargo in the amount of
8,000,000 lira to insure cargo (probably timber) from Gulfport
and Ship Island, Mississippi, to Montevideo, Ecuador, and Buenos
Aires, Argentina. The date on the document was August
4, 1909, and the fee was 5.5 percent. Based on limited
information on Piaggio’s ships, the use of Italian insurers
seemed to be Piaggio’s policy."
That Piaggio dynasty started with the ship builder Rinaldo
Piaggio, whose name might have explained the "R" on the
house flag, but I have not found evidence that they were
subsequently involved in ship owning. The evidence reported
concerning Henry Piaggio is slim, too.
Source: <www.co.jackson.ms.us>.
Ivan Sache, 24 March 2008
For a few traces of Piaggio's - no Henry I believe - see Soc. Ligure di Armamento and Alta Italia.
Jan Mertens, 26 March 2008
