ILE DE FRANCE (1928a, CGT / French Line)~f

postcard, 5.5" x 3.5", 140mm x 90mm

Product information

ELD (E Le Deley) postcard by C.M.,

not posted, very feint imprint from corner-mounts,

5.5" x 3.5", 140mm x 90mm (approx)

our ref: XRH245

ILE DE FRANCE (Cie. Generale Transatlantique)

Passenger liner built at St. Nazaire for Compagnie Generale Transatlantique (French Line) that entered North Atlantic service as Ile de France in 1927. Built with 3 funnels and from 1928 to 1930 she carried a seaplane, launched from a catapult, so that mail could be delivered a day before her arrival time. During WW2 she was taken over by the British as a troopship, her French crew electing to stay with her. Returned to French control in 1945 and returned to the North Atlantic trade in 1946, making 'austerity' crossings. Major refit from 1947, emerging with 2 funnels in 1949 and resuming Le Havre - New York voyages. In 1956 she rescued more than 750 passengers from the sinking Andrea Doria in New York. Laid up in 1958 and sailed in 1959 as Furanzu Maru for breaking up in Japan. However she was used, to French disgust, in the film THE LAST VOYAGE for which she was renamed Claridon and sunk in shallow water. She was later raised and scrapped.