SS La Bretagne

SS "La Bretagne" was an ocean liner that sailed for the Compagnie Générale Transatlantique (CGT) from her launch in 1886 to 1912, sailing primarily in transatlantic service on the North Atlantic. Sold to Compagnie de Navigation Sud-Atlantique in 1912, she sailed for that company under her original name and, later, as SS "Alesia" on France–South America routes. The liner was sold for scrapping in the Netherlands in December 1923, but was lost while being towed.

Design and construction

In March 1885, Compagnie Générale Transatlantique (CGT), announced the building of four new steamers for the Le Havre–New York route at the company's Penhoët ship yard. The similarly sized steamers, , were built under a French government subsidy law that provided that the ships could be taken over in a time of war. CGT also announced that noted French designer Jules Allard would decorate the four ships. [ incident, see Bonsor, p. 656.]

On 18 May 1899, a fire was discovered in the cargo hold of the outbound North German Lloyd liner below the waterline that left her in danger of sinking at her pier. [] On 27 May 1909, "La Bretagne" was tangentially involved in another North German Lloyd liner mishap. SS|Princess Alice|1900|2, departing for Bremen from New York in a fog, steered clear of "La Bretagne" and instead ran hard aground near the seawall of Fort Wadsworth.cite news | url = http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9D04EEDD1E31E733A2575BC2A9639C946897D6CF | format = pdf | title = The Prinzess Alice aground in the bay | work = The New York Times | date = 1909-05-28 | accessdate = 2008-04-11 | page = 1 ]

"La Bretagne" 's career was not marked entirely by misfortune. On her August 1902 crossing, a group of about 30 first-cabin passengers formed a vegetarian society, which they called "La Société des Legumineux", that gave the steward fits because they ignored the chef's signature meat dishes of roast beef and Philadelphia chicken. The same voyage carried eight Franciscan nuns—reportedly the last of the expelled order to leave France—on their way to Canada. [cite news | url = http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9D00E4DE1030E733A25757C0A96E9C946397D6CF | format = pdf | title = Vegetarians worry a chef | work = The New York Times | date = 1902-08-04 | accessdate = 2008-07-02 | page = 1 ] In September 1905, "The New York Times" heralded the arrival on "La Bretagne" of 30 dressmakers and milliners with the latest fall fashions from Paris. Over 200 trunks of women's clothing arrived on the liner, and were inspected by married customs inspectors because, according to the head of the inspectors, "a married man is the only person in the world would know what all that stuff was". [cite news | url = http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9E0CE1D7173DE733A25752C1A96F9C946497D6CF | format = pdf | title = The new fall siyles here on La Bretagne | work = The New York Times | date = 1905-09-11 | accessdate = 2008-07-02 | page = 7 ]

Later career

In 1912, the newly reorganized Compagnie de Navigation Sud-Atlantique purchased a number of second-hand ships—including "La Bretagne"—for its relaunch of South American service from France. [cite web | url = http://www.theshipslist.com/ships/lines/csa.htm | title = Compagnie de Navigation Sud-Atlantique | publisher = The Ships List | date = 2006-04-12 | accessdate = 2008-07-02 ] "La Bretagne" sailed on the South American service through 1923, the last four years under the name of "Alesia". In December 1923, "Alesia" was sold to a Dutch firm for scrapping. While on her way to the shipbreaker, "Alesia" 's tow line parted and the ship ran aground on the island of Texel, becoming a total loss.

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