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Busck (Shipping company, France)

History of Busck
House flags of Busck
Société Anonyme de Transports Côtiers

See also:

History of Busck

Axel Busck, of Swedish origin, founded his shipping company in 1896. The first scheduled lines of the company served Algeria and Tunisia. In 1899, the whole Mediterranean coast of France was served and in 1900, a line to Russia via the Baltic Sea was opened for the importation of wood.
In 1936, the company was renamed Compagnie Nouvelle de Navigation Busck. Two years later, the Compagnie de Navigation Mixte took the control of Busck, which, however, retained his ships, crews and house flag. During the Second World War, five out the six ships owned by Busck were lost. After a reorganization, the company operated four modern ships in the late 1950s. The company definitively lowered its flag in 1962.

Source: Paul Bois. Armements marseillais - Compagnies de navigation et navires à vapeur (1831-1988), published by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry Marseille-Provence [boi03].

Ivan Sache, 16 February 2004

House flags of Busck

House flags of Busck, as shown by Paul Bois - Images by Ivan Sache, 15 October 2005

Paul Bois (op. cit.) reports two flags for Busck, which may correspond to two successive names of the company. The first flag is blue with a yellow Swiss cross, whereas the second flag is horizontally divided blue-yellow-blue with a black "B" in the yellow stripe.
This flag is shown by Bois as a black and white illustration on p. 293 with equal stripes but in his coloured section he shows a version with the yellow stripe being broader; this is also the version shown by the Brown editions from 1943 to 1958 [wed58]. The equal stripe flag version format is shown by Stewart, 1963 [ste63].

Another house flag of Busck - Image by Ivan Sache, 15 October 2005

Jan Mertens reported another flag, from a company bond, horizontally divided blue-yellow-blue with a larger yellow stripe charged with a blue "B".
In these and the subsequent house flags, the colours are a reminder of Axel Busck's Swedish origin.

Ivan Sache & Neale Rosanoski, 15 October 2005

House flag of Rudolph Busck, as shown by Annuaire du Comité Central des Armateurs de France (left), and Album des Pavillons (right) - Images by Dominique Cureau, 12 June 2008

In 1919, Rudolph Busck was appointed manager of the company, whose name and house flag were updated acordingly. Annuaire du Comité Central des Armateurs de France, 1922, shows the flag horizontally divided blue-yellow-blue with "R.B" in blue. Album des Pavillons, 1923 [f9r23], shows a similar flag with italic letters.

Dominique Cureau, 12 June 2008

Société Anonyme de Transports Côtiers

by Ivan Sache

Société Anonyme de Transports Côtiers was founded by Busck in 1910, with the support of Fraissinet. As can be guessed from its name, the company was specialized in coastal navigation and operated on the French coast of the Mediterranean Sea, from Port-Vendres (near the Spanish border) to Menton (near the Italian border).
After the First World War, SS Maréchal-Foch served Algeria, supplementing Busck's scheduled lines. Fraissinet withdrew from the company and was replaced by Jean Stern, owner of the big Affrêteurs Réunis company. Stern went bankrupt in 1923 and SATC was sold off.

The house flag of Société Anonyme de Transports Côtiers is similar to one of the house flags of Busck, but counterchanged, that is yellow with a blue Swiss cross.

Source: Paul Bois, op. cit.

Ivan Sache, 21 February 2004