Last modified: 2013-07-27 by ivan sache
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![[Postel houseflag]](../images/f/fr~hfpos.gif)
House flag of Postel - Image by Dominique Cureau, 26 January 2005
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The A. Postel & Fils company was created in Cherbourg by Auguste Postel (1787-1856) in 1820. The company traded grain, tropical hardwood, sugar etc., with the West Indies, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), Bombay (Mumbai) and also transported passengers between Cherbourg and Dunkirk. Auguste's sons Émile (1819-1901) and Auguste Félix (1817-1895) further developed the company from Cherbourg and Le Havre.
The shipwreck of the steamer Ville de Cherbourg in 1903, lost with all hands, ruined the company, which was very badly ensured, as it was often the case at the time. Ship operation was reduced and the company was transformed into a shipping agency.
Émile Postel (1889-1966), President of the Chamber of Commerce of Cherbourg, was the last shipowner in the family.
Dominique Cureau, 26 January 2005
The house flag of Postel is white with two red balls place diagonally.
The flag is strikingly similar to the house flag of Compagnie Générale Transatlantique (CGT). According to the Postel family traditions, Auguste Postel and the Péreire brothers, the founders of Compagnie Générale Maritime (CGM), ancestor of CGT, created their companies at the same time in the same department (Manche) and therefore decided to have complementary house flags. However, this is a convenient legend since the Péreire created the CGM in 1855, whereas the house flag of Postel is already shown on a painting by L. Gamain dated 1838.
Dominique Cureau, 26 January 2005