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Gustave Vasse (Shipping company, France)

House flag of Vasse - Image by Ivan Sache, 8 August 2010

Presentation of Vasse
House flag of Vasse

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Presentation of Vasse

The shipowner Gustave Vasse, based in Fécamp (Normandy), operated three-masted trawlers for the grande pêche on the banks of Newfoundland. The port of Fécamp was a stronghold of these ships, called terre-neuvas or terre-neuviers, from Terre-Neuve, "Newfoundland".
Vasse must have been a wealthy shipowner since he presided the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Fécamp from 1920 to 1948.

On 19 June 1920, the so-called "200 Millions Law" was voted to promote the rebuilding of the French fishing fleet, mostly suppressed during the First World War. Two shipyards from Saint-Malo won the bid for the building of 38 dundee ships. The newly built ships were labelled "H-xxA" or "H-xxN"; "H" means haranguier (for herring fishing), "xx" is the series number, "A" is for Chantiers et Ateliers de Saint-Malo, and "N" is for Chantiers Navals de l'Ouest.
Gustave Vasse purchased the "H-17N" dundee and shipped her to Fécamp, where the Argentin shipyard transformed it into a three-master schooner, launched on 13 March 1923 as the Étoile de Noêl (155 t). Manned by 22 seamen, the ship completed eight fishing campaigns (1923-1930). Too small to be profitable, the ship was sold in 1931 to a shipowner of Saint-Malo for coastal shipping; in June 1938, she was sold to a Yugoslavian owner and sailed in the Adriatic Sea under the name of Straža. What happened to the ship after 1945 is not known.

Source: Étoile de Noêl, by Étienne Bernet

Dominique Cureau & Ivan Sache, 8 August 2010

House flag of Vasse

A black and white photo of the Étoile de Noêl (same source as above) shows the house flag of Gustave Vasse as quartered by a white cross and with a star in the middle. The 1922 Yearbook of the Central Committee of the France Shipowners confirms the design, with blue quarters and stars.

Dominique Cureau & Ivan Sache, 8 August 2010