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Daher (Shipping company, France)

History of Daher
House flag of Daher

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History of Daher

In 1887, Barban and Daher attempted to find a convenient way to ship heavy and cumbersome packets. After a few successful chartering operations, the two associates decided to found their own shipping company. In 1895, they bought SS Saint-Jacques from the Société Navale de l'Ouest and opened a line between Marseilles and Tunisia.

In 1899, Barban withdrew and Paul Daher remained the sole owner of the Société de Navigation à Vapeur Daher. A second, bigger cargo ship, SS Saint-Nicolas, was purchased, which replaced SS Saint-Jacques, lost on Cap Couronne, west of Marseilles in November 1899.
In 1904, Daher purchased a bigger cargo ship, SS Sainte-Hélène, which was used to transport heavy materials such as railway engines and rails. SS Sainte-Marguerite, bought in 1913, was even bigger and confirmed the specialization of Daher in heavy transport. Both ships were commissioned by the state during the First World War. SS Sainte-Marguerite shipped heavy artillery batteries to the eastern front, and was sunk off Matapan (Greece) in 1915 by an U-boat. SS Sainte-Hélène blew up on a mine in 1917.
In 1921, Daher bought a new ship, SS Sainte-Marguerite II and reopened the Tunisian line. Until 1930, the company bought another four ships and extended its lines to Lebanon, then under French mandate.

In 1945, Daher had lost all of its ships. The fleet was rebuilt and the company was renamed Société Daher de Gérance et d'Armement. Service to Tunisia and eastern Mediterranean Sea resumed. In 1951, the company was once again renamed, Compagnie de Navigation Daher. The fleet was regularly updated and the company survived the big restructuration of the French merchant navy in the 1970s.

In 1972, Daher, the Compagnie Transméditerranéenne and the Société Navale Caennaise founded an economic interest group (GIE, groupement d'intérêt économique) called Sudcargos.

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, 17 February 2004

House flag of Daher

by Ivan Sache

The house flag of Daher is red with a white cross and a blue (or black?) D in the middle of the cross. The white cross on red recalls the Danish origin of the Daher family.

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, 17 February 2004

by Jarig Bakker

Brown's Flags and Funnels of British and Foreign Steamship Companies [wed26] shows the house flag of Daher without the letter D.

Jarig Bakker, 12 January 2005