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Italy - Houseflags of Italian Maritime Companies (M-Q)

Last modified: 2006-06-09 by dov gutterman
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Marittima Mediterranea


image by Jarig Bakker, 12 July 2004

From <www.dickmar.com>: "Marittima Mediterranea SpA is a company on the move. Formed in 1954, M.M. has quickly established itself as a service-oriented,reliable,general steamship agency. For the best and reliable attendance entrust your vessel to our organization. long experience in handling petroleum,chemical and gas trasportation. Bunkering agents. our own offices,located to serve major ports in Italy,are complemented by a sub-agency network covering all italian ports."
Head office at Augusta (SR). Flag from this site is logo on white.
Dov Gutterman, 4 November 2003

Marittima Mediterranea SpA, Augusta (Sicily) - White with the firm's logo: two blue interconnected parts of chains (?) surrounding two red capitals M.
Jarig Bakker, 12 July 2004


Marittima Ravennate


image by Jarig Bakker, 12 July 2004

From <www.marittimaravennate.com>: "Marittima Ravennate SpA is one of the oldest shipagencies in Ravenna: it was established in 1929, originating from a shipping company existing since 1907, therefore the services offered resuIt from many years of experience in the maritime field."
Flag at this site is red and charged with white diamond and red "M".
Dov Gutterman, 4 November 2003


Mediterranea di Navigazione


image by Jarig Bakker, 12 July 2004


image by Jarig Bakker, 12 July 2004

At <www.omniainformatica.it> there are an houseflag and a pennant for this company.
Jan Mertens, 31 October 2003

The images belong to two companies which are subsidiaries of  Casa di Spedizioni Rag. Andrea Cagnoni S.r.l. The flag is that of Mediterranea di Navigazione S.r.l. formed in 1987, the pennant belongs to Medimar S.p.A. which was formed in 1967 as Società Mediterranea di Navigazione S.p.A. changing name in 1982.
Rosanoski, 3 January 2004


Med Pacific Express


image by Jorge Candeias

The logo includes not only this flag. but also an orangevy version of Italia di Navigazione houseflag.
Jorge Candeias, 30 January 1998

It is a commercial name of joint Italian companies. As stated in D'Amico company site: <www.damicoship.com>:
"The company presently handles two regular shipping lines. The first one - dealing only with container transportation - is operated together with Italia di Navigazione S.p.A. of Genoa and carries the commercial name of "Med Pacific Express" using four container vessels, two employed by d'Amico and two by Italia di Navigazione. This liner service is performed between the Mediterranean area, Central America and the North Pacific (Venezuela, Mexico, U.S.A. and Canada). From April 1996 the service has been extended to the Coasts of the South Pacific using two feeder vessels: one of d'Amico, the other one of Italia ."
Dov Gutterman, 15 January 1999


Ministerio dei Lavori Pubblici Srvizio Escavazione Porti


image by Jarig Bakker, 20 February 2006

Ministerio dei Lavori Pubblici Srvizio Escavazione Porti, Rome - white burgee, two narrow red stripes; three red diamonds.
Source: Brown's Flags and Funnels Shipping Companies of the World, compiled by J.L. Loughran, Glasgow, 1995.
Jarig Bakker, 20 February 2006

The "Ministerio dei Lavori Pubblici" is the Ministery of Civil Engineering. The "Servizio Escavazione Porti" seems to be the Department of Port Excavation. I don't know if "Escavazione" shall be understood as the excavation of new ports or their dredging.
Ivan Sache, 21 February 2006


Montella


image by Jarig Bakker, 4 January 2004

From Scott, R.M., The Caltex book of Flags and Funnels, Capetown, Caltex Africa Ltd. (1959):  
#83 G. Montella, Naples - blue flag, yellow "M".
Jarig Bakker, 4 January 2004


Navigazione Generale Italiana


image by Jarig Bakker, 12 July 2004

At home I have a stout "Larousse Commercial Illustré" (a kind of trade encyclopedia) published in Paris, 1930. It has four pages in colour illustrating house flags; a note identifies it as the work of Sandy Hook.
In this book, I found Navigazione Generale Italiana, Geno(v)a: quartered white and red, in the hoist white field a yellow lion couchant and near its head a black sprig?? (very sketchy here I'm afraid) and in the fly white field a red cross throughout.  Or rather a St George's cross, as will become clear. A very tiny image here (even when enlarged), click the upper right poster: <cgi.liveauctions.ebay.com>.
The firm existed 1881-1932 and came about as a merger between Ignazio & Vincenzo Florio (a firm from Palermo) and the Società per la Navigazione a Vapore Raffaele Rubattino from Genoa, that's where the St George's cross comes I gather.  More history on this splendid site <www.theshipslist.com>: "Besides services to the USA and Canada, they ran to Mediterranean and Black Sea ports, India, the Far East and South America. In 1885 they took over Soc.Italiana di Transporti Marittimi Raggio & Co. and Soc. Rocco Piaggio & Figli. By 1901 NGI had taken control of La Veloce and in 1924 liquidated that company. In 1910 they purchased a controlling interest in Lloyd Italiano. The same year the Societa Nationale del Servizi Marittimi was formed and NGI transferred most of their ships to this company. This left them with only 19 ships and the North and South American routes. In 1921 Transoceanica Societa Italiana di Navigazione and Societa Commerciale Italiana and their fleets were absorbed into NGI and in 1932 NGI and Lloyd Sabaudo, with Cosulich Line combined to form a new company named ITALIA."
Jan Mertens, 22 December 2003

Image after Loughran's Survey of Mercantile Houseflags and Funnels, 1979.
Jarig Bakker, 12 July 2004



image by Jarig Bakker, 12 July 2004

This is not the old firm reffered above but a private ferryboat around Sicily - This flag from <www.cormorano.net>: Diagonally divided from top hoist to fly bottom, towards the hoist black and towards the fly white; in the center a red map of Sicily surcharged with a yellow Scandinavian cross (I guess to honor the Vikings, who brought prosperity there in the early Middle Ages).
Jarig Bakker, 12 July 2004

Those early lords of Sicily were Normans rather than Vikings. Most of them left the duchy of Normandy when William the Bastard (later the Conqueror) strngthened his power and forbid the autonomous domains in his duchy. The rebels were forced to exile.
The most famous of these rebels is Robert Guiscard (c. 1015-1085), who founded a Norman state in Southern Italy. Robert was appointed count (1057-1059), then duke (1059-1085) of Puglia, Calabria and Sicily, by pope Nicholas II. He expelled the Byzantines from Italy in 1071 and later the Sarracens from Sicily. Other Norman lords became mercenaries in England, Spain and Byzance. They sent back money to Normandy to fund or rebuild churches, for instance the cathedrals of Coutances and Sées. Some of them eventually calmed down and came back home, where their wealth and military experience was very helpful to William.
Ivan Sache, 13 July 2004

The 2nd flag for the current ferry company of that name may have different colours as after studying the website images I would plump for a dark blue instead of black division of the field and for the cross on the map of Sicily to be white and not yellow.
Neale Rosanoski, 1 December 2004


Navigazione Libera del Golfo


image by Jarig Bakker, 20 February 2006

Navigazione Libera del Golfo S.r.L. (vessels operating from Naples), Naples - blue flag bordered yellow, white "LN".
Source: Brown's Flags and Funnels Shipping Companies of the World, compiled by J.L. Loughran, Glasgow, 1995.
Jarig Bakker, 20 February 2006


Navigazione Libera Triestina


Yellow variant
image by Jarig Bakker, 13 July 2004


White variant
image by Jarig Bakker, 13 July 2004

At home I have a stout "Larousse Commercial Illustré" (a kind of trade encyclopedia) published in Paris, 1930. It has four pages in colour illustrating house flags; a note identifies it as the work of Sandy Hook.
In this book, I found Navigazione Libera Triestina, Trieste: blue, white serif-less letters NLT in the middle, a white foul anchor in the background (behind the 'L' in fact).  Also known as the Libera Line.
Some company history here <www.theshipslist.com>: "The company was registered in 1906 at Trieste, then part of Austria-Hungary and operated cargo services world wide. In 1918 Trieste became a part of Italy and the fleet transferred to the Italian flag. From 1921 passenger services to New York were instituted and in 1927 a Genoa - Naples - Gulf of Mexico service started. In 1937 the fleet was split between Italia and Lloyd Triestino and disappeared as a seperate concern."
From Maritime Timetable Images, this picture <www.timetableimages.com> showing the anchor's flukes 'sustaining' all three initials, whereas Sandy Hook draws them solely under the 'L'.
I thought I was done with this when a different rendering appeared on the scene: <www.infofila.cz>, showing yellow anchor and intitials, and on a company post card, too! So the colour question remains open, but I'm sure someone has a flags
& funnels book to back one or the other version up.
Jan Mertens, 20 December 2003

Navigazione Libera Triestina S.A. - The flag books show both white and yellow colours. Lloyds 1912, Brown 1926 and 1929 all show white but with no chain on the anchor [see it~n289a.gif attached]. Larousse is the first to show a chain, supported by the timetable from <www.timetableimages.com> whereas the postcard from <www.infofila.cz> with the yellow version, going by the timetable with it, appears likely to be dated around 1933 also and this version is shown by Talbot-Booth from 1936 [which is in line] onwards and is also picked up by the Brown 1934 and 1943 editions.
Neale Rosanoski, 1 December 2004


Navigazione Montanari


image by Dov Gutterman, 23 July 2002

Based on images at <www.navmont.com> and <www.navmont.com/evolband.gif>.
Dov Gutterman, 23 July 2002


Napoletana


image by Jarig Bakker, 24 January 2005

Cia. Napoletana di Nav., Naples - green flag, white diamond, red "A".
Source: Brown's Flags and Funnels of British and Foreign Steamship Companies, compiled by F.J.N. Wedge, Glasgow, 1926 [wed26].
Jarig Bakker, 24 January 2005


image by Ivan Sache, 2 May 2005

Lloyds 1912 shows a green flag with a bigger white diamond bearing the red letters "C.N."
Neale Rosanoski, 26 February 2005


Peirce Bros.


image by Jarig Bakker, 14 January 2005

Peirce Bros., Naples - white flag; red shield with yellow cross; in canton black "P".
Source: Brown's Flags and Funnels of British and Foreign Steamship Companies, compiled by F.J.N. Wedge, Glasgow, 1926 [wed26].
Jarig Bakker, 14 January 2005

Lloyds 1904 show the flag but without the "P" with the firm at that point being based in Messina. They also show the same livery for Walter F. Becker of Turin and Genoa trading as the Creole Line. Then in Lloyds 1912 Peirce Brothers, now shown as based Messina, Naples and Genoa has the "P" added, Walter F. Becker still has the flag without the "P" and this letterless version is also now given for Società di Navigazione à Vapore Siclula Americana, apparently originally of Messina but now of Naples.
Neale Rosanoski, 26 February 2005


Pesca e Reti Italiana


image by Eugene Ipavec, 23 May 2006

The houseflag of the Società Anonima Pesca e Reti Italiana (Italian Net Fishing Ltd (?) appears on a 1923 share at <www.hwph.de>. According to the website of scripophily auctioneer Historisches Wertpapierhaus, the company did not exist for long.  The share was issued in Rome on 30 Sept. 1923. Two pages offer more information in Italian <www.guardiacostiera.it> and <www.regione.emilia-romagna.it>. I gather the firm was founded by the brothers Merlini and was active, first in the Mediterranean, then by 1925 before the coast of Morocco and Spanish Sahara, and finally in the North Sea and arctic waters. The flag is a red swallowtail has a blue five-pointed star in the upper hoist and the firm’s acronym SAPRI, also in blue, along the lower edge.  I wonder if the lower tail is really longer than the upper one.
Jan Mertens, 22 May 2006

I think that the lower tail may have been lenghtened so as to not fold over the name.
Eugene Ipavec, 23 May 2006


Premuda


image by Jarig Bakker, 19 September 2005

I located an image that looks like this company flag at <www.premuda.it>.
Dov Gutterman, 13 Febuary 1999

A dubious flag: could be simply the logo. Black-white-red-black stripes disposed vaguely horizontally, forming a sort of V. The colours and design remind the German Poseidon company.
Jorge Candeias, 6 March 1999

Premuda S.p.A. According to Brown 1995 the website logo is the flag except Brown shows a narrower chevron and it is not staggered beginning and ending at a similar point towards upper hoist and fly. Lloyds states that the company was formed 1975 as Premuda Società  di Navigazione per Azioni changing name in 1996. However it appears from website comments that this company probably originated with Giovanni L. Premuda who was operating by at least 1904 and appears to have formed [Società Anonima di] Navigazione a Vapore G.L. Premuda in 1907 (sources vary with the name) which operated up to WW2 and had a quartered flag of red and green.
Neale Rosanoski, 11 April 2003

Premuda Societa di Navigazione per Azioni, Genoa - black with a white and red chevron.
Source: Brown's Flags and Funnels Shipping Companies of the World, compiled by J.L. Loughran, Glasgow, 1995.
Jarig Bakker, 19 September 2005

G.L. Premuda


image by Jarig Bakker, 18 December 2004

Societá Anonyma di Navigazione a Vapore G.L. Premuda, Trieste - quartered green and red
Source: Brown's Flags and Funnels of British and Foreign Steamship Companies, compiled by F.J.N. Wedge, Glasgow, 1926 [wed26]
Jarig Bakker, 18 December 2004

This would presumably have some relation to the company Premuda from Lussinpicolo. I do not think that it is just conicidentally the same family name.
Željko Heimer, 18 December 2004


by Ivan Sache, 13 February 2005

Lloyds 1904 and 1912 show a reverse arrangement of the quarters i.e. red and green rather that than green and red.
Neale Rosanoski, 9 January 2005


Puglia


image by Jarig Bakker, 14 January 2005

At home I have a stout "Larousse Commercial Illustré" (a kind of trade encyclopedia) published in Paris, 1930. It has four pages in colour illustrating house flags; a note identifies it as the work of Sandy Hook.
In this book, I found "Puglia" S.A. di Navigazione (Bari): red with large white P (funnel: black, bearing the flag in the form of a band)
Jan Mertens, 26 October 2003

'P' is very well now and almost as Sandy Hook drew it, only there's a very small serif at the letter's foot and the 'bow' reaches not so far.  In all, a letter 'P' much as it is used in the Groups Messages font.
Jan Mertens, 20 December 2003

Soc. di Nav. a Vap. "Puglia", Bari - red flag, white "P".
Source: Brown's Flags and Funnels of British and Foreign Steamship Companies, compiled by F.J.N. Wedge, Glasgow, 1926 [wed26].
Jarig Bakker, 14 January 2005