Red Star Line

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
This article is about shipping line founded in 1871. For the Red Star Line founded in 1818 by Byrnes, Trimble & Co, see Robert Kermit Red Star Line.
Red Star Line
Company typeJoint venture
IndustryShipping, transportation
Founded1871 (1871)
Defunct1935
FateAssets sold
SuccessorHolland America Line
Area served
Transatlantic

The Red Star Line was a shipping line founded in 1871 as a joint venture between the International Navigation Company of Philadelphia, which also ran the American Line, and the Société Anonyme de Navigation Belgo-Américaine of Antwerp, Belgium. The company's main ports of call were Antwerp[1][2] in Belgium, Liverpool and Southampton[1] in the United Kingdom and New York City[1] and Philadelphia[3] in the United States.

History

The company was founded by

Arnold Bernstein Line.[1]

The company declared bankruptcy in 1934.[4] It operated until 1935 when it ceased trading. Its assets were eventually sold to the Holland America Line.

Heritage

Red Star Line museum at Antwerp

The former warehouses of the Red Star Line in

emigrants by the Antwerp artist Eugeen Van Mieghem (1875-1930), together with Red Star Line memorabilia from the collection of Robert Vervoort.[5][7]

About a quarter of the some two million Red Star Line migrants were Jews, largely from Eastern Europe until the exodus driven by the rise of Nazi Germany. Among them were many famous persons, including regular passenger Albert Einstein.[6][8] On learning of the Nazi confiscation of his possessions, Einstein chose not to return to Germany; his letter resigning from the Prussian Academy of Sciences, written on the line's stationery, is a part of the museum exhibit.[3] Other notable emigrants included the five-year-old Irving Berlin.[3]

Ships

Red Star Line ships had a black funnel with a white band bearing a five-pointed red star.[1] The house flag was a white burgee with a red star.[1]

Poster of the second Belgenland by Henri Cassiers

Most Red Star ships were given names ending in "-land". Notable Red Star ships included:

Postcard of Lapland
Postcard of the second Westernland

In popular culture

The Red Star Lines appear in the Mario Puzo's The Godfather Part II when the young Vito Corleone arrives in New-York. His identification badge is from the Red Star Lines company.

The Paris football club

Red Star FC are named after the Red Star Line, on which the club's founder Jules Rimet
's English housekeeper had travelled.

In James Cameron's Titanic, a warehouse can be seen at the Southampton Docks labelled Red Star Line. It is seen through the window of the pub as Jack and Fabrizio are first introduced.

References

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e f Harnack, 1938, page 566
  2. ^ "About the Museum". Red Star Line Museum. Retrieved November 1, 2017.
  3. ^ a b c d "Museum tells of ships that took Jews to US". Ynetnews. 26 October 2013. Retrieved April 15, 2014.
  4. ^ "History". Red Star Line Museum. Retrieved 1 November 2017.
  5. ^ a b "The Red Star Line Museum: History". Retrieved April 16, 2014.
  6. ^ a b "The Red Star Line Museum in a Nutshell". Retrieved April 16, 2014.
  7. ^ "The Red Star Line Museum: Why Visit". Retrieved April 16, 2014.
  8. ^ "The Red Star Line Museum: Stories Now and Then". Retrieved April 16, 2014.
  9. ^ "Belgian Merchant H-O" (PDF). Belgische Koopvaardij. Retrieved 31 October 2010.[permanent dead link]
  10. ^ a b "SS Regina". Retrieved April 15, 2014.

Bibliography

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Red Star Line.
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