The Postal Picture: L'Atlantique

Saturday, 28 January 2017

L'Atlantique

L'Atlantique was a large and luxurious ocean liner which first set sail in 1930 taking passengers and cargo from France to South America. Like the postcard the interior was in art deco style. Those early passengers were lucky to experience the luxury as unfortunately the liner's sailing days were short lived. While travelling from Bordeaux to Le Harve in 1933 for an overhaul, with only the crew on-board, a fire started in one of the staterooms that quickly spread through the ship (helped on its way by the lacquered interiors and wooden panels).

The ship was eventually scrapped but the accident led to new rules for fire protection on ocean liners.

Postcards for the Weekend 'Anything you wish' Linky Party is hosted by Connections to the World

7 comments:

John's Island said...: Hi Joy, You may know by now that I love ships. I find the luxurious ocean liners fascinating along with the accompanying style of travel that existed back in the 30s. These are some very nice cards you’ve shared. Hard to pick a favorite here. The Grand Dining Room on the second card is quite amazing!; 28 January 2017 at 15:53
Helen said...: I can imagine having dinner in the Grand Dining Room...what an experience.

Thank goodness the fire happened when the ship was being overhauled. It sounds like every "Disaster on a Boat" film that I've ever seen....

Great cards and story, thanks for posting them!; 28 January 2017 at 16:40
Scriptor Senex said...: All the ships had super advertising cards, didn't they!; 29 January 2017 at 12:56
Mail Adventures said...: I didn't know about this story.The postcards are great.; 29 January 2017 at 20:25
Maria said...: Hi Joy, I love the first card with the overlapped images. It's sad; the fate of this ship -- the good thing is that the incident paved way for safety in this industry. Thanks for sharing the story behind these cards.; 30 January 2017 at 08:02
violet s said...: I was composing my comment in my head, along the lines of how I wish I'd been born in the 20s and 30s to experience some of this decadence in ship travel ... then read about the fire and lack of regulations (which one tends to forget when one is fantasizing).; 30 January 2017 at 23:19
Heleen said...: I love those old ship advertisements, beautiful poster/postcard!

And how sad this ship ended..; 31 January 2017 at 21:03