Last modified: 2016-03-21 by ivan sache
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![[Flag of Union des Chargeurs]](../images/f/fr~hfudc.gif)
House flag of Union des Chargeurs - Image by Dominique Cureau, 8 February 2006
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Union of Chargeurs (Charterers' Union) was set up in 1844 by a group of shipowners and traders from Le Havre. They operated sailboats on scheduled passenger lines to South America.
The company was a comrpromise between the shipowners' individual property and a joint-stcok company. The members brought their ships, the traders brought their cargos and the Chamber of Commerce brought funds. The aim was to provide a scheduled departure of 12 clippers on the 1st and 16th of every months. The journey from Le Havre to Rio lasted then some forty days. The ships, which had black and white colours, were
nicknamed hirondelles de Rio (Swallows of Rio).
Competition of this very profitable market with the other shipowners from Le Havre (Quesnel, Grosos) was very strong. The increase of steam navigation eventually ruined Union des Chargeurs. In 1872, the main leaders of the company joined the board of the newly founded Compagnie des Chargeurs Réunis and Union des Chargeurs disappeared in 1880.
Source: C. & J. Briot, Clippers français, Le Chasse-Marée
Dominique Cureau & Ivan Sache, 8 February 2006
J. Briot shows the house flag of Union des Chargeurs as a white swallow-tailed flag with a red triangle along the hoist.
Dominique Cureau, 8 February 2006