HISTORY - One of the earliest steam ship companies in the world ÖSTERREICHISCHER LLOYD was founded in 1833 - I 1833-55

ÖSTERREICHISCHER LLOYD, in its corporate language Italian, LLOYD AUSTRIACO, was founded in 1833 by 19 insurance and banking companies and 127 private shareholders in Trieste after they got the permission from the government of Austria-Hungary. ÖSTERREICHISCHER LLOYD develped into one of the biggest shipping companies of the world. From the start the corporate language was Italian. After WWI it became LLOYD TRIESTINO and is stillexisting as ITALIA MARITTIMA, a subsidiary of EVERGREEN MARINE.

by Earl of Cruise

 ARCIDUCA LUDOVICO of 1837 - Source: Civico Museo del Mare Trieste

In my previously published article about AUSTRO-AMERICANA I wrote about the naval heritage of Austria-Hungary and my special personal interest in its shipping companies. Austria-Hungary is so far more than what I mentioned there and forgott mentioning its most prominent citizen, Kaiserin Elisabeth, named Sisi, empress of Austria and Apostolic Queen of Hungary.

Kaiserin Elisabeth von Österreich, Apostolic Queen of Hungary, Photograph of Elisabeth as (Erzsebet) Queen of Hungary (by Emil Rabending (cs), 1867) - Source: Wikipedia

ÖSTERREICHISCHER LLOYD (Italian LLOYD AUSTRIACO) was the biggest shipping company of Austria-Hungary and in the Mediterranean. Seven insurance companies of Trieste initiated the founding: Banco Adriatico di Assicurazioni, Azienda Assicuratrice, Banco Illirico d’Assicurazioni, Banco Adriatico di Assicurazione Generali, Banco di Marittime Assicurazioni, Compagnia degli Amici di Assicuratori and Società Orientale d’Assicurazioni. their sample had been LLOYD’s of London. A special comitte, among the Austrian polititian Ritter (knight) Karl Ludwig von Bruck, elaborated  the statutes. These finally got the approval of the Bureau of the United Insurance Companies in Vienna and at least had been approved by the government. In 1833 ultimately 19 sea transport insurance companies, banking houses and 127 private shareholders could constitue the company with its office in Trieste, where the only existing free economic zones https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zollfreigebiet had been. Trieste had been the single port with a free trade zone in the Austrian part (Cisleithania) of the double monarchy Austria-Hungary. Among the private shareholders of ÖSTERREICHISCHER LLOYD had been Karl Ludwig von Bruck the banker Baron Pasquale Revoltella of Trieste and the founder of GENERALI Joseph Lazarus Morpurgo.

Baron Pasquale Revoltella - Source: Wikipedia

Karl Ludwig Freiherr von Bruck, lithographie by Josef Kriehuber, 1849 - Source: Wikipedia

The purpose of ÖSTERREICHISCHER LLOYD was initially the provision of information for the participating insurance companies. From 1836 onwards, the mail service in the Adriatic Sea was also taken over, which laid the foundations for the following expansion in the cargo and passenger area as one of the largest shipping companies in the world. For the motto of LLOYD AUSTRIACO, `Vorwärts´ (forward) was chosen, contrary to the then trend among the shipping companies of the world, to use Latin formulations.

Logo of LLOYD AUSTRIACO / ÖSTERREICHISCHER LLOYD - courstsey ITALIA MARITTIMA (former LLOAD TRIESTINA / LLOYD AUSTRIACO)

The largest direct competitor was from the 1880s onwards the shipping company ADRIA, which was operated and promoted by Hungary and was based in Fiume, part of the empire of Hungary, but was much smaller in terms of its number of ships and tonnage. In 1898, the Austrian and Hungarian governments concluded a convention on the distribution of traffic zones between LLOYD and ADRIA ("Adria" Magyar Tengerhajózási Részvénytársaság).

This treaty seperated the companies traffic zones in West and East, where ADRIA served Italy, Malta, France, Spain, Great Britain, North and West Africa, except Egypt, reserved for LLOYD AUSTRIACO and North America. LLOYD AUSTRIACO served the East, East Africa, India, China and Japan, while the Black Sea remained neutral.

Italian was the corporate language, the brochures were also written and printed in German, for the Levant and India East Asia lines also in French and English. There are also Czech-speaking advertisements, For example for THALIA. The company, like comparable shipping companies in other countries, e.g. back then COLLINS, or CUNARD, COMPAGNIE GÉNÉRALE TRANSATLANTIQUE, has also been given high government subsidies, which is why the company can be described as "half-state-owned" due to various obligations from the state.

After the end of WWI, the LLOYD AUSTRIACO passed into Italian ownership and was continued from 1921 to 2006 as LLOYD TRIESTINO (LLOYD TRIESTINO di NAVIGAZIONE). In 2006 the LLOYD TRIESTINO was renamed by its new owner EVERGREEN to ITALIA MARITTIMA.

The fleet of LLOYD AUSTRIACO / ÖSTERREICHISCHER LLOYD in 1848 - Source: Civico Museo del Mare Trieste

Halfmodel of the steamer IMPERATORE - Source: Civico Museo del Mare Trieste

(all ships had been paddle wheele steamship, total 24)

					Ship´s name	built in	launch	tonnage (in t)	hp
					ARCIDUCA FRANCESCO CARLO	Venedig	1833	133	40
					ARCIDUCHESSA SOFIA	Triest	1833	141	50
					MARIA DOROTEA	Triest	1834	212	70
					FERDINANDO I.	Triest	1836	284	100
					ARCIDUCA LUDOVICO	London	1837	310	100
					ARCIDUCA GIONANNI	London	1837	349	120
					PRINCIPE METTERNICH	Triest	1837	473	140
					CONTE MITTROWSKI	Triest	1837	237	60
					ElLLENO (ex PRINCIPE METTERNICH)	Triest	1837	357	120
					BARON EICHOFF	Triest	1837	361	100
					MAHMUDIÈ	Triest	1838	467	120
					DALMATA (ex CONTE STÜRMER)	Triest	1838	211	60
					STAMBUL (I)	Triest	1838	620	160
					CONTE STÜRMER (ex SERI PERVAS)	Triest	1839	469	140
					BARONE KÜBECK	Triest	1842	229	70
					ARCHIDUCA FEDERICO	Bristol	1842	394	120
					IMPERATORE	Triest	1843	545	160
					IMPERATRICE	Triest	1844	545	160
					CONTE KOLOWRAT	Triest	1845	330	100
					AUSTRIA	Triest	1847	763	360
					TRIESTE	Triest	1847	448	160
					VENEZIA	Triest	1847	448	160
					ITALIA	Triest	1847	728	260
					GERMANIA	Triest	1847	728	260

 Steamer CALCUTTA - Source: Civico Museo del Mare Trieste

Steamer VICENZA - Source: Civico Museo del Mare Trieste

Painting of ARCIDUCA LUDOVICO - Source: Civico Museo del Mare Trieste

Steamer AUSTRIA in heavy seas - Source: Civico Museo del Mare Trieste

 Model of steamer CONTE STÜRMER - Source: Civico Museo del Mare Trieste

Steamer ITALIA - Source: Civico Museo del Mare Trieste

 Steamer TRIESTE - Source: Civico Museo del Mare Trieste

Model of the steamer ITALIA - Source: Civico Museo del Mare Trieste

 Steamer TRIESTE - Source: Civico Museo del Mare Trieste

 Lithographie of steamer TRIESTE - Source: Civico Museo del Mare Trieste

The first years of LLOYD AUSTRIACO

LLOYD AUSTRIACO / ÖSTERREICHISCHER LLOYD had three business sections

Section One - Insurance and Information

The purpose of this section of LLOYD AUSTRIACO, followed the example of LLOYD´s of London, and supplied traders and ship haulers with up-to-date information on various markets and maritime trade in Europe and Asia. The company obtained the information from a network of various trade correspondents and newspapers, which regularly reached the port of Trieste. In addition, shipping in the port of Trieste was to be recorded, and on the order of the state, the time-consuming and delays of postage were marked by the k. u. k. Kriegsmarine sailing ships. The first directors were the following gentlemen: Bousquet, Karl von Bruck, Brucker, Giannichesi, Grant, Kohen, Meksa, Padovani, Premuda, Carl Regensdorff, da Costa, Sartorio, Schell and Vucetich.

Panorama of Korcula mid 19th century - own collection

Section Two - Steamshipping

In order to participate in the international freight and passenger transport at sea, the LLOYD AUSTRIACO introduced the enterprise area on  August 2nd 1836.

The ÖSTERREICHISCHE DAMPFSCHIFFAHRTSGESELLSCHAFT des ÖSTERREICHISCHEN LLOYD (AUSTRIAN STEAMSHIP COMPANY of the AUSTRIAN LLOYD / SOCIETÀ di NAVIGAZIONE a VAPORE del LLOYD AUSTRIACO) quickly became the core business of the entire company.

Therefore August 2nd 1836 also applies as the founding year of LLOYD AUSTRIACO. The founding capital amounted to one million Florentine Gulden in the Austro-Hungary Convention Monetairy (Konventionsmünze). In the founding document it was stated: "The purpose of the foundation was to bring Trieste by means of steam boats to the Echoes of the Orient."

The Konventionsmünze The Convention Monetary was in the reign of Maria Theresia the famous "Maria-Theresien-Taler". Later the gulden was introduced, the name of which is derived from the word "gülden". The term "dollar" goes directly back to the thaler. Until the introduction of the Kronen / crown (1892), the guilder (= Reichsgulden) was the official means of payment in Austria. It was shaped in gold and silver as well as with different weights. At this time the Dutch and the Polish guilders also gained importance in Europe. For a florin, ten kilograms of bread or two kilograms of beef were available for the turn of the century. A guilder, by the way, was equivalent to 60 Kreuzer / cruisers. Only with the Silbergulden were 100 cruisers equal to a guilder. Source: Österrichisches Staatsarchiv Up to that first Austro-Hungary wide Taler, each country in Austria-Hungary had its own monetary system, which was disabling economic progress. A similarity to the introduction of the Mark in Germany in 1871, or that of the Euro in 1999, with the publishing of its coins in 2002. Earl of Cruise

For the new company, three steamers of 120 hp and three steamers with 100 hp each were constructed and purchased from British shipbuilders. In Trieste, workshops in Trieste were set up and coal storage facilities were hired in foreign ports. The first ship, which could be delivered to LLOYD AUSTRIACO, was the London-built ARCHIDUCA LUDOVICO. The first trip of the company, which now appears as a shipping company, began on May 15, 1837, at 5 o'clock in the afternoon, from the Molo San Carlo in Trieste. There were 53 passengers on board ARCHIDUCA LUDOVICO, which was within 14 days in Constantinople via the ports of Ancona, Corfu, Patras, Piraeus, Syra and Smyrna.

Painting of fleet parade of LLOYD AUSTRIACO steamers - Source: Civico Museo del Mare Trieste

LLOYD AUSTRIACO was not free from accidents. Shortly after the start of business, two clashes were already happening with ships of foreign companies. In November, 1837, the Lloyd steamboat ARCIDUCA LUDOVICO collided with the French steamer DANTE offshore Scio and 17 days later with the French steamer LEONIDAS in the port of Constantinople. As a cause of the clashes, rather arbitrary acts of the established lines were adopted against the young rival, the LLOYD ADRIACO, as a human failure. Thus Chancellor Fürst (Prince) Metternich intervened with the French government to prevent the "recurrence of similar encounters."

Section Three - Publishing, the literary-artisticdepartment of LLOYD AUSTRIACO

Journal of ÖSTERREICHISCHER LLOYD 1847 - Source: Wikipedia

While the 1st section was responsible for information procurement and the 2nd section for freight and passenger traffic, the board of the LLOYD decided in 1848 to extend its extensive journalistic activities. Accordingly from 1849 onwards a 3rd section worked. This part of the LLOYD, but was structured as a legally independent stock company, was part of the LLOYD, comprising the editorial offices of the periodicals, the general printing office, which had its own font foundry, the KUNSTANSTALT with a steel, and a wood-stud studio as well as a photographic studio and finally the reading rooms. The KUNSTANSTALT has published timetables, yearbooks, newspapers and illustrated books. Thus, the official Provincial Gazette `L 'Osservatore Trieste´, the daily newspaper `Triester Zeitung´, the popular folklore sheet `Il Diavoletto´ from March 1851 to the 2nd of November 1918, the Greek-language weekly `Ημερα´ (The Day) and `Il listino´, the daily list of incoming and outgoing Ships. From the months of September 1850 to 1865, the Illustrated `Family Book´, furnished with many steel engravings, for the maintenance and instruction of domestic circles, which also appeared in a total of fifteen volume volumes, were published as periodicals. Editors were the Austrian actor and writer Ignaz Papsch (1800-1862) and the poet Faust Pachler Pachler (1819-1892). In Italian, there was the `Latino di Famiglia´. In addition, classical literature as well as history, nature, shipping and geography were published, some of which were very elaborately equipped with artistically high-quality steel engravings. From 1854 to 1881 the Kunstanstalt, under the title of LLOYD’s Reiseführer (LLOYD's travel guide), also published a nine-volume series of travel guides, for Trieste, Venice and the Orient, as well as several railway lines. In early 1861, a catalog of more than one hundred titles appeared. this broshure performed literary, artistic and geographic works mainly in German and Italian.
With its publication activity, the 3rd section complemented and supported LLOYD's other business activities. It was not until 1928 that it was closed by LLOYD TRIESTINO, the successor of LLOYD AUSTRIACO.

Expansion period

Timeschedule from 1845 for the relations Konstantinopel–Smyrna and Konstantinopel–Galatz - Source: Wikipedia

Advertising in Illustrirte Zeitung of Februar 1848 for the steam shipping lines

By 1845 the number of journeys had quadrupled and the number of passengers rose by twenty times. LLOYD AUSTRIACO employed 1049 employees. One of the parties responsible for the rapid growth of the company was an agreement with the ERSTENDONAU-DAMPFSCHIFFAHRTS-GESELLSCHAFT (DDSG) (FIRST DANUBE STEAMSHIP COMPANY (DDSG)), which planned to take a weekly flight from the Danube ports to the Black Sea, where passengers could transfer to the ships of LLOYD AUSTRIACO.

In 1852 the shipping on the Po and on Lago Maggiore was incorporated and reorganized. Later, lines were also set up on the river Bojana and the Skutarisee. Due to the enormous expansion of the first 15 years, the LLOYD AUSTRIACO now had a number of ships that needed regular maintenance and repair work. A large arsenal for these purposes as well as for the independent new building was needed, which was established from 1853 in Trieste-Sant'Andrea. The solemn foundation was carried out by Erzherzog Ferdinand Maximilian on May 30th. As an architect for the building commissioned in 1861 on the area of ​​114,000 m², Hans Christian Hansen, known for his shipyard buildings in Greece, was involved. The 3,000 employees in the LLOYD arsenal were an enormous economic factor for Trieste. In addition to large workshops, the arsenal included a dry dock and a 241 meter long Helling (slip) for new ships. In 1865 the first steamboat AUSTRIA, built entirely of iron and domestic materials, was launched in this arsenal. With 1,700 tons, then the largest ship of the shipping company.

LLOYD-Arsenal, from: LLOYD’s Reisehandbuch Triest (1857) - Source: Wikipedia

LLOYD-Arsenal in Trieste seen offshore (~ 1900) - Source: Wikipedia

In 1855, ÖSTERREICHISCHER LLOYD / LLOYD AUSTRIACO received for the first time aid from the state. However, this included various duties, such as the maintenance of certain lines in the Orient, as well as the introduction of new lines and mail services. In addition, ships from now on could only be built abroad in exceptional cases. In the war against Italy in 1866, the LLOYD had, according to treaties with the state, to give several steamers to the k. u. k. Kriegsmarine, the navy of Austria-Hungary. And was also required to carry out squad transports. Shuttled ships, such as the EGITTO at Lissa, which would have been replaced.

HISTORY - AUSTRO-AMERICANA the Austro-Hungary shipping into the new world

HISTORY - One of the earliest shipping companies in the world ÖSTERREICHISCHER LLOYD was founded in 1833 - II 1855-1914
HISTORY - One of the earliest steam ship companies in the world ÖSTERREICHISCHER LLOYD was founded in 1833 - III  1914-19 becoming LLOYD TRIESTINO