Laid up vessels in Antwerp in 1933 during The Great Depression. (1/47)
Laid up vessels at River Fal in the United Kingdom in 1932. (2/47)
Article from the British magazine The Sphere, dated 1934, referring to subsidies offered to British shipping by their government. (3/47)
Greek vessels laid up in the island of Syros in the early 1930s. (4/47)
Shipowner Nikolaos Kyriakides (1869-1935), served as vice president and president of the Union of Greek Shipowners. (5/47)
Correspondence referring to Greek sickness and injury claims. (6/47)
Circular by British insurers referring to Greek sickness and injury claims. (7/47)
Circular by the S. G. Embiricos Ltd. office referring to Greek sickness and injury claims. (8/47)
The Greek steamship EVGENIA CHANDRIS, acquired by John Chandris in late 1932 for a mere 6,500 pounds. At the time of her building in Japan in 1920 she was sold to Dutch interests for about 400,000 pounds! (9/47)
The 1911-built Greek steamship PANTELIS, acquired in 1932 by Costis P. Lemos for 5,700 pounds. (10/47)
The 1914-built Greek steamship MOUNT PINDUS, acquired in 1932 by Manolis Kulukundis for about 2,150 pounds! (11/47)
The 1905-built Greek steamship IOULIA NICOLAOU, acquired in 1933 by Nicolaos G. Nicolaou for about 5,800 pounds. (12/47)
The 1919-built Greek steamship ONASSI SOCRATIS, acquired in late 1932 for about 3,750 pounds, marked the beggining of Aristotle Onassis’ brilliant career in shipping. (13/47)
Document referring to the negotiations held between British and Greek shipowners that led to the introduction of the Minimum Rate Scheme (1 of 2). (14/47)
Document referring to the negotiations held between British and Greek shipowners that led to the introduction of the Minimum Rate Scheme (2 of 2). (15/47)
Document of the P. Wigham-Richardson & Co. Ltd. office referring to the Minimum Rate Scheme. (16/47)
Document referring to the Minimum Rate Scheme. (17/47)
Document referring to the Minimum Rate Scheme (1 of 2). (18/47)
Document referring to the Minimum Rate Scheme (2 of 2). (19/47)
Document referring to the Minimum Rate Scheme. (20/47)
The launching of the Greek steamship THEOFANO LIVANOS in 1936. (21/47)
The launching of the Greek steamship THEOFANO LIVANOS in 1936. (22/47)
The Greek steamship ELIAS G. KULUKUNDIS, built in 1938 in the United Kingdom. (23/47)
The launching of the Greek steamship THEMONI, built in 1938 for the Kassos Steam Navigation Co. Ltd. (24/47)
The KASSOS, delivered in 1939 by W. Doxford & Sons in Sunderland, UK, was the first newly-built Greek cargo motorship. (25/47)
The Greek steamship NICOLAOS D.L., built in 1939 for N. D. Lykiardopulo, became a war loss in April 1941. (26/47)
A letter by G. E. Embiricos referring to the steamship EUGENA CAMBANIS which was detained during the Spanish Civil War. It also includes a handwritten note by Angelo Lusi. (27/47)
The 1898-built Greek steamship EUGENA CAMBANIS, acquired in 1923 by George N. Embiricos. (28/47)
Ioannis Metaxas (1871-1941), one of the first acts of his administration in 1936 was the establishment of an under-ministry of Merchant Marine and later on the Hellenic Chamber of Shipping. (29/47)
Deucalion Rediadis (1882-1955), a distinguished lawyer, headed the new under-ministry of Merchant Marine from its establishment to 1938. (30/47)
George E. Embiricos (1901-1980), the first elected president of the Hellenic Chamber of Shipping, pictured in uniform with his wife Sofia. (31/47)
A circular by the Hellenic Chamber of Shipping to its members in 1937. (32/47)
The 1905-built steamship KOSTI, owned by John D. Chandris, became the first Greek shipping casualty after the outbreak of WWII. (33/47)
The 1917-built steamship DIAMANTIS was the first Greek ship torpedoed by a German submarine. (34/47)
The government under Panaghis Tsaldaris (pictured bottom left) responded positively to proposals made by the Union of Greek Shipowners. On the extreme right is Andreas Michalakopoulos, who had previously headed a committee in order to examine shipping matters. (35/47)
The payroll list of the Greek steamship ANTONIS GEORGANDIS, dated 1932. (36/47)
A 1939-letter by London-based Goulandris Brothers, agents of the Greek steamship MOSCHA D. KYDONIEFS. (37/47)
View of the port of Piraeus in the early 1930s. (from the edition La Grece Actuelles, 1933). (38/47)
Letter, dated 1931, referring to losses incurred from the operation of the Greek steamship DANAOS during the period of crisis. (39/47)
Press cutting from the Greek journal The Stock Exchange Newspaper, dated February 1935, depicting the evolution of the Greek merchant marine during the period 1928-1934. (40/47)
Circular of A. Lusi, Ltd., dated 1937, referring to the market situation at the time. (41/47)
Members of the crew of the 1915-built Greek steamship STYLIANOS CASTANOS, acquired by British interests in 1933. (42/47)
Ioannis Metaxas with members of his government before the declaration of War. (43/47)
Members of the crew of the 1903-built Greek steamship DIAMANDO. (44/47)
The Swedish-flag ARISTON owned by Aristotle Onassis, built in 1938 by Götaverken, Sweden, was the first motor tanker built for Greek interests. (45/47)
A picture from the water blessing ceremony in Piraeus in 1939, depicting among other officials, King George II, Prince Paul and Premier Ioannis Meraxas. (46/47)
The launching of the Greek steamship THETIS by W. Gray & Co. Ltd., Sunderland, UK. She was subsequently delivered to her owner Elias Hadjilias in June 1930. (47/47)

From a Crisis to a War (1930-1939)

The global crisis that broke out with the Wall Street Crash was interminable. It tormented the shipping industry for many years, while the exit from the recession was an extremely slow process.

The causes of the crisis began with the end of WWI, when most countries began to adopt policies of economic self-sufficiency. Examining their own economy, they sought development through their own production sources, greatly limiting international trade, as well as imports and exports. However, the drastic reduction in global consumption, especially in large countries such as India and China, in conjunction with diversified trade relations by the new regime in Russia, set new standards in the global economy. The War had a great impact on the political stability of many European countries, changing their trade policies, while the appreciation of the role of merchant marine during war, led not only to the strengthening but also to the establishment of several new national fleets.

At this time of radical changes, the Greek shipping industry, solely serving the transportation needs of third parties, seemed to be almost condemned. The future of a fleet comprising mainly of over-aged steamers, during the course of such a crisis, was the road to scrapyards or, under the best circumstances, at lay-up berths that had already started being occupied by numerous Greek ships.

However, serious problems were not confined solely to the Greek shipping industry, whose financial exposure was relatively modest compared to others. Perhaps, for the first time, British owners were faced with an unprecedented crisis that threatened the foundations of their powerful maritime industry. British banks, who had generously supported the development of a huge British commercial fleet and consequently had been instrumental in developing a great shipbuilding industry, started demanding the sale of heavily indebted vessels. This led to massive sales of entire fleets, resulting in the complete collapse of shipvalues.

While the UK government was seriously considering protective measures for its shipping industry, which were eventually adopted, in Greece shipping was still treated with indifference by the government. Under the tolerance of the state, the seafarers’ unions were constantly asking for wage increases and various privileges. This not only added burdens onto Greek ships at a period of serious crisis, but also undermined the status of Greek seafarers themselves. The cases of insubordination multiplied on board Greek steamships. On the other hand, bureaucracy for the settlement of various issues concerning ship operation was at its peak. Even worse the state, acting beyond logic, imposed a special tax on imaginary profits at a time of massive losses and disasters. With this bleak picture prevailing, Greek shipowners addressed a memorandum to Prime Minister Venizelos in September 1932, informing him about the problems that had led to the use of the Panamanian flag on many newly acquired vessels.

Venizelos, however, did not have the time to respond to this memorandum as two months later Panaghis Tsaldaris was sworn in as Prime Minister. Subsequently, the Union of Greek Shipowners had no other alternative but to submit to the government a resolution by its members stating that it was no longer possible for them to operate their fleets under the Greek flag. Tsaldaris reacted immediately and following brief meetings held between shipowners’ representatives and the Minister for the Marine with the director of the division for Merchant Marine Affairs, it was decided that a new, drastically reduced payroll should be adopted for all seafarers. Signed by the majority of the seafarer’s unions in April 1933, it went on record as the “hunger payroll”, but at the same time it allowed Greek-flag ships to remain competitive. As a good-will gesture by the shipowners, several of the ships that had been registered in Panama were placed under the Greek flag. Despite these developments, a number of seafarers created problems, mainly through continuous outbreaks of sickness and injuries, causing unjustifiable claims that eventually forced British insurers to take action at the end of 1935.

Greek owners were aware from the start of the crisis that they did not have the luxury to wait for the freight market to improve. Time was not on their side as their fleets comprised mostly of over-aged ships. Those vessels would not be easily reactivated after being laid up so long, so they began to consider replacing them with newer tonnage.

At this critical stage, Manolis E. Kulukundis, heading the largest Greek shipping office in London, devised a realistic plan to dispose of old steamers and have them replaced with newer ones. As most of the Greek ships were not highly leveraged, the plan found support among bankers and the plan led to the efficient replacement of most old steamers within the Greek fleet. Thus, when the market began to improve in 1934, Greek shipping operated a more dynamic, qualitative fleet, enabling it to successfully face competition from other nations which had in the meantime taken protectionist measures in order to safeguard their shipping industries.

Despite the gradual improvement in the market, many issues affecting ship operations remained unsolved. Consequently, an International Maritime Conference was set up in London on 14 January 1935 with the participation of nations from around the globe. During the conference, a plan for the rationalization of the shipping industry was put in place aiming at the improvement of the market by adjusting the world fleet availability according to global supply and demand. At this point, however, only few countries were ready to cooperate and Greece was one of them.

Following an initiative by Manolis Kulukundis, a meeting between British and Greek shipowners was held on 16 January 1935. The Greek owner presented to his British colleagues a plan for addressing market problems encountered in grain transportation from the Plate of Argentina to Europe. The British adopted the proposed plan, which became known as the “minimum rate scheme” and despite various obstacles encountered during its operation, several other countries adopted it as well. This boosted the freight market, which was further strengthened by the outbreak of the Italian-Abyssinian war in October 1935. The procedures that were taken for the successful adoption of the plan led to the establishment of the Tramp Shipping Co-operation Committee, an informal body whose role was to monitor adherence to regulations. This was in essence the precursor to the creation of the Greek Shipping Co-operation Committee that provided invaluable service to the development of Greek Shipping over the next decades.

The gradual momentum gained by the market led a number of powerful Greek shipowners once again to the British shipyards, placing orders for ships that started being delivered in 1936.

In July 1936 yet another local war broke out, this time in Spain. Throughout its duration, many Greek vessels were lost whilst Franco’s forces withheld others. In 1936, also, Greek shipping recorded one of the most significant milestones in its history, the establishment of an autonomous governing body.

Greece had been in constant political turmoil for some time. Venizelos passed away in 1936, Tsaldaris was overthrown, whilst George Condylis had declared a dictatorship in October 1935, abolishing democracy and preparing a referendum to reinstate monarchy. On 4 August 1936, however, it was Ioannis Metaxas, who established a dictatorship, changing the political scene in the country once more. Coming from a military background, he foresaw the clouds of war over Europe and began to prepare the country for this eventuality. Being fully aware of the importance of the merchant fleet at wartime, he immediately started organizing and strengthening the shipping industry. He founded an under-ministry of Merchant Marine putting at its helm Deucalion Rediadis, a distinguished lawyer. A few months later, he established the Hellenic Chamber of Shipping with George E. Embiricos, its first elected president.

The violation of the Plate Agreement by several shipowners and the inability of industry representatives to persuade the sub-ministry of Merchant Marine to take appropriate measures to combat the situation, led a delegation of shipowners to Metaxas himself. They urged him to adopt suitable legislation in order to compel all Greek owners to comply with the scheme’s provisions agreed upon with their British colleagues. Metaxas acted immediately, and from 12 September 1938, the implementation of the plan was obligatory by law to all owners. At the same meeting, he publicly declared for the first time that if ever Greece went to war, it would never be against Britain.

At this time, Europe was under the shadow of an imminent conflict and this gradually led to the degeneration of international agreements. Protectionist measures intensified and the British began to abandon liberalist ideas. The priority line for loading Plate cargoes was abolished by the Committee, giving preference to British ships.

The Spanish Civil War ended in April 1939. A few months later, on 3 September 1939, another war broke out, leading to an unprecedented global conflict that caused havoc and destruction. The following day, the Greek vessel KOSTI was destroyed after hitting a mine, while the Tramp Shipping Co-operation Committee notified with a concise telegram the abolition of the Plate scheme.

A month after the declaration of War, the neutral Greek steamship DIAMANTIS was torpedoed by a German submarine and sunk off the British coast. The nightmare for Greek shipping had begun.

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