WORLD SHIP SOCIETY

In September 1935, the French Line placed into service its Mediterranean flagship VILLE D’ALGER. The new liner was the fastest, largest, and most luxurious ship yet built for the company’s colonial service between Marseilles and the North African colony of Algeria, a route the company had been operating since 1880. The VILLE D’ALGER also basked in the glow of the French Line’s North Atlantic flagship NORMANDIE whose record-breaking maiden voyage occurred in May-June of that same year. The company publicized the Mediterranean liner’s speed, appointments, and appearance as drawn directly from the NORMANDIE. Far from exaggerated advertising, the VILLE D’ALGER incorporated technical components from its North Atlantic fleet mate but more importantly signaled the French Line’s recovery from the Depression as well as symbolized the French Line’s role in Algeria’s colonial order. French Line officials described the VILLE D’ALGER as a mobile colony, with its diminutive hull containing the symbolism of imperial propaganda and reinforcing the French Line as a business serving both nation and empire. This presentation examines the conception, construction, and maiden voyage of the VILLE D’ALGER.

John H. Perry is a consulting historian for WSP USA. He is also an independent researcher and writer. He has a Ph.D. in history from Ohio State University, earning his degree in 2019 and specializing in the colonial history of Algeria and Mediterranean shipping in his dissertation “From Sea to Lake: Steamships, French Algeria, and the Mediterranean, 1830-1940.” He has presented his research in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Algeria, and has also published his work in academic journals and edited volumes.

If you missed John’s presentation at our February virtual membership meeting, or would like to see it again, we encourage you to join us for this encore showing at 10:00 AM (ET) on Saturday, March 21, 2026.