SS TEL AVIV - Palestinian Shipping Co

[Ship's Agent]

Dear Friends

Enjoy the very postcard of Palestinian Shipping Company ocean liner SS TEL AVIV.

Information about this ship is welcome.

TEL AVIV Palestine Shipping Co.jpg

Brgds

Dimas Almada

[Ellinis]

Dimas, this must be a very rare item, of a little know ship!

Lets see her story: TEL AVIV was build 1904 as the POLYNESIA for Hamburg America Line.
In 1928 she was bought by the German Jew Arnold Bernstein and renamed HOHENSTEIN for his own A.Bernstein Line.
In 1935 she was transferred to his new venture, Palestine Shipping Co. and renamed TEL AVIV. She was used in a service between Haifa and Trieste.
In 1938 with Bernstein imprissoned by the nazis, the company was disolved and TEL AVIV was scrapped in Japan.

Bernstein had a very interesting story, he was involved in several other shipping ventures, such as Red Star Line GmbH, American Banner Lines, Silverstar Cruises etc.

The name TEL AVIV was also used for the former MARTHA WASHINGTON in 1932-34; her full story is available here.

Here is a post card showing her in her original configuration, as the POLYNESIA.
Polynesia.jpg
source

[Ship's Agent]

Ellinis,

Sincere thank you for all your help!

Cheers

D

[Ellinis]

Hi Dimas, following a photo of TEL AVIV that was uploaded at shipsnostalgia, here is some additional information on her voyages that included Greece :

Last week the world's only ship to fly the flag of Palestine was in Greek waters on her maiden trip from Haifa to Trieste when the Greek revolution enveloped her like a dark cloud. What chiefly worried the Jewish crew and captain of the 10,000-ton Tel Aviv ("Hill of Spring") was not the revolution, however, but the behavior of a tall, lean-faced man who paced nervously up & down the promenade deck, wandered disconsolately between the kosher kitchen and the ship's synagog. Tel Aviv's owner, President Arnold Bernstein of Palestine Navigation Co., was impatient to get ashore.

....Tel Aviv flies the red shield of Palestine on its Union Jack

source

A fore runner of TEL AVIV was Palestine Nav. Co's CARMEL which appeared in 1933.

[Ellinis]

Στην ιστοσελίδα εδώ υπάρχουν μερικές ακόμη φωτογραφίες του πλοίου και τα πλάνα των κατστρωμάτων του. Και άλλη μια πόζα του πλοίου από το ebay:

tel aviv.jpg

[Ellinis]

Μια ακόμη φωτογραφία του πλοίου όταν έκανε τη γραμμή Τεργέστη-Χάιφα μέσω και Πειραιά
Tel_Aviv_ex_Polynesia.jpg
πηγή

και ένα πόστερ της εταιρίας του, μια από τις πρωτοεμφανιζόμενες εταιρίες που μπήκαν στα μέσα της δεκαετίας του '30 σε γραμμές προς την Παλαιστίνη, όπως η Polish Palestine Line, η Palestinian Navigation Co και η Palestine Maritime Lloyd.
tel aviv.jpg

Όταν πρωτομπήκε στη γραμμή το TEL AVIV, οπως διαβάζουμε εδώ, είχε γίνει αρκετή σπέκουλα ως προς την εθνικότητα του σκάφους.