call were Malta, Alexandria, Port Said, Beirut, Syria, Smyrna, Constantinople, and the Black Sea. In the Indian Ocean, the line served Mahé, Seychelles, La Réunion, Mauritius, Zanzibar and Madagascar as well as the French establishments in India. At Pondicherry the small harbour necessitated the use of ship's tenders. In 1912, the company lost its exclusive right to carry French mail on South American routes to Compagnie de Navigation Sud-Atlantique. World War 1 During the First World War, the company lost a large part of its fleet, as did most of the shipping companies of the Entente powers. Post World War 1 After the war, an extensive new building program was started. The ship that are loss in the war were replaced by larger and more luxurious liners and the newly opened Panama Canal was added to the route network at the beginning of the 1920s. During this time, Georges Philippar was President of Messageries Maritimes. He was a great admirer of Alexandre Dumasand made sure that on every ship on the line there was something reminiscent of the writer; four ships were named after the musketeers. In 1932, caught fire on her maiden voyage and sank in the Gulf of Aden with the loss of 54 lives. The ship was named after Georges Philippar the CEO of the company. World War 2 During the second world war, most of the company's fleet were laid up in port, but as the war continues most of the ships were sank or Commission by other navy which had been split between the Allies and Vichy France. and by 1945 the decimated the fleet only 21 ships were left. Post war and Decline The Far East was the private field of the company. Cambodge was the first of three new liners that modernised MM's Far East route in the 1950s. Saigon was rapidly becoming the second home port of the company. The "stationnaires", ships of small tonnage, afforded to the local lines departed from there. They went to Hanoi, Yokohama, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Australia and New Caledonia. They had the largest fleet of ships under one flag, with nine combination passenger/cargo liners built in the 1950s for routes across Europe and Africa to areas containing commercial or cultural interests for France's citizens. In the South Atlantic, the Brazil line went as far as Montevideo and Buenos Aires. Less important, and less known, its home