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Helmut Bastian (German Shipping Company)

Reederei Helmut Bastian; Rabien & Stadtlander

image by Klaus-Michael Schneider, 4 May 2009

Helmut Bastian
Rabien & Stadtlander
Rabien & Stadtlander old flag

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Helmut Bastian

Reederei Helmut Bastian GmbH & Co KG - The company was located in Bremen and existed from 1947 until 1988.
The founder Helmut Bastian, the son of later admiral Max Bastian, was born on 17 November 1916 in Kiel. He also made a naval career and ended up as a Lieutenant Commander in the German Navy (Reichsmarine).
In 1947 Bastian acquired a licence to blast from the American military government of Bremen in occupied Germany after WWII. The targets were to fill up holes caused by allied bombing and first of all to remove the rubbish out of Bremen’s harbour area. The company started with a artillery ferry of former German Navy, which was chartered by the company and the US forces. An ammunition ship became the company’s first own ship a little bit later. It was altered and used for coastal shipping (total length 24m, 80tons).
During the following years the ships of the company ran line and tramp services across the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranian Sea.
In 1960 Bastian also became general manager of the ship broker company Rabien & Stadtlander, which had been established in Bremen in 1871.
In 1976 Helmut’s son Rolf Bastian entered the company.
In 1985 Bastian established a few joint ventures with other companies but the company went into bankruptcy in 1988.
Rabien & Stadtlander survived accompanied by its subsidiary NAUTRANS shipping company and runs two vessels.
Source: Klaus-Peter Bühne; partially translated by Klaus-Michael Schneider.

Flag of Helmut Bastian
It is a dark blue flag with a yellow sawfish in its centre, which is exceeding a circle made of a rope in the same colour. It is said, that the design of the flag was derived from the badge of Bastian’s navy unit.
Source: Deutsche Reedereien und ihre Erkennungszeichen”; 2nd ed.; Hamburg; 1956; p.10.
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 4 May 2009

Rabien & Stadtlander

image by Klaus-Michael Schneider, 4 May 2009

Flag of Rabien & Stadtlander:
It is the pattern of an eight stripes flag of the city of Bremen superimposed by a white rectangle containing a black inscription “R&St”.
Source: www.marcollect.de (based on a photo of a table flag, provided by Klaus-Peter Bühne).
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 4 May 2009

Rabien & Stadtlander old flag

image by Eugene Ipavec, 6 May 2009

Klaus-Michael’s message concerning Helmut Bastian and his gif of the Rabien & Stadtlander house flag reminded me Flaggenbuch 1928 II, p. 1 as provided by Marcus Schmöger (p. 12/99 of pdf file) for the present flag (Bremen stripes & initials) and to crossed-out p. 11 (p. 21/99 of pdf file) for a completely different one. This was former p. 11, picture no. 121 .

White field, a lozenge (touching the flag’s edges) divided quarterly blue (top, bottom) and red (left, right) and a small, upright black-rimmed white oval in the centre bearing initials “St” in black.
Caption, despite the fact that no “R” is in sight, “Rabien & Stadtlander, Bremen”.
The 1930 Massary album still gives the old flag (and both names).
Questions: when was the design changed, and did the change reflect a change in ownership?.
Jan Mertens, 5 May 2009