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Gribel (German Shipping Company)

Rudolf Christian Gribel, Stettin

image by Jorge Candeias, 5 Dec 2004

Rud. Christ. Gribel
Rud. Christ. Gribel variant

See also:

Rud. Christ. Gribel

The flag consists of a vertical blue and white bicolour, charged with large white capitals, fimbriated in black: "R.C.G." But I can't read anything in the caption.
Jorge Candeias, 5 Dec 2004

That's Rud. Christ. Gribel, Lübeck. Wolter's See und Seefahrt, 1968, has a flag vertical blue-white with sans serifed countercharged letters.
Jarig Bakker, 5 Dec 2004

Rud. Christ. Gribel variant

image by Klaus-Michael Schneider, 10 Apr 2009

Recently, in presenting the ‘Seedienst Ostpreussen’ house flag, one of its founding members i.e. the Gribel company, was mentioned. This firm was based at Stettin, now Szczecin. A link to a poster proposing winter sailings to Reval (now Tallinn) and Helsingfors (Helsinki).
The house flag is vertically divided blue-white and bears the counterchanged letters RCG. It is also shown as No. 748 in the on-line 1912 Lloyds Flags & Funnels: i.e. ‘Rud. Christ. Gribel, Stettin’ but adds a dot after each letter (‘RCG’ stands for Rudolf Christian Gribel).
See this page (click advertisement in upper right corner) for an impressive list of destinations (1910). We learn that the firm was established in 1773. As to the firm's history, I have found very little. On the web there are accounts of vessels commandeered to serve as hospital ships at the end of WWII but I was unable to determine when Gribel stopped, or had to stop, its activities.
Jan Mertens, 19 Jun 2005

Rud Christ Gribel
Gribel was Germany’s oldest shipping company. The patron was born on 14 january 1747 in Kirchwerder, today Hamburg-Bergedorf. He learned the profession of a wine trader and went to Stettin in 1767. Just on his birthday in 1773 he became partner of Noack & Gribel wine trading. He became the only owner in 1779 and extended his business also to grain. Since then he became partner of several sailing ships.
His descendants later were establishing several steamship companies in 1871, 1874, 1879 and 1880. Since 1899 there were only steamships left. In 1944 Consul Eduard Griebel opened a branch in Lübeck. He died on board of SS BRANDENBURG, which had been his home after the destruction of Lübeck in WWII in 1947. The company was diddolved in 1979.
Klaus-Peter Bühne; translated by Klaus-Michael Schneider.
Description of flag: Here we have a variant vertically counterchanged into blue and white, the capitals undotted.
Source: Deutsche Reedereien und ihre Erkennungszeichen”; 2nd ed.; Hamburg; 1956; p.20
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 10 Apr 2009