Thingvalla Line

Danish emigrants waiting to board one of the Thingvalla Line's ships at Larsens Plads in Copenhagen

Thingvalla line was a shipping company founded by the Danish Carl Frederik Tietgen in 1879 in Copenhagen, Denmark. It maintained a route between Copenhagen and New York City calling at Kristiania (present day Oslo) and Kristiansand on the way. It had 10 ships in its fleet. In 1898 the company was bought by DFDS, another Danish shipping company, and the name was changed to Scandinavian America Line.

History

The aim of the company was to provide a direct route between Scandinavian ports and America. Prior to its establishment, most Danish passengers had been conveyed by German shipping companies, such as Hamburg-Amerikanische Packetfahrt-Actiengesellschaft and North German Lloyd.^[1]

The new company established a ferry terminal at Larsens Plads on the Copenhagen harbourfront, a site which had been a combined shipyard and lumberyard until 1870. It was from here that its ships departed calling at Kristiania and Kristiansand before crossing the Atlantic to New York City. By including the Norwegian ports, the Thingvalla Line became an important competitor not only to the German companies, but also British based companies. In favour of the new company, apart from the obvious advantage of providing a direct route, were their Scandinavian crews and a more homogeneous composition of passengers. Less favourable was their use smaller and slower ships than those of the great German and British companies. This did not seem to bother the Scandinavian passengers too much, as the line soon became quite popular. What was much worse for the company, was that it had a series of accidents, and that became a setback for the line.^[1] In 1898 the company was acquired by DFDS which changed the name to Scandinavian America Line. ^[2]

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Thingvalla Line.

• Danish-American
• Rescue of the SS Danmark

References