Stephen K. Darányi, 1929-1933

After the Great War besides many ventures which attemted to bring back the Hungarian flag onto the seas Stephen C. Darányi's enterprise became the most infamous. The businessman living in Germany bought his first vessel in 1929 and got her listed in the Hungarian register. In the beginning of the 1930s following the American example Scandinavian countries banned alcohol, too. In hopes of good bussiness Darányi took part in alcohol smuggling with his small crafts. Obviously, his father, the general-director of the Hungarian Spirits Co. Ltd. stood behind the scene whose goal was to sell products of his company on the Baltic coast. By 1931 seven of his vessels smuggled contrabands under Hungarian flag. All of them were about 150 tons of which the TABOR, HULLÁM, RELIS, MARS was under Hungarian registry. The NEPTUN, VILMOS and ILONA sailed with temperory passport but under Hungarian flag as well. The ships allways departed from a German port or from Danzig. The TABOR never ran into Scandinavian ports but supplied the other vessels of the venture with a cargo of contrabands on the open sea. Darányi's actions only ended when the Swedish government officially protested in Hungary. The Hungarian Maritime Authority deprived the vessels from the right to fly the Hungarian flag so Darányi sold his fleet eventually.