Neptun Sea Nav. Co. Ltd., 1933-1941

The future of Hungarian navigation was imegined in many different ways by so many a dreamer at the end of the 1920's decade. The 1929. I. Hungarian law on free shipping meant some solution. With the help of captain Rákos and the Barta brothers and in the wake of the new law several shipping companies were established with Dutch, German, Italian and British capital investements and started operation under Hungarian flag. Later, the 1934. IV., V. and VI. law further faciliteted the state of Hungarian sea shipping and sailors. This was when the Hungarian honorary consul in Genoa, Bernat Burger and later his brother József Burger bought ships and transferred them to Hungarian flag involving Italian capital. Their office was at the Nádor Street in the city center of Budapest. By the beginning of 1932 newly founded companies hired 108 Hungarian officers and 216 crew on board their 13 Hungarian registered freighters. However, suspicion of Hungarian ships involved in insurance frauds - among them was one of Burger's ship the ÁRPÁD - and the deepening economic crisis caused that by 1934 only seven ships sailed under Hungarian flag on world seas. By this time only two companies could survive and sail on. One of them was Bernat Burger's venture. Even though they faced problems, his tanker was sold after a year and the above mentioned ÁRPÁD sank, they managed to establish the Neptun Sea Nav. Co. with two newly purchased long sea ships, the s/s KELET and the s/s NYUGAT.

Succesful attempts of river-sea shipping initiated by the 1934. IV. Hungarian law made Burgers purchase two small steamers capable for sailing Danube-sea routes as well. Of these the s/s DUNA had proved to be so much appropriate for this service that the treasury took it over for DTRT Royal Hungarian Danube-Sea Nav. Co. established in 1936 and she became in form, arrangement and capacity the model of the TISZA class vessels built later in Hungary. The other small ship, the TISZA, did not satisfy her owners so she was renamed and chartered as ALBERT to Belgian owners on North Sea trade.

By mid 1940 their deep sea ships got in more and more difficulty as war was extended. At this time they transported goods between ports of the British Isles and the American continent. Because of the German blockade sailind was only allowed in convoys by the authorities. This made duty very hard. From May two Panama flagged freighters the ARENA and BONITA with Hungarian crews joined to their war transports. A tragedy was looming. In the middle of August, 1940 the s/s KELET of the Neptun Co. was torpedoed and sunk by the German UA submarine on the Atlantic. Her crew was eventually saved after eight days spent in a lifeboat. After this case Hungarian Maritime Authority ordered the owners to abandon the unofficial and coumuflaged British charter. With regards to the fact that war transport meant good business to them a compromise solution was worked out. It was authorised by the minister of transport and commerce for the owners of the four remaining Hungarian ships to raise neutral flag on the condition that same BRT would be brought back under Hungarian flag after the war. Ships were reflagged in 1941 but their names were kept and majority of their crews remained onboard, too. Only the NYUGAT remained under Hungarian flag by some misunderstanding or communication failure. At the time when Yugoslavia was occupied by Germany she met her fate as well. En route from Australia to the South China Sea with a cargo of food for the Chinese Red Army she was captured by Dutch war ships and escorted to Java. Her multinational crew was interned, her master and chief engineer were became prisoners of war in a British Himalaya camp.

József Horváth: What happens to you Hungarian sea navigation? Aqua Magazin, vol. 20., 2001.