COMPAGNIE DES MESSAGERIES MARITIMES.

Loughran dates the S163 funnel to 1836–1851. Dominique Cureau distinguishes the postal-service flag from S163, showing S747 as a white lozenge on red. No funnel is given with S747; Rosanoski assumes the association.

Loughran dates M84 to 1851–1853 and records its first use by Hellespont on 8 September 1851. He stresses dots after the letters, although his illustration omits them. Cureau and the Armateurs website also omit dots. Cureau relates the maritime emblem’s horse’s head to the earlier horse-coach transport business and its move to shipping under railway competition. Rosanoski presumes that this refers to the shape of the flag’s diamond.

M85 followed in 1853–1871, without dots. Cureau gives the official name as Service Maritime des Messageries Impériales, differing from the other website account, and spaces the letters more widely.

C158 followed with one dot after the first M. Ivan Sache’s replacement FOTW drawing uses proportions 1:2, based on a menu showing a static flag. His description is white with red rectangles in the corners and black M.M at the centre. Some posters show a blue monogram, which he suggests may harmonise with their sea-and-sky background. The detailed proportions are given as (3:2:3):(6:4:6), with red, white and red in the ratio 3:2:3 vertically and 6:4:6 horizontally. The same passage calls the upper and lower red areas triangles; both original formulations remain recorded.

Brown 1951 and 1958 and Stewart 1957 assign C158 to steamships and C159 to motorships, with the distinction supported by Brown from 1934. Ships & the Sea specifies C159 for Aramis; a US Navy note assigns it to new vessels in the Polynesian trade.

Mitchell dates addition of the flag to the funnel to 1965. Rosanoski presumes the black funnel is meant. Dots are omitted.

Cureau connects this flag with a combination with Chargeurs Réunis, but Rosanoski is unsure what that connection means. Loughran shows the flag as a funnel band, while Brown 1982 shows a panel.

C436 was adopted around 1970, or in 1969 according to the Armateurs website. Some ships also used C432.

Ocean Ships assigns C435 to Louis Lumiere, Charles Tellier and Pasteur, and C434 to Cambodge, Laos and Vietnam. Rosanoski regards omission of the dot on some C434 flags, and Reed’s extra dot after the second M, as errors. Sources also differ in the amount of red in the corners.

Reed attributes C700 to Messageries Maritimes. Rosanoski considers it incorrect in comparison with the other flags, and also questions Reed’s company and location information.