Razdoblje do 1918. godine

Sve je počelo s Hrvatom. Maleni parobrod građen za Senjsko brodarsko društvo, koji je povezivao Rijeku i Senj, pokrenuo je revoluciju u razmišljanjima riječkih brodovlasnika i odnosu prema parobrodarstvu.

The period until 1918

It all began with the Hrvat. A little steamship built for Senjsko Brodarsko Društvo (the Senj Shipping Society), which linked Rijeka and Senj, and a revolution in the thoughts of Rijeka’s ship owners and the attitude towards the steamship industry began.

Iako je u Rijeci sve još teklo sporo u odnosu na druge sredine (osobito Trst, pa i Mali Lošinj), baš su u sedamdesetim godinama 19. stoljeća udareni temelji sveg onog napretka u brodarstvu Rijeke i okolice koji se dogodio samo dvadesetak godina kasnije. Udruživanjem domaćih riječkih snaga, odnosno riječkog društva Švrljuga i dr. sa Senjaninom Ladislavom Krajačem, osnovana je 1891. prva udružena hrvatsko-mađarska brodarska kompanija Ungaro-Croata.

Although in Rijeka everything still flowed slowly compared to other centres (especially Trieste, and even Mali Lošinj), it was right in the 1870s that the foundations were laid for the progress in the shipping of Rijeka and its environs which would happen twenty or so years later. With the merger of local Rijeka powers, in other words Rijeka’s Švrljuga society and others with Ladislav Krajač from Senj the first joint Croatian-Hungarian shipping company Ungaro-Croata was established in 1891.

Isprva sramežljivo, domaće će parobrodarstvo jedno desetljeće nakon gradnje zadnjeg riječkog jedrenjaka duge plovidbe – Capricorna – uz prve priobalne linije započeti i s uspostavljanjem onih sve do Kotora. I ne samo to, od početka 20. stoljeća te izgradnjom nove luke Rijeka će postati pravi iseljenički centar i prometno čvorište za sve putnike namjernike koji su iz Monarhije preko oceana putovali u novi svijet i možda bolji život.

Although initially modest, the local steamship industry would, a decade after the construction of Rijeka’s last long distance sailing ship – the Capricorno – along with the first coastal routes, also begin with the establishment of those all the way to Kotor. Not only that, from the beginning of the 20th century and the with the building of the new port, Rijeka would become an emigration centre and transport hub for all the passengers who travelled from the Monarchy over the ocean to the New World and perhaps a better life.

Vrhunac domaćeg parobrodarstva događa se gradnjom luksuznih parobroda salondampfera za Ungaro-Croatu i Adriju, što je omogućilo i prva značajnija turistička putovanja hrvatskim priobaljem.

The peak of the domestic steamship industry occurred with the building of luxurious saloon-steamers for Ungaro-Croata and Adria, which enabled the first significant tourist journeys down the Croatian coastline.