A. C. de Freitas & Co.

A. C. de Freitas & Co. was, at the end of the 19th century, one of the largest privately owned trading and shipping companies in Hamburg. Its failure to list as a public company was the main reason for its downfall a decade later.

"BEETHOVEN. Four masted barquentine (barkentine) at wharf."

Augusto Constantino de Freitas founded the company in 1835.[1] From its beginnings with sailing ships that carried goods on their own account, the company developed into a large enterprise with extensive interests in Great Britain, South America and the Mediterranean. In 1879, steamships replaced the small fleet of sailing ships.[1]^: 47 In 1884, a regular scheduled service began into the Adriatic Sea and in 1892 there was a growing fleet of steamers to southern Brazil and Argentina.[1]^{: 69 & 84}[2] In 1900, Albert Ballin bought the 14 steamships employed in the South American trade for the Hamburg America Line.[1]^: 117[3] The end of the shipping arm of the company came in 1911 with the sale of the six steam ships used in the Mediterranean Sea to Deutsche Levante Linie.[1]^: 184 The same year also saw the two large sailing vessels, Beethoven and Mozart, sold off. A diminishing trade in goods continued under the name of Augusto de Freitas GmbH.