The oldest navigation company of Portugal was not CCN nor CNN, but the Empresa Insulana de Navegação, or EIN.

It was founded in 1871 and it was part of the micaelense (Azores São Miguel Island inhabitants are called like that) Bensaude & Cia company. It was to function to transport people from Lisbon to Madeira and the Azores, since were the territory near the continent. In 1881, CNN was formed to make travels to the colonies, while EIN was exclusive to the islands.

After WW1, the company received the ex-German line Westerwald, which became the “N.T. Lima”. But it was in 1961 that the company received the most beloved ship of Portugal, which it still exists: the N.T. Funchal. The ship travel far and beyond of its original route, has it served as a Presidential Yacht to President Américo Tomáz in 1968 to Brazil, and then again in 1972 back to Brazil, while transporting the rest of the ex-Emperor of Brazil and King of Portugal, Pedro I of Brazil, IV of Portugal to its nation. Fun fact, his heart is still in Portugal, in care of the city of Oporto. By 1974, still operating for EIN, Funchal started making cruises, and receiving a white hull for that.

But, in February 1974, alongside with CCN, they were merged by Caetano’s Estado Novo Government (1968 – 1974) to form the Companhia Portuguesa de Transportes Marítimos (CPTM), but it failed and ceased operations in 1985, and liquidated in 2001.

Funchal is still active, and it once worked along side the M.V. Astoria, which you all know as the S.S. Stockholm, the famous ship that sunk the Andrea Doria.