![[Rhondda Merthyr Steamship Company houseflag]](../images/g/gb~rmsc.gif)
image
by Jarig Bakker
Last modified: 2021-05-29 by rob raeside
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image
by Jarig Bakker
Source: Brown's Flags and Funnels [Wedge 1926]
Rhondda Merthyr Steamship Company, Cardiff - white flag, red cross, in the
center red disk; "RMSC" in blue in all quarters.
Jarig Bakker, 15 January 2005
![[Richards, Mills & Company houseflag]](../images/g/gb~rmco.gif)
image
by Eugene Ipavec, 19 April 2008
The tenth photo on this page, showing details of plates and other things recovered from shipwrecks (and showing a flag): http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~indigo/flags.htm. The house flag’s colours are not shown. The firm’s initials are put in the corners (R, M, &, C with raised 'o' arranged in the usual fashion) and in the centre are the Prince of Wales’s feathers and coronet.
I haven’t been able to find out much about this firm, other than that they
were managing the Dominion Line of Liverpool (in other places called
‘Mississippi & Dominion Line’), the British & North Atlantic Steam Navigation
Co. Ltd. and the Welsh Castle Line. Traces found date from the 1890’ies. On
this page
(Aberystwyth Castle, first ship’s file) it is said that the firm had a
"reputation for closeness”. I like more the sound of ‘Welsh Castle Line’ which
at least has the merit of suggesting the feathers and coronet. But that too,
proved a dead end.
Jan Mertens, 26 November 2005
Found the house flag illustrated on the Liverpool Journal of Commerce chart
for 1885. It is white, the letters are black, and the Prince of Wales's feathers
(depicted on the chart as an ornate fleur-de-lis) are red.
Ian Sumner, 9 December 2005
Griffin’s ‘Flags national and mercantile’
(1891), no. 161 (plate 12, steam vessels). As a matter of interest, the same
flag – smaller feathers, however: different drawing – is shown in Griffin as no.
625 (plate 23, sailing vessels) representing the same firm.
Jan Mertens,
16 April 2008
![[MacFarlane & Lander houseflag]](../images/g/gb~hfrtu.gif)
image by Ivan
Sache, 23 April 2021
Lloyd's Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows the house flag of T.P.R.
Richards, Turpin & Co. (#385, p. 55), a Swansea-based company, as blue with a
white swan cantonned by the white letters "R", "T", "&", and "C".
https://research.mysticseaport.org/item/l011061/l011061-c008/#20
Ivan
Sache, 23 April 2021
![[MacFarlane & Lander houseflag]](../images/g/gb~hfr&s.gif)
image by Ivan
Sache, 27 April 2021
Matthew Rickinson was the principal owner and manager of a small fleet of
sailing vessels from about 1857. Other shareholders included his brothers,
Valentine and William, George R. Ellison, Benjamin Gales, M. & James Gray.
Eventually the sailing ships gave way to steam and, in conjunction with his son
John, he established a fleet of steamers in about 1880. Matthew also had a
successful wine and spirit business and small brewery which were merged with
J.W. Cameron & Co. in about 1894.
The shipping company was founded in
1883 as M. Rickinson & Son, soon becoming Rickinson, Sons & Co. The company
owned seventeen ships, twelve of which were built in West Hartlepool, all their
names beginning with the letter 'A'.
The company reached its peak in 1902,
when it owned a dozen ships, but steadily declined after that. Between 1904 and
1907, four ships were sold and not replaced, followed by a further two before
the outbreak of the First World War.
Three ships were sold in 1915, and two
were lost to enemy action in 1918, leaving just one in the fleet, the "Astraea".
She was sold in 1920, bringing to an end Rickinson's shipowning venture.
https://www.hhtandn.org/venues/3780/rickinsons
Hartlepool History Then
and Now
Lloyd's Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows the house
flag of Rickinson, Sons & Co. (#747, p. 72) as red with a white saltire and the
white letters "R" (left) and "S" (right) and a red "&" in the center.
https://research.mysticseaport.org/item/l011061/l011061-c008/37/
Ivan
Sache, 27 April 2021
![[J.N.O. Ridley, Son & Tully houseflag]](../images/g/gb~hfrid.gif)
image by Ivan
Sache, 3 April 2008
Lloyds Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912)
shows the house flag of "J.N.O. Ridley, Son & Tully" (#166, p. 44), a company
based in Newcastle-on-Tyne, as horizontally divided white-black-white.
SS
"Newton Beech", built in 1925 in Sunderland, operated the Tyneside Line for
"John Ridley, Son & Tully" when she unfortunately met the German "Admiral Graf
Spee" on 5 October 1939, south-east of Ascension Island. On 7 October, SS "Ashlea"
was captured and the crew placed on the "Newton Beech". After the combined crews
were again transferred to the "Graf Spee", "Newton Beech" was sunk by "Graf Spee"
on 8 October off the coast of Angola.
http://freepages.family.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~treevecwll/spees.htm
Ivan Sache, 3 April 2008
In 1916, J.N.O. Ridley, Son & Tully was managed by James Emery Tully, William
Dixon and Albert Edward Robson, "merchants, shipowners, shipbrokers, and ship
managers". Dixon withdrew from the company, "by mutual consent", on 31 August
2016.
https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/29759/supplement/9236/data.pdf
The London Gazette
Ivan
Sache, 21 April 2021
![[Rio Tinto Co., Ltd houseflag]](../images/g/gb~hfrit.gif)
image by Ivan
Sache, 3 May 2021
The Rio Tinto Co. was founded in 1873 in London to re-open ancient copper
mines beside Rio Tinto in southern Spain. Already known by the Phoenicians, the
mines were sold on 17 February 1873 by the Spanish Government; the Rio Tinto
public company was registered on 17 February 1873. From 1877 to 1891, the Rio
Tinto mine was the world's leading producer of copper. Sir Auckland
Campbell-Geddes, chairman of the company from 1924 to 1947, stirred the
development of new technologies and diversification outside Spain, investing in
copper mines in Rhodesia. Due to the too low profitability of the Rio Tinto
mine, the company sold in 1954 2/3 of its Spanish business (and the rest in the
next years), founding exploration companies in Africa, Australia and Canada.
Major mines producing copper, uranium and other metals, were discovered.
Following the discovery of a big bauxite deposit in Australia, Rio Tinto entered
in 1956 the aluminium market, addressed today by Rio Tinto Alcan. In the 1960s,
Rio Tinto entered the iron ore and borate market. The company sold off in 1988
all its non mining branches, concentrating on mining. The acquisition in 1989 of
BP Minerals "secured the successful development of the company well into the
21st century". After different mergers and name's change, the group was simply
renamed Rio Tinto Group in 1997.
http://www.riotinto.com/
Corporate website
Our Marine team uses
its expertise, precision scheduling systems and global communication network to
orchestrate and operate a fleet of more than 230 ships that transport millions
of tonnes of product across multiple continents, making Rio Tinto one of the
largest dry bulk shippers in the world. For example, we ship more than 300
million tonnes of iron ore every year from our ports in Western Australia to
steel mills in Asia, a journey that can take up to 12 days.
We contract most
of the ships we use, but own a fleet of 17, which are managed and crewed by
Anglo Eastern Limited and ASP Ship Management Limited.
https://www.riotinto.com/operations/marine
Corporate website
Lloyd's Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows the house flag of Rio Tinto
Co. (#1649, p. 115), as square, white, charged in the center with the company's
badge of the time.
https://research.mysticseaport.org/item/l011061/l011061-c008/#80
Ivan
Sache, 3 May 2021
![[River Bulk Shipping / Coastal Bulk Shipping houseflag]](../images/g/gb~ribu.gif)
image by Eugene Ipavec, 6 March 2009
River Bulk Shipping Ltd. is
a British firm established at Rochester (Kent) on the River Medway, operating
two small self load & discharging vessels able to transport all kinds of
commodities including projects or special loads. RiverBulk (Truro) Ltd is a
subsidiary engaged in warehousing whereas Coastal Bulk Shipping – same address –
is an associated company. In addition to that, a specialized barge is mentioned
“suitable for the storage of up to 1400 tonnes of water sensitive and other high
grade cargoes”.
The photo gallery offers clickable pictures often showing
the attractive livery of a yellow star – on vessels’ bows and cranes – on a
green background. The house flag proper appears as a drawing and is also visible
in the cloth, on the starting page. Horizontally divided green-white-green, a
yellow five-pointed star in the centre of the white stripe (no high visibility I
am afraid): see attachments.
Jan Mertens, 5 March 2009
![[Rivers Steam Navigation Co. Ltd. houseflag]](../images/g/gb~rsn.gif)
image by Jarig Bakker,
based on the website of the National
Maritime Museum.
From the website of the National
Maritime Museum, the house flag of Rivers Steam Navigation Co. Ltd., London.
A white, swallow-tailed burgee with a blue saltire. A red disc is placed in the
centre. The flag is made of a wool and synthetic fibre bunting. It has a cotton
hoist and is machine sewn."
It is similar to the flag of the Anglo Saxon Petroleum Co.,
London, with white field, blue saltire with red disk, according to Loughran (1979).
Jarig Bakker, 26 August 2004
![[J.R. Rix & Sons, Ltd. houseflag]](../images/g/gb~rix.gif)
image by Jarig
Bakker, 10 November 2005
J.R. Rix & Sons, Ltd., Hull - blue flag, red diamond, intertwined white "JR".
Source: Loughran (1995)
Jarig Bakker, 10 November 2005
![[J.R. Rix & Sons, Ltd. houseflag]](../images/g/gb~hfrrix.jpg)
image
located by David Prothero, 9 February 2008
House flag of R.Rix & Sons in Ships and the Sea by
Talbot-Booth (1937)
David Prothero, 9 February 2008
![[RMC Group p.l.c. houseflag]](../images/g/gb~rmc.gif)
image by Jarig Bakker, 9 September 2005
RMC Group, p.l.c., Feltham - orange flag, black outlined diamond, black "RMC".
Source:
Loughran (1995)
Jarig Bakker, 9 September 2005
