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British shipping companies (R)

Last modified: 2021-05-29 by rob raeside
Keywords: shipping lines |
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• R.J. Rowat & Co.
• C. Rowbotham & Sons
• Alfred Rowland & Co.
• Rowland & Marwoods Steam Ship Co.
• Royal Mail Lines
• Royal Mail Steam Packet Co.
• Royal National Mission to Deep Sea Fishermen
• Thomas Royden & Sons
• Walter Runciman & Co.
• Runwave Ltd.
• John E. Rushworth
• David Russel Co., Ltd.

• House flags of British shipping companies
• House flags of shipping companies
• United Kingdom

R.J. Rowat & Co.

image by Ivan Sache, 26 April 2021

Shipowner and insurance-broker Robert James Rowat (1858–1930) and his wife Janet ('Jenny') Smith Robin (1860–1932) were members of a Paisley textile-manufacturing family.
R. J. Rowat was co-partner with Robert Crawford, Kilmacolm, in 'Crawford & Rowat', advertising in 1895 as 'ship and insurance brokers, ship owners and coal exporters, Port Line of sailing ships'. By the 1890s, old-fashioned sail was increasingly replaced by steam power. Russell & Co.'s yards at Greenock and Port Glasgow launched the iron sailing ship "Port Chalmers" (1884, 250 feet long), the three-masted, steel "Port Stanley" (1890), S.V. "Port Elgin" (1893, 2,780 tons capacity), and the steam vessel "Inveran" (1906), the last for Rowat alone.

The Port Line suffered a series of tragic accidents. The "Port Gordon" (carrying coal and iron) was wrecked off Oregon, en route to San Francisco and Washington State in 1889. "The Port Yarrock" was lost with all hands off Co. Kerry in 1894, and a well-publicised official enquiry blamed Rowat, for 'allowing the vessel to go to sea short-handed', and not instructing the captain to seek safety during the storm. The Glasgow Herald said: 'He will know better in future ... in devolving upon his captain the responsibility that should attach to himself'. The "Port Errol" burned to her steel skeleton off Lamlash, Arran, while fully-loaded during her maiden voyage in 1895. The coal-carrying "Port Crawford" was unable to trade when detained for a year in Brazil during a revolution (1893–4) and Rowat subsequently lost his lawsuit for compensation. The "Port Douglas" ran ashore near a lighthouse in South Africa (1897), and the guano-transporting "Port Elgin" was lost off Peru in 1911.

https://www.mackintosh-architecture.gla.ac.uk/catalogue/name/?nid=RowatRJ
Mackintosh Architecture, University of Glasgow

Lloyd's Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows the house flag of R.J. Rowat & Co. (#686, p. 69) as black white a with saltire, charged in the center with a red diamond inscribing a white "R".
https://research.mysticseaport.org/item/l011061/l011061-c008/34/
Ivan Sache, 26 April 2021

C. Rowbotham & Sons

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 C. Rowbotham & Sons, London. A blue rectangular flag with a white diamond in the centre bearing the letter 'R' in red. The flag is made of a wool and synthetic fibre bunting. It has a cotton hoist and is machine sewn. A rope and toggle is attached.
Jarig Bakker, 8 August 2004

The same house flag is shown (#1450, p. 106) in Lloyd's Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912).
https://research.mysticseaport.org/item/l011061/l011061-c008/#71
Ivan Sache, 30 April 2021

Alfred Rowland & Co.

image by Ivan Sache, 27 April 2021

Lloyd's Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows the house flag of Alfred Rowland & Co. (#848, p. 77), a Liverpool-based company, as tapered swallow-tailed red with a white "R" in the center.
https://research.mysticseaport.org/item/l011061/l011061-c008/42/
Ivan Sache, 27 April 2021

Rowland & Marwoods Steamship Co.

From the website of the National Maritime Museum, the house flag of Rowland & Marwoods Steam Ship Co., Whitby. A square white flag with a blue border bearing a red cross in the centre. The flag is made of wool bunting with a linen hoist and is machine sewn. A rope and toggle is attached. The design dates from before 1934 when the company were asked to alter their colours by the War Office and changed them to a blue cross with a red border.

Rowland and Marwood was created in 1890 by six steamship owners, each ship owned by shareholders, to form a larger and mutually beneficial concern. Rowland died in 1899, and Marwood in 1914, and from 1914 W. A. Headlam and his family became the driving force of the company. The tramp fleet carried mainly coal out, and then grain, timber, and many other cargoes back to the UK or European ports. They traded worldwide to ports in Australia, South America, Cuba, Canada and elsewhere on the globe. The company lost six ships in the First World War, but acquired 13 new ones in the period 1922 to 1940.

The depression in the 1930s caused great difficulties, but with government subsidies in both 1935 and 1936 the company managed to keep going. After the First World War the ships were always named after local Yorkshire villages. During the first two years of the Second World War the Battle of the Atlantic took almost all of the company's fleet. The company continued trading in the post-war period, but, despite new vessels of larger size being bought in 1956 and 1962, the 'Runswick' and the 'Egton', the world economic climate proved unfavourable to small-scale cargo enterprises and in 1985 the company went into voluntary liquidation."
Jarig Bakker, 26 August 2004

image by Jarig Bakker

According to Loughran (1979) the flag used after 1934 had proportions 2:3.
Jarig Bakker, 26 August 2004

See also: Bennett S.S. Co.

Royal Mail Lines (Royal Mail Steam Packet Co.)

image located by Neale Rosanoski, 27 February 2012 at website of the National Maritime Museum

Houseflag: White, with red St. Andrew's Cross and Gold Crown in center.
Jarig Bakker. 15 October 2003

Founded as the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company in 1839 originally between the UK and the Caribbean and Central America and extending north to Halifax and New York. Purchased the White Star Line in 1927. In 1932, became the Royal Mail Line following significant losses by the company and conviction of the company chairman Lord Kylsant for larceny (specifically having falsified the company financial books). In 1965 RML was purchased by Furness, Withy & Co and in the 1970s sold successively to C Y Tung (HK) and Hamburg-Süd (DE). Currently operates a refrigerated cargo service between South America and Europe.
Phil Nelson, 16 October 2003

Royal Mail Steam Packet Co.

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 the Royal Mail Steam Packet Co., London. A white flag with a red saltire in the centre of which is a gold cross. The flag is made of a wool and synthetic fibre bunting. It has a linen hoist and is machine sewn. The crown is printed."
Jarig Bakker, 27 August 2004

The image above has too much black with the jewels decorating the arches and no black for a cap base [see photo at Royal Mail Lines]. This was originally shown by the NMM under the name of Royal Mail Steam Packet Co. which as Phil points out was the company name prior to 1932, Since their [the NMM] corrections they no longer show it under this name – only as Royal Mail Lines Ltd. which as they date their flag c.1955-1967 is more appropriate. There may have been a subsequent change with the crown as this appears to be the Imperial version started with Queen Victoria and I understand the St. Edward model was adopted by Queen Elizabeth II and that companies which gained the display of the crown by being formed under Royal Charter in the first instance followed suit.
Neale Rosanoski, 27 February 2012

image by Ivan Sache, 29 April 2021

The Royal Mail Steam Packet Company was granted a Royal Charter in 1839 to carry mail to the West Indies and Central America in accordance with a scheme devised by its founder, James Macqueen. The first fleet consisted of 14 barque or barquentine-rigged wooden paddle steamers, all named after British rivers. The ‘Thames’ sailed with the first mail, passengers, and high value cargo on 3 January 1842. In 1851 a service to Rio de Janeiro was started and the association with the east coast of South America remained the mainstay of the services to the end. By 1853 the Company had started to build iron-hulled ships. Despite various setbacks, the services survived with the support of the Admiralty Mail Contracts. Part of the contract required the vessels to be available for use as men-of-war. The Crimean War saw some of the Company’s steamers sent to the Black Sea as transports. In both World Wars some of the RMSP ships were converted to Armed Merchant Cruisers. In 1863 the Company built its first two screw steamers, the 'Douro' and 'Rhone'. In 1886 the 'Orinoco' was the first of the Company’s ships to have electric light and triple expansion engines. The final quarter of the century saw the Company engage on other routes and services. Increasingly, the Company acquired interests in other shipping companies. In 1903 Owen Phillips, later Lord Kylsant, became Chairman and revitalized the company, recognising the need to increase its cargo capacity, particularly the transport of frozen meat from South America. By 1927 the Royal Mail Steam Packet group had acquired the shares of the White Star Line and had become a huge shipping conglomerate. Between 1929 and 1931 the group encountered financial difficulties and was drastically reconstructed. The Royal Mail Steam Packet Company was re-branded as Royal Mail Lines, Ltd. Royal Mail continued to run to the East Coast of South America, the West Indies, Central America and the North Pacific Coast via Panama. In addition, it also embarked on passenger cruises in the inter-war years and again in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Like many other shipping companies it was affected by containerisation. By 1965 Furness Withy acquired the shares and by 1982 the Royal Mail ships was totally absorbed into Furness Withy and the Royal Mail name was gone. Royal Mail was one of only three British shipping companies permitted to have the Royal Crown in its house flag.

Lloyd's Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows the same house flag, but rectangular, for the Royal Mail Steam Packet Co. (#1188, p. 93).
https://research.mysticseaport.org/item/l011061/l011061-c008/#58
Ivan Sache, 29 April 2021 

Royal National Mission to Deep Sea Fishermen

image by Ivan Sache, 30 April 2021

In 1881, the Fishermen’s Mission (also known as the Royal National Mission to Deep Sea Fishermen – RNMDSF) began its work by going out in a fleet of boats under the banner of ‘Preach the Word, Heal the Sick’ offering food and medical supplies. They met with fishermen while they worked, trying to alleviate the terrible conditions on board.

The fishing industry has undergone many changes over the years and the Fishermen’s Mission has always responded accordingly. They established large accommodation centres to provide a safe place for fishermen to rest or stay when their boats came in, often many miles from home. Some of these centres had more than 100 beds.

However, many fishermen now fish from their home ports or have sleeping facilities on board. So changing once again with the times, they now provide 24-hour ‘mini-centres’ with good facilities and welfare offices covering the coastline of the UK.
https://fishmishmarket.org.uk/
Official website

Lloyd's Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows the house flag of the Royal National Mission to Deep Sea Fishermen (#1259, p. 96), as composed of a swallow-tailed blue flag charged with the white letters "MDSF", surmounted by a thin blue pennant charged with the white writing "ROYAL NATIONAL".
https://research.mysticseaport.org/item/l011061/l011061-c008/#61
Ivan Sache, 30 April 2021

image by Ivan Sache, 30 April 2021

The modern flag of the Fishermen's Mission is blue with the mission's badge, counter-colored.

Photos
https://www.fishermensmission.org.uk/get-involved/fundraising/
http://heddonhistory.weebly.com/uploads/6/1/9/7/6197309/9763150_orig.jpg
Ivan Sache, 30 April 2021

image by Ivan Sache, 30 April 2021

A blue flag with horizontal red stripes on top and bottom and the mission's full emblem in the center is also used.

Photo
https://c8.alamy.com/comp/FJ2E39/the-fishermens-mission-in-porthleven-cornwall-uk-FJ2E39.jpg
Ivan Sache, 30 April 2021

The flag is forked, horizontally divided blue-red with a white diamond in the middle.
Ivan Sache, 28 February 2004

The company started in 1800 in Liverpool as wooden shipbuilders, and like many builders of the time, ended up with shares in the ships they built. This gradually progressed to shipowning and the company traded to India, South America, New Zealand and Australia. Steamers were introduced in 1888 and in 1893 Royden's withdrew from shipbuilding. The company formed the Indra Line in 1901 and their main routes were then to New York and the Far East. In 1914 three ships were contributed to the Commonwealth & Dominion Line (Port Line), but the Santa Clara S.S Co was then formed to operate a feeder service from the West Indies to New York and one ship, Santa Clara was built to operate this route. The remaining New York service and the ships on it, were sold to the Blue Funnel Line in 1915 and the Santa Clara S.S Co remained Royden's only shipping interest. In 1920 a second ship, Pinar del Rio was built, but the Santa Clara foundered in 1924 and in 1930 the Pinar del Rio was sold to the Bristol City Line and renamed City of Montreal. This ended the shipowning business of the Royden family.

The ShipsList
http://www.theshipslist.com/ships/lines/royden.shtml

Most of the ships operated on the Indra line were preffixed "Indra...": "Indra", "Indrani", Indrapura", "Indramayo", "Indralema", "Indradevi", "Indraghiri", "Indravelli", "Indrashama", "Indrawadi", "Indrabarah", "Indradeao", "Indrakuala".

image by Ivan Sache, 3 May 2021

Lloyd's Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows the same flag, but with a non-square lozenge for T.B. Royden (Indra Line, Ltd.) (#1633, p. 114).
https://research.mysticseaport.org/item/l011061/l011061-c008/#79

Walter Runciman & Co.

image by James Dignan

Based on Sampson (1957).
James Dignan, 11 October 2003

Based in Newcastle-on-Tyne, UK
Phil Nelson, 11 October 2003

image by Ivan Sache, 25 April 2021

Sir Walter Runciman (1847-1937) was born at Dunbar, East Lothian, the fourth son of Walter Runciman, schooner master and coastguard. In 1859 he began his career at sea as an apprentice in a coal brig, later serving in small sailing ships and other vessels. In 1877 he transferred to steam.
After over 25 years at sea Runciman, became a shipowner at South Shields, Durham, and founded the Moor Line Ltd of cargo steamships. Runciman was president of the chamber of shipping of the United Kingdom in 1910–11 and in 1919 became senior partner in Walter Runciman & Co. Ltd of Newcastle and London. From 1914 to 1918, Runciman was Liberal MP for Hartlepool. In 1932 he succeeded to the presidency of the Shipping Federation and showed sympathy with the Seamen's and Firemen's Union. A popular employer, Runciman promoted good industrial relations.
In 1935 Runciman acquired the controlling interest in the Anchor Line Ltd of Glasgow. He was also chairman or director of many other shipping companies. A keen yachtsman, Runciman bought ‘Sunbeam’, in 1922. It was famous for the voyages of its former owner, Thomas, Lord Brassey and was succeeded by ‘Sunbeam II’ in 1929. He was a member of several yacht clubs and commodore of the Royal Northumbrian Yacht Club and honorary commodore of the Royal Naval Volunteer Supplementary Reserve. He wrote several books about sailing ships and an autobiography, ‘Before the Mast—and After’, 1924 which offers invaluable insights into 19th century life at sea.
A Methodist and a lay preacher, Runciman was created baronet in 1906, and Baron Runciman of Shoreston in 1933.

https://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/13821.html
National Maritime Museum

Lloyd's Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows the house flag of
Walter Runciman & Co. (#609, p. 65) as swallow-tailed with a blue border except at hoist, charged in the center with a blue "R".
https://research.mysticseaport.org/item/l011061/l011061-c008/30/
Ivan Sache, 25 April 2021

Runwave Ltd.

image by Jarig Bakker, 29 August 2005

Runwave Ltd., Bristol - black flag bordered red, white "R".
Source: Loughran (1995)
Jarig Bakker, 29 August 2005

John E. Rushworth

also Rushworth Steam Fishing Co., Ltd.

image by Ivan Sache, 24 April 2021

Lloyd's Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows the house flag of John E. Rushworth, also Rushworth Steam Fishing Co., Ltd. (#407, p. 56), a Grimsby-based company, as white with a blue border, charged in the center with a red lozenge inscribing a yellow "R".
https://research.mysticseaport.org/item/l011061/l011061-c008/#21
Ivan Sache, 24 April 2021

David Russel Co., Ltd.

image by Ivan Sache, 4 May 2021

The copartnership set up by David Russell, Alfred Tennant Miller, and David Huskie was dissolved on 31 March 1897 (The Edinburgh Gazette, 13 April 1897).

Lloyd's Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows the house flag of David Russel Co., Ltd. (#1761, p. 120), an Edinburgh-based shipping company, as white with a red coat of arms in the center.
https://research.mysticseaport.org/item/l011061/l011061-c008/#85 
Ivan Sache, 4 May 2021

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