This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations .(April 2009) |
Industry | Shipping |
---|---|
Founded | 1836 |
Defunct | 1995 |
Fate | Rebranded as Irish Ferries |
Headquarters | , |
Area served | Irish Sea |
Services | Passenger transportation Freight transportation |
Parent | 1965–1992: Government of Ireland 1992–1995: ICG |
The British and Irish Steam Packet Company Limited was a steam packet and passenger ferry company operating between ports in Ireland and in Great Britain between 1836 and 1992. It was latterly popularly called the B&I, and branded as B&I Line.
The company took over the business of the City of Dublin Steam Packet Company.
The B&I was established in Dublin in 1836 with an initial fleet of paddle steamers by a group of Dublin businessmen including James Jameson, Arthur Guinness and Francis Carlton. The company was based on Eden Quay until it moved to No. 46 East Wall in 1860. The fleet changed to iron in the 1840s and 1850s to ply on the company routes of Falmouth–Torquay–Southampton–Portsmouth and London together with Dublin–Wexford–Waterford. The company acquired the London service of the Waterford Steamship Company in 1870 by which they dominated this route.
The controlling owner of the B&I was the Liverpool Shipping Company. It was taken over by the Kylsant Royal Mail Company in 1917 and renamed Coast Lines which by the end of 1917 held all the shares in the B&I. Among the operations of this group were,
The 1930s was a difficult period for the B&I, and Coast Lines offered the Irish Government a share in the company but they declined.[ citation needed ] This was regretted on the outbreak of World War II,[ by whom? ] when Coast Lines withdrew most of the vessels and placed them at the disposal of the British authorities. During the war, the company sustained casualties with the separate losses of two vessels in Liverpool in 1940: the Innisfallen , and Munster sunk by a mine.
B&I had offices and owned several buildings (9 North Wall Quay - Cartage and Motor Haulage Department, 12 North Wall Quay - further larger offices) and a yard at North Wall Quay which bore its name in large letters and were demolished in the 1990s to make way for the offices of Citibank as well as at 27 Sir John Rogerson's Quay which bore its name and are still standing as a protected structure as of 2020. [1] [2]
B&I was taken over by the Irish Government in 1965. It had ten passenger and cargo vessels, many built in the late 1940s. The new management commenced a major programme of modernisation, launching the car ferries MV Munster (1968), Innisfallen and Leinster (1969). The Munster and Leinster plied the Dublin–Liverpool route and the new Innisfallen out of Cork changed from Fishguard to Swansea in 1969. The company was also operating new freight ships.
On 25 April 1980 a jetfoil service from Dublin to Liverpool started but was withdrawn as it was not a commercial success. The company ran into major financial problems in 1981, this and labour disputes persisted into the early 1992 when the company was privatised and taken over by the Irish Continental Group.
Bristol Harbour is the harbour in the city of Bristol, England. The harbour covers an area of 70 acres. It is the former natural tidal river Avon through the city but was made into its current form in 1809 when the tide was prevented from going out permanently. A tidal by-pass was dug for 2 miles through the fields of Bedminster for the river, known as the "River Avon New Cut", "New Cut", or simply "The Cut". It is often called the Floating Harbour as the water level remains constant and it is not affected by the state of the tide on the river in the Avon Gorge, The New Cut or the natural river southeast of Temple Meads to its source.
Several ships have been named Innisfallen, the name being derived from the island of Innisfallen in County Kerry and often given to vessels serving the southerly coasts of Ireland. Five served on the Irish Sea route between Cork and Fishguard, from 1896 onwards: two of these were war casualties whilst the remainder have been either scrapped or renamed and sold to new owners.
The Isle of Man Steam Packet Company Limited is the oldest continuously operating passenger shipping company in the world, having been founded in 1830.
RMS Leinster was an Irish ship operated by the City of Dublin Steam Packet Company. She served as the Kingstown-Holyhead mailboat until she was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine UB-123, which was under the command of Oberleutnant zur See Robert Ramm, on 10 October 1918, while bound for Holyhead. She sank just outside Dublin Bay at a point 4 nautical miles (7.4 km) east of the Kish light.
The shipping company is an outcome of the development of the steamship. In former days, when the packet ship was the mode of conveyance, combinations, such as the well-known Dramatic and Black Ball lines, existed but the ships which they ran were not necessarily owned by the organizers of the services. The advent of the steamship changed all that.
The City of Dublin Steam Packet Company was a shipping line established in 1823. It served cross-channel routes between Britain and Ireland for over a century. For 70 of those years it transported the mail. It was 'wound-up' by a select committee of the House of Lords in 1922 and finally liquidated in 1930.
RMS Connaught was a steamship built in 1897 and operated by the City of Dublin Steam Packet Company for Royal Mail as well as passenger service. Connaught was the second ship of this name operated by the line. She was torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-48 on 3 March 1917.
The Swansea Cork ferry was a 10-hour ferry crossing that linked Swansea in the United Kingdom with the Port of Cork in Ireland. The ferry route was last operated by Fastnet Line from 2010 to 2012, although no commercial passenger sailings took place after 2011. Between 1987 and 2006 the service was operated by Swansea Cork Car Ferries Ltd. Prior to the revival of the Cork–Swansea route by Swansea Cork Car Ferries Ltd. the former Irish semi-state owned ferry company, British & Irish Steam Packet Company which became known simply as the B+I Line which had operated the route from 1969 until 1979. In 1979 the B+I Line decided to switch the Cork–Swansea service over to a Cork–Pembroke Dock service instead. Prior to B+I Line's Cork Swansea ferry, they had a previous ferry service that sailed from Cork to Fishguard in the United Kingdom. Over the years numerous ships had different departure points from Cork. Originally, the ferry came right up into Cork city centre and would have docked across from Penrose House at Penrose Quay and in the 1970s ferries departed Cork from a new Ferry Terminal based down stream at Tivoli Docks alongside a large container terminal. From around the early 1980s onwards ferries would later depart from yet another new passenger car Ferry Terminal based at Ringaskiddy Deepwater Berth in the lower part of Cork Harbour.
The Irish Mercantile Marine during World War II continued essential overseas trade in the conflict, a period referred to as The Long Watch by Irish mariners.
Below is the timeline of maritime events during the Emergency,. This period was referred to as The Long Watch by Irish Mariners. This list is of events which affected the Irish Mercantile Marine, other ships carrying Irish exports or imports, and events near the Irish coast.
The Dundalk Steam Packet Company provided shipping services between Dundalk and Liverpool from 1837 to 1871.
The Belfast Steamship Company provided shipping services between Belfast in Ireland and Liverpool in England from 1852 to 1975.
Coast Lines Limited provided shipping services in the United Kingdom, Ireland and the Channel Islands from 1917 to 1971.
Irish Willow was one of the few ships which maintained Irish trade during World War II.
MV Leinster was a passenger ferry operated across the Irish Sea between 1937 and 1966. She was renamed Ulster Prince to replace the 1929 motorship of that name, lost during WWII.
MV Munster was a passenger ferry operated by the British and Irish Steam Packet Company from 1938 to 1940. She was sunk by a mine during WWII.
Marchioness Wellesley was a packet paddle steamer launched in 1826 for the Dublin and Wexford Steam Co. She may have been the first steamship built in Ireland. She operated out of Dublin and was last listed in 1838.
MV Munster was built in 1968 and operated initially for the British and Irish Steam Packet Company. The c. 5000-ton ship had capacity for 1,000 passengers and 220 cars. The ship was also known as the Farah In and Tianpeng before being scrapped in 2002.
MV Leinster was launched in 1968 and operated initially for the British and Irish Steam Packet Company. The c. 5,000-ton ship as built had capacity for 1,200 passengers and 220 cars. The ship has also been known under several other names including Innisfallen, Ionian Sun, Chams and Merdif..
PS Princess Beatrice was a paddle steamer built by Harland & Wolff on 4 November 1875 for the Larne and Stranraer Ferry Company. She was named after Princess Beatrice, the youngest daughter of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.