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| Industry | Shipping |
|---|---|
| Predecessor | African Steamship Co Ltd |
| Founded | Liverpool, England (1932) |
| Defunct | 2000 |
| Fate | Wound up |
| Headquarters | Liverpool, England |
Key people | Sir Geoffrey Ellerton, Kt, CMG, MBE (Chairman 1972–74) |
| Parent | Ocean Group plc |
| Subsidiaries | Seaway Car Transporters Ltd |
Elder Dempster Lines was a UK shipping company that traded from 1932 to 2000, but had its origins in the mid-19th century.
Alexander Elder was born in Glasgow in 1834. He was the son of David Elder, who for many years was manager of Robert Napier and Sons, the engine and shipbuilders and the brother of John Elder.[ citation needed ]
Alexander Elder was chief engineer of Columbian,[ citation needed ] a 2,180 GRT iron-hulled barque with a 2,116 ihp engine. She was built for the Australian run, and was chartered by France in 1855 as a troop ship for the Crimean War. [1]
In 1856 Alexander Elder joined W and H Laird as superintendent engineer for the African Steamship Company.[ citation needed ]
John Dempster was born in 1837 in Penport, Thornhill, Dumfriesshire where his father, William Dempster, was builder to the Duke of Buccleuch. The Dempster family moved to Birkenhead in the 1840s and John joined W and H Laird as a clerk in 1851 when he was aged 14.[ citation needed ]
Elder Dempster and Company began its commercial activities on 1 October 1868, [2] when John Dempster made it his business to circularise all potential customers:
"I beg to inform you that this Company intend to dispatch, early in January next, the first of their line of Steamers, at present being constructed on the Clyde for trading between Glasgow, Liverpool and the West Coast of Africa.
"The Steamers are to sail monthly, and the ports which it is intended shall be called at are Sierra Leone, Cape Palmas, Cape Coast Castle, Accra, Lagos, Benin Bonny, Old Calabar and Fernando Po, but should sufficient inducement offer, arrangements will be made for their calling at other ports, either on the outward or homeward voyages. The Steamers are being specially built for the African Trade and, besides being comfortably fitted up for passengers, they will have extensive cargo space, which will enable them to carry rough goods at moderate rates."
Elder Dempster Shipping Limited was formed in 1899. Among their ships were the liner SS Monterey and the steamer SS Montezuma, which in early 1900 were both chartered as transport ships for British troops destined for South Africa during the Second Boer War. [3]
In 1900 they established a direct steamship service between the United Kingdom and the West Indies.
In 1932 Elder Dempster Shipping Ltd, together with the African Steamship Company, and the British & African Steam Navigation Company, came under the Elder Dempster Lines name. [4]
The company operated from British ports, mainly Liverpool, where it was based, to West African destinations. It ran numerous cargo ships and a small number of passenger liners. Before the Second World War its passengers liners were Accra and Apapa, built in 1926 and 1927, plus its flagship Abosso (11,330 GRT) which was launched in 1935. [5] In the Second World War the company lost a number of ships to enemy action, including both Accra [6] and Apapa [7] in 1940 and Abosso [8] in 1942. However, during the war its passenger services continued to run between Liverpool and West Africa, escorted by British submarines.[ citation needed ] Among its passengers were students from British colonies such as the Gold Coast and Nigeria awarded imperial scholarships to study at Oxford and Cambridge universities, such as the Gold Coast student PK Owusu, on his way to study English literature at Queens College, Cambridge in 1944. [9]
After the war a new Accra and Apapa were launched in 1947 [10] and 1948, [11] followed by a new flagship, Aureol (14,083 GRT) in 1951, [12] for the company's services to Ghana and Nigeria.
The company expanded, taking over a number of other shipping companies between 1951 and 1965, [4] one of which was British & Burmese Steam Navigation Co Ltd which was purchased in 1952. The chartered ships were retained on the West Africa routes while P. Henderson & Co. continued to manage the Burma traders. In 1967 the six day war closed the Suez Canal causing Henderson's service to Burma ceased and their last three ships transferred to Elder Dempster routes.
When the Nigerian National Shipping Line was formed in 1957, Elder Dempster took a 33 per cent stake, selling in 1961 to the Nigerian government. [13]
In 1965 the company came under the ownership of the Ocean Steamship Company (Blue Funnel Line).
By 1970 all stock in the former Shaw, Savill & Albion Line had been transferred to Elder Dempster.
The end for the Elder Dempster Lines name came in 1989 when it was bought by the French firm Delmas-Vieljeux, although the company continued as a shipping agents until 2000 when it was wound up. [4]
At the end of the 19th century the company had been instrumental in forming the Bank of British West Africa [14] [15] (renamed the Bank of West Africa in the 1950s, and subsequently acquired by the Standard Bank).
From 1935 to 1940 the company jointly operated Elders Colonial Airways [14] [15] based in Nigeria, together with Imperial Airways, for passengers within West Africa. The onset of WWII saw the end of this joint venture. At the height of its power it controlled the lands from Ijora-Olopa to Apapa in Nigeria's Lagos port area, the Nigerian Ports Authority grew out of the structure created by Elder Dempster. [16]
British Railways Merchant Navy Class steam locomotive 35030 was named Elder-Dempster Line after the company.
In the late 19th century Dempster held a shipping contract with King Leopold II to ship goods and supplies to and from the Congo Free State. E. D. Morel, the main activist in the movement to expose the abuses of Leopold in his private colony, first realized the discrepancy in value trade goods being sent to the Congo while working for Dempster. As much as 80 per cent of the goods being shipped to the Congo on Dempster ships were ammunition and other weapons. From this shipping information Morel deduced the extremely aggressive tactics being used by Leopold. [17]
Elder Dempster have been party to numerous cases which have later become a significant part of English common law precedent, particularly in contract law [18] and maritime law. [19] Such cases include Elder Dempster v. Paterson, Zochonis, [20] [21] Elder Dempster v Dunn & Co, [22] Elder Dempster Lines v Zaki Ishag, [23] and Rudd v Elder Dempster. [24]
The Elder Museum of Science and Technology on Gran Canaria in the Canary Islands takes its name from a building once owned by Elder Dempster Lines. [25] [26]
SS Ceramic was an ocean liner built in Belfast for White Star Line in 1912–13 and operated on the Liverpool – Australia route. Ceramic was the largest ship serving the route until P&O introduced RMS Mooltan in 1923.
P Henderson & Company, also known as Paddy Henderson, was a ship owning and management company based in Glasgow, Scotland and operating to Burma. Patrick Henderson started business in Glasgow as a merchant at the age of 25 in 1834. He had three brothers. Two were merchants working for an agent in the Italian port of Leghorn; the third, George, was a sea captain with his own ship.
SS Akaroa was a UK steam ocean liner and refrigerated cargo ship. She was launched in 1914 in Ireland as Euripides for Aberdeen Line. When new, she was the largest ship in the Aberdeen Line fleet.
SS Clan Alpine was a UK steam cargo liner. She was launched in 1918 and sunk by a U-boat in 1943.
SS Montrose was a British merchant steamship that was built in 1897 and wrecked in 1914. She was built as a cargo liner for Elder, Dempster & Company. In 1903 the Canadian Pacific Railway bought her and had her converted into a passenger liner.
SS Clan Macneil was a UK steam cargo liner. She was launched in 1921, survived the Second World War and scrapped in 1952. She spent her entire career with Clan Line.
SS Polar Chief was a merchant steamship that was built in England in 1897 and scrapped in Scotland in 1952. In its 55-year career it had previously been called Montcalm, RFA Crenella, Crenella, Rey Alfonso, Anglo-Norse and Empire Chief. Early in the First World War it spent eight months pretending to be the battleship HMS Audacious.
Ramón Alonso R. was a merchant steamship that was built in Scotland in 1898 and scrapped in Spain in 1959. Her original name was Montclair. She was renamed José Gallart in 1901, Balmes in 1911 and Ramón Alonso R. in 1929. Her first owner was the British Elder Dempster Lines, but she spent most of her career with a succession of Spanish owners. She was built as a transatlantic ocean liner with some cargo capacity, but in 1927 she was refitted as a cargo ship. In 1913, when she was called Balmes, the ship survived a serious cargo fire in mid-Atlantic.
MV Abosso was a passenger, mail, and cargo liner, the flagship of Elder Dempster Lines. In peacetime she ran scheduled services between Liverpool and West Africa. In the Second World War she was a troop ship, running between the United Kingdom, West Africa, and South Africa.
SS Yoma was a British passenger liner that served as a troop ship in the Second World War. She was built in Scotland in 1928, and from then until 1940 Yoma ran a regular route between Glasgow in Scotland and Rangoon in Burma via Liverpool, Palma, Marseille and Egypt. She became a troop ship in 1941 and was sunk with great loss of life in the Mediterranean in 1943.
Captain James Hackman ("J.H.") Tachie-Menson was an African pioneer and musician, widely recognized as the first African Master Mariner/Ship's Captain. He gained additional recognition as the author of a number of choral compositions that have been performed by various choirs and musicians in Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
SS City of Leeds was a British North Sea passenger and cargo steamship that was built in Yorkshire in 1903 and scrapped in Northumberland 1937. In the First World War the Imperial German Navy captured her and used her as a depot ship.
SS New Australia was a UK-built turbo-electric passenger steamship that had a varied career from 1931 to 1966. She was built as the ocean liner Monarch of Bermuda, was a troop ship in the Second World War and was damaged by fire in 1947.
SS Jebba was a steamship that was built in Middlesbrough in 1896 and wrecked on the south coast of Devon in 1907. She was launched as Albertville for the Compagnie Belge-Maritime du Congo (CBMC), and was renamed Jebba when Elder, Dempster & Co acquired her in 1898. She was the first of four CBMC ships to be called Albertville, and the first of two Elder, Dempster ships to be called Jebba.
Killick Martin and Company Ltd is a privately owned global transport and logistics company with its head office in the United Kingdom. The company can trace its origins back to 1861 when it was founded by Captain James Killick and James Henry Martin. The company provides ocean freight, air freight, road freight, customs clearance, warehousing and supply chain management services. The company today has 5 offices in the United Kingdom and a global network of agencies. The ultimate parent company is Atlantic Pacific Group Ltd.
HMS Dunvegan Castle was a UK ocean liner that was converted into an armed merchant cruiser (AMC) in the Second World War. Harland and Wolff built her and her sister ship Dunnottar Castle in Belfast in 1936.
MV Asiatic Prince was a motor cargo liner that was built in Germany in 1926, operated by a British shipping line, and disappeared without trace in the Pacific Ocean in 1928. When she was lost she was carrying silver bullion worth £263,000.
MV Henry Stanley was a UK cargo motor ship that traded between Liverpool and West Africa. She was launched in 1929 in Scotland and sunk in 1942 in the North Atlantic.
P.K. boarded an Elder Dempster boat
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