Houlder Line was a number of related British shipping companies originally established by the Houlder brothers. [1]
Houlder Line was a number of related British shipping companies originally established by the Houlder brothers. [1]
Houlder Brothers & Co was formed in London 1856 and operated in the market for chartered tonnage. In 1861 the company acquired the Golden Horn, which they used on the North Atlantic routes to the United States. The company later expanded to service routes to New Zealand, Australia and the Pacific Islands. [1] From 1875 to 1880 the company worked with John T. Arundel & Co. in a guano mining business on Flint Island in the Pacific Ocean. In 1881 the company entered the passenger and cargo trade to the River Plate. [1]
In 1911 Furness, Withy & Co Ltd bought a 50 per cent share in Houlder Brothers. By that date Houlder Brothers controlled a fleet of 19 ships via three subsidiaries: nine ships in Houlder Line Ltd, nine in the Empire Transport Company and one in the Oswestry Grange Steamchip Company. [2] In 1914 Houlder Brothers Ltd and Furness, Withy established a joint venture, the Furness-Houlder Argentine Line. [3]
From the 1890s onwards Houlder ships gave many of its ships names ending in Grange. The group re-used some of these names three or more times on successive ships: Beacon Grange, Elstree Grange, Langton Grange, Oswestry Grange, Ovingdean Grange and Royston Grange. [1] The first word in the ships name was usually an English village or town having an initial making up part of the company name: e.g. Hornby Grange, Oswestry Grange, Upwey Grange, Langton Grange, Dunster Grange, Elstree Grange. Until the 1972 disaster Royston was traditionally used to supply the 'R' but after this Ripon was used.
Houlder Line lost 12 ships in the First World War and 11 in the Second World War. [4] Furness-Houlder Argentine Lines lost three ships in the Second World War: Canonesa, [5] Duquesa [6] and El Argentino. [7] In 1917 British Transport, from Houlder's Empire Transport Company subsidiary, became the first merchant ship to sink a u-boat. [8]
In 1972 STV Royston Grange collided with a tanker in the Río de la Plata. Both ships caught fire, killing all 74 people aboard Royston Grange and eight crew members on the tanker. Royston Grange was the sister ship of STV Hardwick Grange, which was transferred to Shaw, Savill & Albion Line in 1975. [9]
Houlder Line ceased shipping operations in 1987, when Lord Kelvin was sold to Norwegian buyers. [1]
The company continues as the independent engineering consultancy Houlder Ltd. [10]
SS Royston Grange was a Houlder Line refrigerated cargo liner steamship that was built in England in 1959. In 1972 she collided with the tanker Tien Chee in the Río de la Plata. The resulting fire killed all 74 people aboard Royston Grange and eight people aboard Tien Chee. Royston Grange's burnt-out hulk was scrapped in Spain in 1979.
Furness Withy was a major British transport business. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange.
USS Maartensdijk was a cargo steamship that was laid down in England in 1902 as Egyptiana, but launched as Rapallo. She served in the United States Navy as USS Maartensdijk from 1918 until 1919, with the Naval Registry Identification Number ID-2497.
Empire Buckler was a 7,046 GRT cargo ship which was built in 1941 by Lithgows Ltd for the Ministry of War Transport (MoWT). Postwar she was sold into merchant service, being renamed Ovingdean Grange, Sabrina, and Noemi, serving until she ran aground in 1965 and was declared a constructive total loss.
MV El Argentino was a refrigerated cargo motor ship that was built in Scotland in 1920 and sunk by a German aircraft in the Atlantic Ocean in 1943.
SS Canonesa was a refrigerated cargo steamship that was built in Ireland in 1920 and sunk by a u-boat in the Atlantic Ocean in 1940.
The Furness Shipbuilding Company was a shipbuilding company in Haverton Hill, Stockton on Tees, England. It was established during the First World War and operated from 1917 until 1979.
The Leyland Line was a British shipping transport line founded in 1873 by Frederick Richards Leyland after his apprenticeship in the firm of John Bibby, Sons & Co. After Frederick Leyland's death, the company was taken over by Sir John Ellerman in 1892. In 1902, the company was bought by the International Mercantile Marine Company and a portion of its fleet was withdrawn from service and transferred to the Ellerman Lines. The company was liquidated in 1935 after a period of declining influence due to the Great Depression.
SS British Transport was a general cargo steamship that was built in England in 1910 and scrapped in Italy in 1933. In 1917 she became the first merchant ship to succeed in sinking a U-boat.
Furness Bermuda Line was a UK shipping line that operated in the 20th century. It was part of Furness, Withy and ran passenger liners between New York and the British Overseas Territory of Bermuda from 1919 to 1966.
SS Benlomond was a British cargo steamship that was built in 1922 as Cynthiana, changed owners and names a number of times, and was sunk by a U-boat in 1942, with the loss of all but one of her 53 ship's company. The sole survivor, Poon Lim, drifted on a raft for 133 days before being rescued.
SS Sagamore was a transatlantic cargo liner that was built in Ireland in 1892 for George Warren's White Diamond Steam Ship Company. In 1913 she was modified to carry passengers as well as cargo. In 1917 a German U-boat sank her, causing the death of 52 members of her crew.
SS Teiryu Maru was a steam cargo ship that was launched in England in 1914 as Northwestern Miller. Furness, Withy & Co managed her until 1927, when Norddeutscher Lloyd bought her and renamed her Augsburg.
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