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British shipping companies (L)

Last modified: 2021-05-29 by rob raeside
Keywords: shipping lines |
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See also:

Lord Line

(Irish Steamship Co, Ltd.)
(T. Dixon & Sons, Ltd., Managers)

[W.A. Souter & Co houseflag] image by Ivan Sache, 22 April 2021

Lord Line (Irish Shipowners Co., Ltd), Belfast was formed by Thomas Dixon in 1879 and operated services between Belfast, Dublin, Cardiff and Baltimore. They also sailed to Gulf of Mexico and South American ports. In 1917 the company went into liquidation and sold its two remaining ships to the Head Line (Ulster SS Co.). The Lord Line ran between Baltimore and Belfast every ten days.
Eight out the ten ships operated by the company were named "Lord ...".

Lloyd's Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows the house flag of the Lord Line (Irish Steamship Co, Ltd.) (T. Dixon & Sons, Ltd., Managers) (#201, p. 46), as blue with a white shamrock.
https://research.mysticseaport.org/item/l011061/l011061-c008/#11
Ivan Sache, 22 April 2021


C. M. Los (London) Ltd.

[C.M. Los (London) Ltd. houseflag] image by Jarig Bakker, 20 September 2005

C. M. Los (London) Ltd., London - triband blue-white-blue, in center red turned "V" (= Greek letter lambda (L))
Source: Loughran (1995)
Jarig Bakker, 20 September 2005


Lougher Line (Lewis Lougher & Co. Ltd.)

[Lougher Shipping Co. Ltd. houseflag] image by Ivan Sache, 14 July 2005

A picture of a pitcher showing the flag can be found at http://www.cabinclass.com/dinnerinthediner/pages/archives/steamship/loug_01.htm. The flag is a red
field, white diamond with blue letter ‘L’. The mysticseaport.org website describes this company as 'Redcroft Steam Navigation Co., Ltd. (Lewis Lougher), Cardiff'.
Jan Mertens, 12 July 2005


Love, Stewart & Co.

[Love, Stewart & Co. houseflag] image by Ivan Sache, 26 April 2021

Lloyd's Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows the house flag of Love, Stewart & Co. (Lovart Steamship Co., Ltd.) (#680, p. 69), a Bo'ness-based company, as red with four white triangles in the corners and the white letters "L & S".
https://research.mysticseaport.org/item/l011061/l011061-c008/34/
Ivan Sache, 26 April 2021


W. Lowden & Co.

[W. Lowden & Co. houseflag] image by Ivan Sache, 27 April 2021

Lloyd's Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows the house flag of W. Lowden & Co. (#776, p. 73), a Liverpool-based company, as swallow-tailed, blue with a red star outlined in white in the center.
https://research.mysticseaport.org/item/l011061/l011061-c008/38/
Ivan Sache, 27 April 2021


W. Lund & Sons, Ltd. (Blue Anchor Line)

[Lyle Shipping Co. Ltd. houseflag] image located by Jan Mertens, 14 July 2005

The striking flag of the ‘Blue Anchor Line', 'Lund’s Line' ('W. Lund & Sons, London') can be seen on various kinds of pottery at http://www.numa.co.za/lunds.htm. It is white, a blue anchor placed in a diagonal position. The company was founded 1869 by Wilhelm Lund to ship passengers to Australia and - at first - bringing back tea from China. First steamship bought in 1880, transformation of fleet completed in 1890. Mysteriously lost ‘SS Waratah’ in 1909 causing it to be nicknamed later “Titanic of the Southern Seas”. This blow was crippling to the company; a year later its competitor P&O bought the ships and Blue Anchor stopped its activities.
Jan Mertens, 14 July 2005


J.T. Lunn & Co.

[J.T. Lunn houseflag] image by Ivan Sache, 1 May 2021

Lloyd's Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows the house flag of J.T. Lunn & Co. (#1505, p. 108), a Newcastle-based shipping company, as blue with a white saltire, in the respective quarters, the white letters "J", "T", "L", and "Co.", in the center a white lozenge charged with a blue "&".
https://research.mysticseaport.org/item/l011061/l011061-c008/#73
Ivan Sache, 1 May 2021


W.H. Lunn

(The Cruising Co., Ltd.)

[W.H. Lunn houseflag] image by Ivan Sache, 3 May 2021

Lunn operated a cruising line known as The Cruising Co. or the Co-operative Cruising Co. The steam yacht "Argonaut" was lost in 1908.

"Argonaut". Luxury Steam Yacht, Length 334ft, Beam 40ft. Sunk 29th Sept. 1908 after a collision with the Newcastle steamer "Kingswell". After the incident the "Kingswell" was beached West of Hythe to prevent her from floundering. The "Argonaut" owned by the Co-operative cruising company was less fortunate. It was around 8.30 a.m. at the time of the collision many of the passenger would have been taking breakfast.
She was badly damaged by the bow of the "Kingswell" and rapidly took on water. The local press reported that the passengers were evacuated into lifeboats amid perfect order and in the shortest time possible. The Crew, Stewards, and Captain were the last to leave the "Argonaut", as water began washing under the bridge on the upper deck. The crew of the "Argonaut" were thrown into unemployment after the sinking and a fund was opened for their assistance, with contributions from passengers who had previously been on voyages on the yacht. Each crew member also received a gift of £1 from the Co-operative Cruising Company.

Wreck Site
http://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?4

Lloyd's Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows the house flag of W.H. Lunn (The Cruising Co., Ltd.) (#1645, p. 115), a London-based shipping company, as blue with a yellow ancient sailing ship surmounted by the writing "ARGO".
https://research.mysticseaport.org/item/l011061/l011061-c008/#80
Ivan Sache, 3 May 2021


Lunn & MacCoy

[Lunn & MacCoy houseflag] image by Ivan Sache, 30 April 2021

George Lunn was the brother of John T. Lunn and in 1892 formed a partnership to found Lunn & McCoy with a new tramp steamer. It was a further three years before the company’s second ship was built. The final steamer was delivered in 1911 and by 1914 Lunn & MacCoy owned three ships. Two of these were war losses, the third went missing at sea and the company ceased trading.

Mariners L
http://www.mariners-list.com/site_pages.php?section=Shipping+Companies&category=English&page_name=Springfield+S.S+Co

Lloyd's Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows the house flag of Lunn & MacCoy (#1462, p. 106), a Newcastle-based shipping company, as white with the blue interlaced letters "L" and "M".
https://research.mysticseaport.org/item/l011061/l011061-c008/#71 
Ivan Sache, 30 April 2021


Lykiardopouldo & Co., Ltd.

[Lykiardopouldo & Co., Ltd. houseflag] image by Jarig Bakker, 25 December 2005

Lykiardopouldo & Co., Ltd., London - white flag, red 5-pointed star.
Source: Loughran (1995)
Jarig Bakker
, 25 December 2005

See also:


Lyle Shipping Co. Ltd.

[Lyle Shipping Co. Ltd. houseflag] image by Phil Nelson, 11 April 2000

from Stewart and Styring's Flags, Funnels and Hull Colors 1963

The company was formed in Glasgow in 1903 and by 1914 owned five tramp steamers but lost two of them during hostilities. In 1925 their first motorship was delivered and in 1934 the fleet of the bankrupt ship owner Pardoe - Thomas of Newport was purchased. The fleet consisted of 10 ships in 1939 but only one of them survived the war. Several wartime built ships were purchased. In 1959 the company entered the iron ore trade and in 1965 took delivery of their first bulk carrier. By 1985 Lyles began to experience financial problems and went into receivership in 1986.

http://www.mariners-list.com/site_pages.php?section=Shipping+Companies&category=Scottish&page_name=Lyle+Shipping+Co
Mariners L

Lloyd's Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows the same house flag (#1159, p. 92).
https://research.mysticseaport.org/item/l011061/l011061-c008/#57
Ivan Sache, 29 April 2021


Lynn & Hamburg Steamship Co., Ltd.

[Lynn & Hamburg Steamship Co., Ltd. houseflag] image by Ivan Sache, 3 May 2021

Early in 1891, the SS Cragg was launched at Willington Quay, on the Tyne. The Cragg was bought by the Lynn and Hamburg SS Co Ltd, and renamed the SS Tangermuende. The Tangermuende took the name of a port on the Elbe, about 110 miles south-east of Hamburg, emphasising the company's trading links with that city-port and Germany generally. She sailed weekly to Hamburg. [...]
The ship's principal outward freight was coal, loaded at the jetty in the Alexandra Dock, where coal trucks could be raised and emptied to supply several chutes feeding into her hold. There was a regular traffic in horses from Lynn, to be slaughtered for consumption in Germany. These would be wailing, in their wooden stalls, to be hoisted aboard as deck cargo, just before sailing. By return she brought fully-refined sugar from Hamburg, together with general cargo including tinware, light machinery, sewing machines and most of the things sought after by Edwardian housewives in the department stores.
There were also items which did not appear on the ship's manifest. The Tangermuende was notorious for contraband; tobacco, snuff, cigars and spirits were readily available and 'market prices' were well known in the port. Some shipwrights encouraged the trade. More beneficially, her 'Dutch Drops' gained wide circulation in the town; despite the name, this was a liniment, mainly turpentine, held as a sovereign remedy for lumbago and rheumatism. Also known as 'Haarlem Drops' both names have been confused with 'Black Drops', but these contained opium - not illegal at that time, but bought more cheaply 'ex ship'.

RootsWeb Project
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~leveritt/22.htm

Lloyd's Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows the house flag of Lynn & Hamburg Steamship Co., Ltd. (#1681, p. 117), a King's Lynn-based shipping company, as horizontally divided black-white-red (that is, the flag of the German Empire), charged in the center with the red letters "L&HSSCo.".
https://research.mysticseaport.org/item/l011061/l011061-c008/#82
Ivan Sache, 3 May 2021


British Shipping lines: continued