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British shipping companies (M)

Last modified: 2021-05-29 by rob raeside
Keywords: shipping lines |
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Mordey, Jones & Co.

[Mordey, Jones & Co. houseflag] image by Ivan Sache, 28 April 2021

Lloyd's Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows the house flag of Mordey, Jones & Co. (#990, p. 84) as white with two blue horizontal stripes.
https://research.mysticseaport.org/item/l011061/l011061-c008/49/
Ivan Sache, 28 April 2021


Morel, Ltd.

[Morel, Ltd. houseflag] image by James Dignan

Based on Sampson (1957)
James Dignan, 9 October 2003

Brown 317: Morel, Ltd., Cardiff
Funnel: Black, on a wide white band bordered red bordered white a red disk.
Flag: 2:3; white, along the fly-wise edges offset red stripes, and in the center a red disk of approximately 1/3rd of the flag's height.

James' disk is slightly larger (3/8?) which makes for a better flag.
Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg, 20 October 2003


R.E. Morel, Ltd.

[R.E. Morel & Co. houseflag] image by Ivan Sache, 28 April 2021

Lloyd's Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows the same house flag (#920, p. 80) for Morel LTD. also P.E. Morel.

Lloyd's Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows the house flag of R.E. Morel & Co. (#919, p. 80) as red with a white disc in the center and two thin white horizontal lines near the top and bottom.
https://research.mysticseaport.org/item/l011061/l011061-c008/45/
Ivan Sache, 28 April 2021


Wm.G. Morel & Co.

[Henderson & McIntosh houseflag] image by Ivan Sache, 29 April 2021

Lloyd's Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows the house flag of Wm.G. Morel & Co. (#1166, p. 92), a Cardiff-based company, as white with a red "M" in the center.
https://research.mysticseaport.org/item/l011061/l011061-c008/#57
Ivan Sache, 29 April 2021


Evan Morgan & Co.

[Evan Morgan & Co. houseflag] image by Ivan Sache, 16 March 2008

Lloyds Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows the house flag of "Evan Morgan & Co." (#34, p. 38), a company based in London, as red with a blue oval charged with the white letters "EM&Co".
Ivan Sache, 16 March 2008 


E.W. Morgan & Co., Ltd.

[E.W. Morgan & Co., Ltd. houseflag] image by Ivan Sache, 24 April 2021

Lloyd's Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows the house flag of E.W. Morgan & Co., Ltd. (Gratitude S.S. Co., Ltd.) (#498, p. 60), a London-based company, as white with a red "G" framed in a double white square diamond outlined in red.
https://research.mysticseaport.org/item/l011061/l011061-c008/#25 
Ivan Sache, 24 April 2021


Morgan & Cadogan Limited

[Morgan & Cadogan Limited houseflag] image by Jarig Bakker

Source: Brown's Flags and Funnels [Wedge 1926]

Morgan & Cadogan Limited, Cardiff - white flag with blue saltire; over all letters M & C L in blue - small "TD" in black.
Jarig Bakker, 15 January 2005


Morris & Fisher

[Morris & Fisher houseflag] image by Ivan Sache, 25 April 2021

Lloyd's Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows the house flag of
Morris & Fisher (#541, p. 62), a Grimsby-based company, as red with a black disc.
https://research.mysticseaport.org/item/l011061/l011061-c008/#27
Ivan Sache, 25 April 2021


John Morrison & Son

(Morrison Shipping Co. Ltd)

[John Morrison & Son houseflag] image by Ivan Sache, 25 April 2021

John Morrison started steamship owning in 1871 when he purchased the tramp steamer "Ben Lomond" from John Laing of Sunderland and over the next few years built up a fleet of eight ships. By the outbreak of the Great War, the company had been reduced to three ships. Two of these were lost to enemy action and the third one was sold to Russia. By the end of the war, no ships were owned and the company did not re-enter ship owning until 1922.
The company purchased 13 new ships up to 1930 which traded worldwide, but the main trade was from Sweden to South Africa and homewards via West Africa on charter to United Africa Co. By 1939 ten ships were owned but all were lost during the war. After the loss of the "Glenlea", the company was wound up.

Before the First World War, all companies ship but two were named "Ben ...). In the company's second period of activity, all ships but two were names "...lea".

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

Lloyd's Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows the house flag of
John Morrison & Son (#511, p. 61), a Newcastle-based company, as white with a red cross patty in the center.
https://research.mysticseaport.org/item/l011061/l011061-c008/#26
Ivan Sache, 25 April 2021


T.B. Morton & Co.

[T.B. Morton & Co. houseflag] image located by Jan Martens, 29 May 2007

T.B. Morton & Co. was a British company active in Romania but established in Constantinople (current Istanbul). Founded in 1855 to carry mail from Constantinople to Romanian and Black Sea ports, rightly considered a private post, Morton issued rudimentary stamps from 1869 on. The second issue for instance showed a steamer flying the (presumably) Red Ensign. Direct link: http://www.ilpostalista.it/esclusi/immagini/danblu2%20.jpg. Quoting from an article by A.H. Godden, location:
“For journals, a special stamp was issued in 1872, in sheets of 72, with a value of 10 paras (ie ¼ piastre: 40 paras = 1 piastre (…)”

Besides the company name appeared the initials for ‘Danube and Black Sea Line of Steamers’ or D.& B.S.L.S. Direct link to such journal stamps, showing the house flag, followed by link to article in Italian (I understand “When the Danube was still blue…”): http://www.ilpostalista.it/esclusi/immagini/danblu3.jpg, http://www.ilpostalista.it/esclusi/danblu.htm. A pennant bears the initials ‘T.B.M. & Co.’ I have no idea what colours were used – perhaps the stamps faithfully reproduce a white pennant bearing red initials?

Another (very rich philatelic) source, largely French, offers some additional information: http://www.ozocaz.fr/Postes-locales/Articles/constantinople.html, in that Morton’s on-demand service gradually widened from coastal traffic to, eventually, runs to Malta, Marseilles, etc. The stamps are said to be very rare and expensive.  I wonder when this company stopped activities (the Danube service seems to have ended in 1880), but the more important question – to us, at least – is: what were the house flag’s colours?
Jan Mertens, 29 May 2007


H.E. Moss & Co.

[H.E. Moss Co. houseflag] 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 H. E. Moss & Co., Liverpool. A dark blue flag with a white diamond in the centre bearing the red letter 'M'. 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, 14 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


T.C. & F. Moss

[T.C. & F. Moss houseflag] image by Ivan Sache, 1 May 2021

Thomas Campbell Moss was Mayor of Grimsby in 1915. Frederick Moss was Mayor of Grimsby in 1917-1918.

Lloyd's Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows the house flag of T.C. & F. Moss (#1489, p. 107), a Grimsby-based shipping company, as yellow, in the center, a black horseshoe.
https://research.mysticseaport.org/item/l011061/l011061-c008/#72
Ivan Sache, 1 May 2021


Moss Hutchinson Line, Ltd.

(Moss Steamship Co., Ltd., James Moss & Co.)

[Moss Hutchinson Line, Ltd. houseflag]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 Moss Hutchison Ltd, London. A red pennant bearing the white letters 'MH' with a cross pattée in the centre. 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. This design dates from the merger of James Moss & Co Ltd with J & P. Hutchison & Co. in 1934 and is based on Moss's pennant."
Jarig Bakker, 21 August 2004

Moss Hutchinson Line, Ltd. had a blue-white-red vertical tricolor with what appears to be the thistle in the white stripe [derived from the J & P. Hutchison & Co. house flag]. They had 2 fleets - the Spanish Peninsula fleet flew that flag in combination with a red pennant (possibly bordered in blue or white, but unclear) with a white Maltese cross and white letters M & H on either side of the cross; their Mediterranean fleet flew only the pennant.
Source: Stewart (1953)
Ned Smith, 1 July 2003

[Moss Steamship Co., Ltd. houseflag] image by Ivan Sache, 24 April 2021


Lloyd's Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows the house flag of Moss Steamship Co., Ltd. (James Moss & Co.) (#479, p. 59), as triangular, red with a white cross patty along the hoist.
https://research.mysticseaport.org/item/l011061/l011061-c008/#24
Ivan Sache, 24 April 2021

[Eastern and Australian Steam Ship Co. Ltd. houseflag] image by Klaus-Michael Schneider, 24 October 2010

Moss Hutchison Line Ltd.
A French tricolour with a thistle in natural colour in the middle of the white stripe. According to http://theshipslist.com/ships/lines/mossH.htm this flag was only hoisted in French harbours.
Source: Campbell and Evans (1953); plate V, flag no.8
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 25 October 2010


Mountwood Shipping Company, Ltd.

[Mountwood Shipping Company, Ltd. houseflag] image by Phil Nelson, 11 April 2000

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


R.A. Mudie & Sons

[R.A. Mudie & Sons houseflag] image by Ivan Sache, 2 April 2008

Lloyds Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows the house flag of "R.A. Mudie & Sons" (#148, p. 44), a company based in Dundee
(Scotland), as blue with a white cross.

James and Robert Mudie are listed as the joint owners of the "Gloamin", registered in Dundee, that wrecked on 24 January 1881. (Board of Trade Wreck Report for "Gloamin", 1881).
Ivan Sache
, 2 April 2008 

Robert Aitken Mudie (1818-1885) started life in the office of James Carmichael & Co., an engineering firm that took a prominent part in the great developments that were taking place about this time. In 1818 they started building iron ships, but the project had to be abandoned because of the prejudice against them. In 1821 they built the first steam engines for the ships of the Dundee-Newport Tay ferry and in 1832 the first steam-engines for the Dundee to Newtyle railway. They are also credited with the invention of the fan blast and the reversing gear for marine engines. Although Robert Mudie left the firm at an early age he remained on intimate terms with the family and was one of James Carmichael's trustees.

About 1848 Robert Mudie left Carmichael's and set up on his own as a shipping agent, which led in a few years to his becoming a shipowner and coal merchant. At first he owned his ships jointly with shareholders, but these were gradually dropped, except that his brother James was part owner in some of the ships that he commanded. His main business at the start was shipping coal from North of England ports to Dundee, where the rising jute trade provided a good demand, and to the Baltic and White Sea ports. Later his business became more general. He retired from business on 30th December 1871 at the age of 53 handing over to his sons, James (1840-1897) and Robert, whom he had taken into partnership a few years before.
Robert Mudie (1847-1911), the third son of Robert Aitken Mudie, became a partner in his father's business of R. A. Mudie & Sons, Shipowners, which was wound up on his death in 1911.

http://lrd.co.nz/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/The-Mudies-Of-Angus.pdf
Francis Mudie & Ian M.N. Mudie. The Mudies of Angus. 1959
Ivan Sache, 21 April 2021


R.A. & J.H. Mudie

[R.A. & J.H. Mudie houseflag] image by Ivan Sache, 3 April 2008

Lloyds Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows the house flag of "R.A. & J.H. Mudie" (#178, p. 45), a company based in Dundee (Scotland), as blue with a white disk charged with a blue saltire.
Ivan Sache
, 3 April 2008 

Robert Aitken Mudie (1818-1885) started life in the office of James Carmichael & Co., an engineering firm that took a prominent part in the great developments that were taking place about this time. In 1818 they started building iron ships, but the project had to be abandoned because of the prejudice against them. In 1821 they built the first steam engines for the ships of the Dundee-Newport Tay ferry and in 1832 the first steam-engines for the Dundee to Newtyle railway. They are also credited with the invention of the fan blast and the reversing gear for marine engines. Although Robert Mudie left the firm at an early age he remained on intimate terms with the family and was one of James Carmichael's trustees.

About 1848 Robert Mudie left Carmichael's and set up on his own as a shipping agent, which led in a few years to his becoming a shipowner and coal merchant. At first he owned his ships jointly with shareholders, but these were gradually dropped, except that his brother James was part owner in some of the ships that he commanded. His main business at the start was shipping coal from North of England ports to Dundee, where the rising jute trade provided a good demand, and to the Baltic and White Sea ports. Later his business became more general. He retired from business on 30th December 1871 at the age of 53 handing over to his sons, James (1840-1897) and Robert, whom he had taken into partnership a few years before.
Robert Mudie (1847-1911), the third son of Robert Aitken Mudie, became a partner in his father's business of R. A. Mudie & Sons, Shipowners, which was wound up on his death in 1911.

http://lrd.co.nz/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/The-Mudies-Of-Angus.pdf
Francis Mudie & Ian M.N. Mudie. The Mudies of Angus. 1959
Ivan Sache, 22 April 2021


Mullion & Co., Ltd

[Mullion & Co., Ltd houseflag] image by Phil Nelson, 7 April 2000

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


Murray, McNab & Co.

[Mullion & Co., Ltd houseflag] image by Ivan Sache, 25 April 2021

Lloyd's Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows the house flag of
Murray, McNab & Co. (#597, p. 65), a Glasgow-based company, as white with a red "M" in the center.
https://research.mysticseaport.org/item/l011061/l011061-c008/30/
Ivan Sache
, 25 April 2021


Joseph E. Murrell & Son

[Joseph E. Murrell & Son houseflag] image by Ivan Sache, 21 April 2021

Francis Yeoman (1849-1914) started out as a clerk in the firm of his uncle, Sherinton Foster, who, as well as being a shipbroker and shipowner was also a master mariner. Francis eventually became a partner and the company became Foster & Yeoman. On his uncle's death he took over the business. A partnership was then formed between Joseph Murrell (1837-1919) & Francis Yeoman in 1881. When the partnership was dissolved the company became J.H. Murrell & Co. then J.E. Murrell & Co. and lastly Murrell S.S. Co. Ltd.
The directors of the company in 1945 were Arthur George Murrell and Edwin Joseph Murrell (1881-1962).

http://www.hhtandn.org/venues/4477/jh-murrell-and-co
Hartlepool History Then and Now

The link to Lloyd's has to be updated to
https://research.mysticseaport.org/item/l011061/l011061-c008/#8
Ivan Sache, 21 April 2021


British Shipping lines: continued