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British shipping companies (N)

National Benzole Company
National Line (National Steam Navigation Company)
National Power plc.
National Steam Trawling Co., Ltd.
Nautilus Steam Shipping Co., Ltd.

See also:

National Benzole Company

image located by David Hathaway, 17 March 2006

The National Benzole Company ran a fleet of small tankers between the 1920's and the 1950's - the firm now just runs garages in north of England.
David Hathaway, 17 March 2006

National Line (National Steam Navigation Company)

image by Ivan Sache, 4 May 2021

Source: www.mysticseaport.org

The National Line (National Steam Navigation Company) was a Liverpool shipping company which existed between 1863 and 1914. Established in Liverpool in 1863 with a view to link this port to the Southern US but changed to New York because of the Civil War. In any case the idea was to use iron screw steamers transporting cargo as well as passengers (emigrants, mainly). Competitors were Cunard, Guion, Anchor and Inman; the National Line did rather well till about 1880 thanks to its emphasis on freight and numbers of passengers (large ships) rather than speed.

Other ports linked were London-New York (1870) and Boston. National Line had twelve ships in 1879, four of which were then commandeered for the Zulu Wars. One moment of glory occurred when the ‘America’ – for two months – held the Blue Riband (1884). The sailings to New York were discontinued in 1892. In 1896, the Atlantic Transport Line took over National Line which would only carry freight from then on, as it had already done on the London-New York route anyway. The end came in 1914 through voluntary liquidation.

Sources:
http://www.theshipslist.com/ships/lines/national.html
http://www.diduknow.info/emigrants/media/emigration_usa.rtf
http://www.mersey-gateway.org.uk/yesterdays/server.php?show=ConWebDoc.1192

The house flag is red, a white cross throughout and a union jack in the centre, as shown at www.mysticseaport.org, No. 1804 ‘National Steam Ship Co., Ltd., London’.
Jan Mertens, 27 November 2005

National Power plc.

image by Jarig Bakker, 10 November 2005, modified by André Coutanche

National Power PLC., London - white flag, blue disk, charged with red "P" and a white N resembling a lightning flash.
Source: Loughran (1995)
Jarig Bakker, 10 November 2005

National Steam Trawling Co., Ltd.

image by Ivan Sache, 4 May 2021

Lloyd's Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows the house flag of National Steam Trawling Co., Ltd. (#1834, p. 124), a Hull-based fishing company, as red with a white disk charged with a smaller, concentric red disk. The white ring is charged with the blue letters "S" (West), "T" (North"), "Co" (East) and "LTD" (South), while the red ring is charged with the blue letter "N".
https://research.mysticseaport.org/item/l011061/l011061-c008/#89
Ivan Sache, 4 May 2021

Nautilus Steam Shipping Co., Ltd.

(F. & W. Ritson)

image by Ivan Sache, 26 April 2021

Lloyd's Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows the house flag of John Bacon, Ltd. (#631, p. 67), a Liverpool-based company, as white with a blue "B".
https://research.mysticseaport.org/item/l011061/l011061-c008/32/ Formed in Sunderland in 1881 by F & W. Ritson to operate a tramp shipping service, but in 1899 the company inaugurated a liner service between the U.K and Chile, Peru and Ecuador. The high cost of replacing war losses between 1914 and 1918 and the worldwide trade depression of the 1920s caused the end of the company and it was wound up in 1931.

All the ships operated by the company were named for trees as "... Branch": "Almond Branch", "Apple Branch", "Cedar Branch", "Cherry Branch", "Elder Branch", "Elm Branch", "Hazel Branch", "Holly Branch", "Laurel Branch", "Lime Branch", "Maple Branch", "Myrtle Branch", "Oak Branch", "Olive Branch", "Orange Branch", "Palm Branch", "Pear Branch", "Pine Branch", "Plum Branch", "Poplar Branch", "Vine Branch", and "Willow Branch".

https://www.theshipslist.com/ships/lines/nautilus.shtml
The ShipsList

Lloyd's Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows the house flag of the Nautilus Steam Shipping Co., Ltd. (F. & W. Ritson) (#672, p. 68) as white with a red saltire cantonned by the red letters "N", "S", "S" and "Co.".
https://research.mysticseaport.org/item/l011061/l011061-c008/33/
Ivan Sache, 26 April 2021

British Shipping lines: continued