^{This page is part of © FOTW Flags Of The World website}

British shipping companies (S)

W.A. Souter & Co.
South American Saint Line
Southeastern Gas Board
Southern Steam Trawling Co., Ltd.
South Georgia Co. Ltd.
Southampton Steamship Coal & Patent Fuel Co.
Southdown Steamship Company, Ltd.
Speeding, Marshall & Co.
Spillers & Bakers, Ltd.

See also:

W.A. Souter & Co.

image by Ivan Sache, 22 April 2021

Lloyd's Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows the house flag of
W.A. Souter & Co. (#188, p. 45), a Newcastle-based company, as green with a yellow wheat sheaf.
https://research.mysticseaport.org/item/l011061/l011061-c008/#10
Ivan Sache, 22 April 2021

South American Saint Line

image by Jarig Bakker, based on the website of the National Maritime Museum.

UK and Continent - South America; Houseflag: white, with red St. Andrew's cross; white field edged red in center, containing rising sun over Tudor rose.
Jarig Bakker, 17 October 2003

From the website of the National Maritime Museum, the house flag of Saint Line Ltd (America), London. A white rectangular flag with a red saltire. There is a white shield in the centre with a red and yellow sun motif. The flag is made of a wool and synthetic fibre bunting. It has a cotton hoist and is machine sewn."
Jarig Bakker, 27 August 2004

South American Saint Line. Some sources show the saltire as reaching the edge of the flag. I have come across a description of the emblem stating that the rising sun or flame effect is in fact the upper half of a gold star with 5 point showing surmounting the upper half of an orange estoile or star of wavy points with 6 showing in the appropriate spaces. The lower half of the design, also in gold, is referred to as "a lower wheel shape" consisting of the outline only. A Tudor Rose would certainly explain the background seeing that the company was Welsh based. The 1961 US Navy publication shows orange in place of red on the flag but there appears no reason for this. The company seems to have been absorbed by Houlder Bros around 1970.
Neale Rosanoski, 24 May 2004

Southeastern Gas Board

image by Jarig Bakker, 12 December 2007

The flag was red with a white line towards the top and bottom edges. In the middle was a white rectangle with the letters SEGB in blue. SEGB were colliers that used to run between the north east ports and London.
Mike Davison, 30 November 2007

The flag was red with a white line towards the top and bottom edges. In the middle was a white rectangle with the letters SEGB in blue. The funnel was black with a white band; this bore three narrow red lines to top and bottom and in the centre a white rectangle outlined red, with SEGB in blue.

There is a history of the company's ships by D. Ridley Chesterton, 'Gas and electricity colliers: the sea-going ships owned by the British gas and electricity industries', published by the World Ship Society in 1984.
Ian Sumner, 11 December 2007

Southern 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 Southern Steam Trawling Co., Ltd. (#1823, p. 123), a Milford Haven-based fishing company, as white with a red border and a red cross, charged in the respective quarters with the red letters "S", "S", "T" and "C".
https://research.mysticseaport.org/item/l011061/l011061-c008/#88
Ivan Sache, 4 May 2021

South Georgia Co. Ltd.

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 South Georgia Co. Ltd. A white flag with a red diamond in the centre on which is a white- bordered blue cross. The flag is made of a wool and synthetic fibre bunting. It has a cotton hoist and is machine sewn."

Loughran (1979) writes: "Chr. Salvesen & co., Ltd., had Norwegian origins, and the device of the center of the flag is derived from the national flag of Norway. It owned the South Georgia Company."
Jarig Bakker, 29 August 2004

South Georgia Co. Ltd. was formed in 1916 whereas the parent company dates from1846 when the Norwegian brothers Christian and Theodore Salvesen set up business in Edinburgh. In shipping they were involved in whaling and post WW2 these interests declined until by 1990 they withdrew from shipping and are today a logistics company. The flag is normally shown under the Salvesen name and the earliest source I have come across is Reed 1901 which shows the flag as having a blue border but this may be an error with Lloyds 1904 on showing the version as shown here.
Neale Rosanoski, 13 February 2005

Southampton Steamship Coal & Patent Fuel Co.

(J. Ledger Hill)

image by Ivan Sache, 23 April 2021

Lloyd's Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows the house flag of the Southampton Steamship Coal & Patent Fuel Co. (J. Ledger Hill) (#373, p. 54) as blue with a white "H" in the center.
https://research.mysticseaport.org/item/l011061/l011061-c008/#19
Ivan Sache, 23 April 2021

Southdown Steamship Company, Ltd.

(Bell, Symondson & Co.)

image by Ivan Sache, 26 April 2021

Lloyd's Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows the house flag of
the Southdown Steamship Company, Ltd. (Bell, Symondson & Co.) (#658, p. 68), a London-based company, as blue with a white saltire, charged in the center with the blue letters "SS" inscribed in a white disc outlined in blue.
https://research.mysticseaport.org/item/l011061/l011061-c008/33/
Ivan Sache, 26 April 2021

Speeding, Marshall & Co.

image by Ivan Sache, 4 May 2021

Lloyd's Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows the house flag of Speeding, Marshall & Co. (#1836, p. 124), a Sunderland-based shipping company, as white with the blue letters "S M & Co" enclosed in a red ring.
https://research.mysticseaport.org/item/l011061/l011061-c008/#89
Ivan Sache, 4 May 2021

Spillers & Bakers, Ltd.

image located by Ivan Sache, 30 April 2021

The Spillers business originated in Bridgwater, Somerset, where Joel Spiller established his first flour mill in 1829. Within a few years, he had expanded into other areas of England and Wales. He and his business partner, Samuel Browne, opened their first Cardiff mill at the West Dock in 1854.
In 1889 the Cardiff milling business was merged with William Baker and Sons of Bristol to form Spillers and Bakers Ltd and, by the early 1890s, the company was operating from several separate premises – mainly in Collingdon Road. After several further name changes, the Spillers milling business was acquired in 1979 by Dalgety who later sold it on to the Kerry Group. By then, though, the Cardiff operation had ceased.
Their location close to the docks provided opportunities for the company to source grain from overseas as well as British outlets and, for some time, Spillers and Bakers had its own fleet of ships.

https://glamarchives.wordpress.com/2018/01/26/spillers-and-bakers-ltd-cardiff/
Glamorgan Archives

A Spillers and Bakers "Pilot" biscuit that survived the "Titanic" sinking was sold at auction for $23,000 in October 2015.
The biscuit, similar in shape and color to a cracker, was part of a collection from James and Mabel Fenwick, newlyweds who were beginning a three-month honeymoon trip to Europe in 1912 aboard the SS "Carpathia", the ship that ended up rescuing survivors of the "Titanic", according to auction house Henry Aldridge & Son.
The auction house called the relic the “world’s most valuable biscuit.” The item sold for around $8,000 more than it was expected to receive.

https://abcnews.go.com/Business/biscuit-survived-titanic-sinking-sold-auction-23000/story?id=34737427
ABC News, 26 October 2015

Lloyd's Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows the house flag of Spillers & Bakers, Ltd. (#1279, p. 97) as white with a red border and the blue letters "S & B", surmounted by nine yellow wheat spikes.
https://research.mysticseaport.org/item/l011061/l011061-c008/#62
Ivan Sache, 30 April 2021

British Shipping lines: continued