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British shipping companies (T)

Last modified: 2021-05-29 by rob raeside
Keywords: shipping lines |
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John Tully & Sons

[John Tully & Sons houseflag] image by Ivan Sache, 23 April 2021

Lloyd's Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows the house flag of John Tully & Sons (#377, p. 54), a Sunderland-based company, as triangular, white with a red "T" placed horizontally.
https://research.mysticseaport.org/item/l011061/l011061-c008/#19
Ivan Sache, 23 April 2021


W. Tulley & Co.

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

Lloyd's Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows the house flag of W. Tulley & Co. (#823, p. 76), a Hull-based company, as triangular, horizontally divided red-white, charged in the center with a blue "T".
https://research.mysticseaport.org/item/l011061/l011061-c008/41/
Ivan Sache, 27 April 2021


Charles Turnbull & Co.

[Charles Turnbull & Co. houseflag] image by Ivan Sache, 4 May 2021

Lloyd's Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows the house flag of Charles Turnbull & Co. (#1845, p. 124), a Newcastle-based company, as white with a red six-pointed star in the center.
https://research.mysticseaport.org/item/l011061/l011061-c008/#89
Ivan Sache, 4 May 2021


Thomas Turnbull & Son

[Thomas Turnbull & Son houseflag] image by Ivan Sache, 23 April 2021

Lloyd's Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows the house flag of Thomas Turnbull & Son. (#392, p. 55), a Whitby-based company, as white with a bull's head surmounted by a scroll and surmounting a red and yellow ribbon.
https://research.mysticseaport.org/item/l011061/l011061-c008/#20
Ivan Sache, 23 April 2021


Turnbull Bros.

[Turnbull Bros. houseflag] image by Ivan Sache, 23 April 2021

In 1882 Philip and Lewis Turnbull, sons of Thomas Turnbull, Whitby set up the company in Cardiff to export coal to the Black Sea and return with grain. The fleet expanded rapidly and by 1900 numbered eight tramps. At the outbreak of war in 1914 the company owned seven ships, but lost six to enemy action.
The owners retired in 1920 and the remaining ships were sold. In 1920 Cyril and Bertrand Turnbull, the sons of Lewis Turnbull set up the Turnbull Coal & Shipping Co and purchased three ships. One of these was lost in the River Hooghly and the other two were sold in the depression of the 1930s and the company withdrew from shipowning. The brothers remained in business as shipbrokers until 1943.

http://mariners-list.com/site_pages.php?section=Shipping+Companies&category=Welsh&page_name=Turnbull+Bros+Ltd
Mariners L

Lloyd's Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows the house flag of Turnbull Bros. (#393, p. 55) as white with a bull's head surmounted by a scroll, surmounting a red and yellow ribbon, and surrounded by the black letters "T" and "BROS".
https://research.mysticseaport.org/item/l011061/l011061-c008/#20 
Ivan Sache, 23 April 2021


Turnbull, Scott & Co.

[Turnbull, Scott & Co. houseflag] by James Dignan

Based on Sampson (1957)
James Dignan, 8 October 2003

Brown 79: Turnbull, Scott & Co., London
Funnel: Black, a simple red heraldic shield with a white border, charged with the letters "TS" in white.
Flag: 2:3, red with the letters "TS" in white. (Brown pictures the letters almost half the height of the flag, and places them approximately a letters width apart; James' images has them one-third the height, and close together.)
Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg, 20 October 2003

Company founded 1872. Appears to have done ship management for the government at some time during WWII.
Phil Nelson, 9 October 2003

Although originating in Whitby, Reginald Turnbull and Robert Scott entered ship owning in London in 1882. The company were mostly concerned in tramping work, but also had a steady grain trade from the River Plate. Two owned ships and one managed ship were lost to enemy action in the 1914-18 war.
In 1919 the subsidiary Redgate SS Co was formed and after the Great War, five ex-German prize ships were purchased from the Shipping Controller. Three ships were lost in WWII plus six managed vessels. In 1951 the Redgate SS Co was sold to Wm. France, Fenwick & Co. and in 1957 Turnbull, Scott acquired their first tanker. In 1966 the company bought their first bulk carrier and in 1968 were appointed managers of Park Steamships Ltd. The same year Whitehall Shipping Co was formed in conjunction with A. H. Basse & Co, Copenhagen and in 1971 the company took over Coronet Shipping Ltd. However, by 1990 only one ship was left in the company and this was sold and Turnbull, Scott withdrew from ship owning.

http://mariners-list.com/site_pages.php?section=Shipping+Companies&category=English&page_name=Turnbull%2C+Scott+%26+Co
Mariners L
Ivan Sache, 23 April 2021

[Turnbull, Scott & Co. houseflag] image by Ivan Sache, 23 April 2021

Lloyd's Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows the same house flag (#396, p. 55), with more space between the letters.
https://research.mysticseaport.org/item/l011061/l011061-c008/#20
Ivan Sache, 23 April 2021


Turner, Brightman & Co.

(Zinal Steamship Co., Ltd.)

[Turner, Brightman & Co. houseflag] image by Ivan Sache, 28 April 2021

Brightman formed a partnership with Turner in 1878 in London. By 1900 the company owned 15 tramps of which about half were fitted with refrigerated cargo space and chartered to Houlder Bros for the River Plate meat trade. The remainder were mostly used on Mediterranean and Black Sea routes. Ten of the fleet were lost during the Great War and by 1919 the company only owned four vessels. Only two ships remained by 1939 and one was lost to marine hazard and the other to enemy action. Two standard tramps were managed for the MOWT but the company ceased trading after the war.

https://www.wrecksite.eu/ownerBuilderView.aspx?9261
Wrecksite

Lloyd's Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows the house flag of Turner, Brightman & Co (#904 & #905, p. 80) as horizontally divided blue-white-blue with a red "Z in each corner, charged in the center with a white diamond bordered in red inscribing a "T" (blue) "B" (red "C3 (white) monogram.
https://research.mysticseaport.org/item/l011061/l011061-c008/45/
Ivan Sache, 28 April 2021


Turner, Davidson & Co., Ltd.

[Turner, Davidson & Co., Ltd houseflag] image by Ivan Sache, 28 April 2021

Lloyd's Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows the house flag of Turner, Davidson & Co., Ltd (Lion Line, Ltd.) (#960, p. 82), a London-based company, as blue with a red lion passant.
https://research.mysticseaport.org/item/l011061/l011061-c008/47/
Ivan Sache, 28 April 2021


Turner, Edwards & Co.

[Turner, Edwards & Co. houseflag] image by Ivan Sache, 4 April 2008

Lloyds Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows the house flag of "Turner, Edwards & Co." (#180, p. 45), a company based in Bristol, as a square red flag with a white eight-pointed star.
Ivan Sache
, 4 April 2008 

Turner Edwards’s core business was importing brandy and wine from France, Portugal and Spain for local wine merchants such as Harvey, the world famous sherry blender. But Mark Turner was also in the agricultural fertilizer business and he saw an opportunity to enter another profitable trade, nitrate from Chile.

https://blog.twmuseums.org.uk/barque-lota-1891/
Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums
Ivan Sache, 22 April 2021


Tyne & Blyth Steam Ship Owning Co., Ltd.

[Tyne & Blyth Steam Ship Owning Co., Ltd. houseflag] image by Ivan Sache, 22 April 2021

Lloyd's Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows the house flag of Tyne & Blyth Steam Ship Owning Co., Ltd. (Whitfield & Co.) (#218, p. 47), as white with a blue bell (?).

https://research.mysticseaport.org/item/l011061/l011061-c008/#12
Ivan Sache, 22 April 2021


Tyne Improvement Commission

[Tyne Improvement Commission houseflag] image by Ivan Sache, 30 April 2021

The Tyne Improvement Commission (TIC) was established in 1850 to better maintain the port and river. The TIC was succeeded in 1968 by the Port of Tyne Authority.

Lloyd's Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows the house flag of the Tyne Improvement Commission (#1367, p. 102), as blue with the commission's name in white letters and a white canton charged with the commission's emblem.
https://research.mysticseaport.org/item/l011061/l011061-c008/#67
Ivan Sache, 30 April 2021


Tyne-Tees Steam Ship Co. Ltd.

[Tyne Tees Steam Shipping Company houseflag] image by Ivan Sache, 27 April 2021

Red, with a lion rampant holding a pennoned lance on top of a castle tower (all white).
James Dignan, 18 October 2003

The flagchart "Vlaggen in de haven van Amsterdam" (flags in the harbour of Amsterdam), no date, shows this flag as red with a castle-tower, on top of which a lion flying a banner with a saltire at the hoist, all yellow.
Jarig Bakker, 6 July 2004

From the website of the National Maritime Museum, the house flag of Tyne-Tees Steam Ship Co. Ltd, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. A red rectangular flag with a yellow crest of a rampant lion on a tower holding a banner. The flag is made of a wool and synthetic fibre bunting. It has a cotton hoist and is machine sewn with a printed design. A rope and toggle is attached. The design is based on the crest of Newcastle-upon-Tyne being 'A tower argent, therefrom issuant a demi-lion rampant guardant or, holding a flagstaff sable, therefrom flowing a split banner of St George'.

The company was formed in 1904 by the merger of the Tyne Steam Shipping Co. Ltd, the Tees Union Steamship Co. Ltd, The Free Trade Warf Co. Ltd and the coasting interests of Furness Withy & Co. Ltd. It ran passenger services between Newcastle and London until these became unprofitable during the depression. The company coasters were purchased by Coast Lines in 1943. The last ship in the fleet ceased operation in 1976."
Jarig Bakker, 1 September 2004

[Tyne Tees Steam Shipping Company houseflag] image by António Martins-Tuválkin, 11 May 2010

From a postcard collection: 11.3.4: Tyne-Tees Steam Shipping
Postcard #11, 3rd row, 4th flag of the collection reads "Tyne-Tees Steam Shipping Co." and shows a flag completely different from the flag above. Flag ~2:3 with white overall throughout saltire dividing two blue triangles at hoist and fly, each charged with an "S", and two red triangles at top and bottom, reading "TT" above and "Co" below” these inscriptions set in white bold san serif capitals.
António Martins-Tuválkin, 11 May 2010

Lloyd's Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows the same house flag (#829, p. 76) as the "post card collection" (which might have been designed after Lloyd's or by Lloyd's itself).
Ivan Sache, 27 April 2021


Henry Tyrer & Co.

[Henry Tyrer & Co. houseflag] image by Ivan Sache, 12 March 2008

Henry Tyrer hailed from Ormskirk and spent his early years in Burscough. In 1872, at the age of 14, he started a career with Liverpool based shipbrokers and agents and in 1879 commenced trading in his own name as Henry Tyrer and Co. with offices in Liverpool. His entrepreneurial spirit recognised there could be potential in Preston and shortly before the opening of Preston Dock he opened an office at 143 Church Street. In May 1893 Preston Corporation gave him permission to erect a "moveable wooden shed" on the South side of the dock which became his base of operations. He formed a close working relationship with the Pyke family and it looks as if he chartered tonnage for Pyke's account to bring in cereals to Preston and no doubt acted as their preferred ship's agent. Tyrer also was instrumental in encouraging wood pulp to be shipped directly to Preston for the East Lancashire paper industry, rather than through East coast ports, notably via the Humber. From a standing start in 1892, by 1915 over 160,000 tons of woodpulp was discharged at Preston, making it one of the premier ports for this commodity. His main client in the woodpulp trade was Becker and Co of London and with increasing imports from East Norway, Tyrer believed it would be profitable to own tonnage rather than charter in. Having convinced Becker of the advantages of owning rather than chartering, Tyrer had further meetings with the Pyke family who agreed to giving their financial backing to a number of small, limited companies. Major shareholders included Edward and Cuthbert Pyke, John Hothersall, also a director of Joseph Pyke & Son, as well as Becker and Tyrer. Cuthbert Pyke also provided a mortgage which supplied the balance of the purchase price. It is reported that by 1905 Tyrer's activities at Preston were generating more income than at Liverpool. They remained an important force as shipping agents in the Port of Preston throughout the port's history. This information has been extracted from "Henry Tyrer - A Liverpool Shipping Agent and his Enterprise" by P N Davies.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/rpsmithbarney/4371088801
Preston Digital Archives

The link to Lloyd's has to be updated to
https://research.mysticseaport.org/item/l011061/l011061-c008/#7
Ivan Sache, 21 April 2021


G.D. Tyser & Co.

[Port Line Ltd houseflag] image by Ivan Sache, 30 December 2001

G.D. Tyser & Co. has a house flag also shown as that of the Port Line, and there is indeed a connection – James P. Corry & Co. and Tyser, along with other firms, merged in 1914 to form the Commonwealth & Dominion Line (later known as Port Line). The flag has been that of Tyser all along and was chosen as the common one. See the on-line 1912 Lloyds Flags & Funnels: https://research.mysticseaport.org/item/l011061/l011061-c008/#67, no. 1380, `The Tyser Line, Ltd. (Tyser & Co.), London'.

White flag with blue saltire, a red cross throughout over all (the arms of cross and saltire have the same width). Although the site shows a rather lighter blue, it is reasonable to suppose that the colours really were that of its distant relative – or ancestor, even – the Union Jack.

Sources: http://www.red-duster.co.uk/TYSER.htm
        http://www.theshipslist.com/ships/lines/tyser.htm
        http://iancoombe.tripod.com/id42.html.

At first called Tyser & Haviside, charterers founded in 1860, the firm soon operated ships of its own and became G.D. Tyser & Co. in 1873. Voyages were made to India, later to Australia and New Zealand. Competition was fierce (transportation of emigrants, meat import, etc.) but thanks to cooperation with other firms such as Royden (Indra Line) and the Nelson Line (resulting in the formation of the Colonial Union Line Ltd), Tyser maintained its position. The first steamship was bought in 1891 (which led to the Colonial Union Line being terminated) and the last sailing ship sold in 1894. Never afraid of a freight war, Tyser entered into another one on the North Atlantic which lasted until 1910 in which year cooperation with German firms (Hansa, Deutsch-Australische Dampf.) led to the establishment of Tyser United Lines. This ended, predictably, in 1914 and in the same year the merger, mentioned above, occurred.
Jan Mertens, 1 December 2005

The company flag not only resembles the Union Jack, but is also virtually identical with its depiction from the cartoons by James Gillray. The company was founded less than 50 years after Gillray's death and, while its flag might have been inspired by his works and created by an admirer of his, it might have also been independently derived from the Union Jack. Which of these was the case, is still to be discovered, but even if it was the latter, still it would make an interesting case of a same design being independently used twice.
Tomislav Todorovic, 13 December 2014


British Shipping lines: continued