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House flags of British shipping companies (8)

Union-Castle Line
United Whalers Ltd.
V.Ships
Vacuum Oil Co. Ltd.
Vogt & Maguire Ltd.

See also:

Union-Castle Line (Union Castle Mail S.S. Co. Ltd., London)

by Jorge Candeias, 01 Apr 1999

I saw this flag in London at a ceremony for the dead civil sailors of the World Wars, last August (see photo). It is really a nice flag. This one had a ratio of 1:2. The proportions are a little bit different. The owner was a veteran of the line, which seems not to be in existence any more.
J. Patrick Fischer, 8 October 2002

The Union Castle Mail Steamship Co. Ltd. was formed March 1900 and the flag combines those of the founding members being the Union Steamship Co. with a white flag and a blue border bearing a red saltire on the white, and the Castle Line of Donald Currie & Co. which had a blue flag with a white saltire surmounted by an white diamond bearing a red "C". There are discrepancies between sources as to whether the saltire of the former was throughout the white or was coupled, and with the latter as to whether the diamond was defined or merged into the white with the last option appearing the likely. Thus the red saltire of the Union Steamship flag replaced the "C" on the Castle flag. In 1953 the company became part of the British & Commonwealth Shipping Co. with the constituent companies retaining their identities. A group flag did result incorporating the Union Castle design and from the video "The Great Liners Part 2" it appears that whilst the group flag was normally flown both can be distinguished on their own, or on one occasion possibly the group flag is in conjunction with the normal company flag, or then again, the 2nd may have been the commodore's flag as it was the flagship "Transvaal Castle". The company used a swallowtailed version for its fleet commodore although the actual design is uncertain with two reports from the same source differing as to whether the tail took all of the fly or was inset as a piece out of the blue fly section only leaving the saltire ends undisturbed. The company ceased operations in 1977 although the name was revived briefly in 1999 as an advertising gimmick by P&O.

Neale Rosanoski, 8 January 2003

United Whalers Ltd.

by Ivan Sache, 8 March 2004

United Whalers Ltd. Although a simple design it has several versions ascribed. The company itself was a subsidiary of Hector Whaling Co. Ltd. who absorbed their fleet in the later 1950s. Hector Whaling was formed in the early 1930s as a British holding company and was associated with the Norwegian company of N. R. Bugge and a version of that company's livery was adopted. The Bugge flag was shown pre WW2 as a diagonal biband of blue over white with the line being from lower hoist to upper fly but at some point after WW2 it appears that the line was changed to upper hoist to lower fly although their subsidiary, A/S Hektor, is still shown with the original version by Brown 1951. After WW2 Bugge, now operating as Bugge & Krogh-Hansen, became managers of Hector Whaling and United Whaling and acted as such until their whaling interests were sold to Japan c.1960 (with Hector Whaling thereafter coming under Cayzer, Irvine & Co. Ltd., together with the likes of Clan Line and Union Castle, until the beginning of the 1970s when it disappeared). It is probably this connection that lead the US Navy 1961 publication to show the post WW2 blue over white biband version against Hector Whaling although the use of the red over white livery is supposed to have been in operation from their inception. The version shown by FOTW is supported by the Stewart 1st edition of 1953-1957 but Loughran 1979 shows a completely different version by reversing the colours to white over red with the line from upper hoist to lower fly. The last version is also ascribed to Hector Trawlers Ltd. which was an associate company. Another possible version is suggested for United Towing by Talbot-Booth in his 1942 Ships & The Sea edition which reverses the colours of this last version but this is based on the supposition of the funnel panel being the flag as here he is only showing funnel designs.

The above changes to both the Bugge and Hector flags may have actually occurred in full or part or they may have resulted from incorrect reporting and conclusions. Funnel panels and bands often supply excellent detail of the houseflag but there is a hidden fish hook. The convention for observing funnels is the same as for flags i.e. the observor views the port (left) side of the funnel with the bow (hoist) to their left (I am aware of one company at least which ignored or did not know this resulting in an entirely different meaning to its logo). Flags are normally one sided so the reverse shows everything back to front as a "mirror" image. However a funnel is normally double sided with the other (starboard) side showing the same appearance which is obviously essential in the case of lettering. But there are exceptions. N.R. Bugge is definitely one (personal observation) and Hector appears to be likewise in that the starboard view is a mirror image and this means that anyone using only this as the basis to draw a flag design which has no obvious "front" will probably draw it around the wrong way. In a perfect world such observations would go with a notation until either checked against the portside view or best of all, the actual flag. As far as I can make out the FOTW version is correct, E&OE.

Neale Rosanoski, 8 January 2003

V.Ships

V.Ships - 8 green and 7 white horizontal stripes
http://www.vships.com/

Dov Gutterman, 13 October 2003

Vacuum Oil Co. Ltd.

by Jarig Bakker

I have tried to draw the Vacuum Oil Co. Ltd. houseflag, which, thanks to Ned's relentless ferreting we know now has a gargoyle in the center. Gargoyles are decorative waterspouts that preserve stonework by diverting the flow of rainwater away from building. The word gargoyle derives from the French gargouille, or throat, from which the verb, to gargle, also originates. ( http://cidc.library.cornell.edu/adw/gravely/gargoyle.html )
The Vacuum Oil co. was closely connected to Mobil Oil, a French company, from which the gargoyle was popularized all over the Anglo-Saxon world, see the many greasy cans on offer on Ebay (perhaps you noticed the bottom of the gallon tin?). Mobil is now part of the Exxon conglomerate. Source: All about Ships & Shipping, 1938
Jarig Bakker, 19 October 2003

Vacuum Oil Co. Ltd. The black marks shown by the All About Ships & Shipping source are probably misleading, just like his post WW2 editions still showing the livery when the company had merged prior to the war. Talbot-Booth shows it without these marks in his 1936-1938 books, whilst Brown 1929 and 1934, supported by Loughran 1979, show a version in the name of the American parent company, again without these black marks, but with the emblem ensigned with the black legend "GARGOYLE" in an arc.
Neale Rosanoski, 5 May 2004

Vogt & Maguire Ltd.

by Ivan Sache

Vogt & Maguire Ltd. (London, United Kingdom - http://www.vogt.co.uk/) - white V & M combined to form a logo.
Dov Gutterman, 11 November 2003

Vogt & Maguire is an old company (more than 100 years old) specialized in shipworking and liner agency.
Ivan Sache, 13 November 2003

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