House flags of British shipping companies (6)

Last modified: 2023-07-03 by
Keywords: house flag | north of scotland and orkney and shetland steam navigation | ocean dominion steamship | ot africa line | f | james fisher |
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• Nerdrum Shipping Ltd.
• Newbigin Steam Ship Co., Ltd.
• Newry & Kilkeel Steam Ship Co., Ltd.
• Norships Ocean Carriers, Ltd. (Ship Finance & Management Co. Ltd.)
• North of Scotland and Orkney and Shetland Steam Navigation Co.
• Ocean Dominion Steamship Co.
• Orient Steam Navigation Co.
• OT Africa Line

• House flags of British shipping companies
• House flags of shipping companies
• United Kingdom

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

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

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

Newry & Kilkeel Steam Ship Co. Ltd. This is the flag of Joseph Fisher & Sons Ltd. dating from 1897. For a long time they traded through the Newry & Kilkeel Steamship Co. Ltd. and, earlier, the Frontier Town Steamship Co. Ltd. By the mid 1960s the ships were only under their own name and they eventually faded from Lloyds around the early 1980s.
Neale Rosanoski, 26 February 2004

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

Norships Ocean Carriers Ltd. This is one that you may wish to toss a coin as to what name it should be shown under. In Brown 1951 it is recorded for Ship Finance & Management Co. Ltd. They operated various companies, several of which had name beginning with "N" and ships with a 1st name of "Lord" indicating that they were connected and probably were subsidiaries. Norships Ocean Carriers Ltd. do not appear in Lloyds Shipowners 1953-4 but one company in the above category, Norwood Steamship Co. Ltd., does and this explains why Stewart 1953 and 1957 show the livery for both Ships Finance & Management and Norwood Steamship. By 1958 the companies operated by Ships Finance & Management appear to have been consolidated into Norships Ocean Carriers Ltd. which explains why Stewart 1963 and US Navy record it under that name (ignoring the operator). By the beginning of the 1970s the fleet appears to be under Norships Freighters Inc. with all other names, including Ship Finance, disappeared from the scene. The answer to all this, it seems, is one of the "London" Greeks, George Nilcolaou Ltd., being behind everything, certainly noted as agents for the last mentioned company and actually shown by US Navy 1961 as well for the livery but under the Greek section despite domiciling in London.
Neale Rosanoski, 26 February 2004

The flag is horizontally divided blue-white-blue.

Orient Steam Navigation Co.

  by James Dignan

Based on Sampson (1957)
James Dignan, 15 October 2003

Orient Steam Navigation Co. (Anderson, Green & Co,. Ltd., Managers)
Houseflag: white, with blue St. George's Cross and gold crown in center.
Jarig Bakker, 16 October 2003

British. Formed circa 1877 with trade routes to Australia and later New Zealand and by the 1950s to San Francisco, Vancouver and Honolulu. P&O purchased majority interest in 1919 and the balance of the company in 1965. The next year the company was fully absorbed into P&O.
Phil Nelson, 16 October 2003

See also: White Star Lines

Orient Steam Navigation Co. The Stewart series uses this company as an example of the development of a houseflag although it includes one discrepancy. The original flag combined those of Anderson, Anderson & Co. (blue with a white saltire) and Frederick Green & Co. (white with a red cross surmounting a blue panel), who combined as Anderson & Green (also shown as Green & Anderson) in 1874 to operate the Orient Line, forerunner of the Orient Steam Navigation Co. which was formed in either 1877 or 1878. This combined flag was blue with a white saltire and overall an undefined white diamond bearing a red cross over a blue panel. Stewart does not show the panel in his example but it is by Loughran 1979. Whichever is correct was used until c.1880 when the white with red cross and crown format was adopted, presumably being based on the similar flag used by Pacific Steam Navigation Co. who were associated in these early days, but this has the red letters "OSNC" in the respective quarters. This was altered slightly by the addition of a small "o" after the "C" with Loughran quoting 1888 and Stewart c.1892 but both then agreeing that in 1908 the letters were done away with, coinciding with Pacific Steam being no longer connected.
Neale Rosanoski, 26 February 2004

Yellow, a white disc with a wide blue border (making an "O") and a blue "T" inside.
Jorge Candeias, 03 Feb 1999

Believe this should be a British company as OTAL appears to be a subsidiary of Thamesport.
Al Fisher, 03 Feb 1999

OT Africa Line. Brown 1995 shows this flag for the Swedish company O.T. Shipping A/B which appears to have originated as O.T. Rederierna which was declared bankrupt by the Swedish Government in 1982 with its assets disposed of to A/B Shipinvest which was formed for that purpose. However it continued to be shown in Lloyds as O.T. Shipping A/B until the early 1990s. Brown makes reference to the OT Africa Line service as having the same flag but with the addition of "OT AFRICA LINE in white outlined blue across the centre which I have presumed to resemble as attached (below). On my original visit to site for OT Africa Line, also known as OTAL, at www.otal.com, I have noted that it was formed 1975 and was based in Nigeria. It showed a logo of the OT flag with the legend plastered over it but not forming part as it extended beyond the flag borders [see logo below]. However 10/1999 it, together with its associate Antrak International, were sold to the Group Bollore of France but remain independent from their shipping arm Delmas [all this from the site].  I have just had another look at their site and are now not at all sure where their HQ is at present. The ships appear to be split between Antak and Delmas and that latter has some registered in the name of Otal Investments Ltd. formed 2001. I can only conclude from the maze that the original name was sold by the Swedes together with the flag and its continued appearance on the website means it still exists but in what context is another matter.

Neale Rosanoski, 26 February 2004