British shipping companies (D)

Last modified: 2023-07-03 by rob raeside
Keywords: dart container ships | dodwell | dundee perth & london shipping | donaldson line | d | devitt and moore | dominion shipping | dplc |
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• R.S. Dalgleish Ltd.
• Dart Container Ships
• J. & J. Denholm, Ltd.
• Devitt and Moore
• Dodwell & Co.
• Dominion Shipping Co. Ltd
• Donaldson (Atlantic) Line
• J.T. Duncan & Company
• Duncan Dunbar
• Dundee, Perth & London Shipping Co., Ltd.
• T. Dunlop & Sons

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

R.S. Dalgleish Ltd.

by Jarig Bakker, 29 December 2004

R.S. Dalgleish Ltd., Newcastle - blue flag, red "D"; inside D white space.
From Scott, R.M., The Caltex book of Flags and Funnels, Capetown, Caltex Africa Ltd. (1959).
Jarig Bakker, 29 December 2004

by Jarig Bakker, 29 December 2004

However Brown (1951) [Wedge (1951)] has a slightly different "D", whose inside is blue.
Jarig Bakker, 29 December 2004

The flag is swallow-tailed, blue with three darts horizontally divided white-red and placed 2 + 1.

J. & J. Denholm, Ltd.

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

White with a dark blue lozenge and a white "D" in the lozenge.
Jorge Candeias, 17 Feb 1999

The current name of the company is Denholm Shipping Services Ltd. The company was founded in 1866 as a ship agency on the Clyde, in Scotland. It is now registered in Glasgow. Denholm's first ship was the sailing ship David Sinclair, bought in 1873. The company experienced heavy losses in the 1940s and had to move to on-shore activities. Denholm recently diversified its activity among four branches: logistics (ship agency), shipping, sea foods and industrial services. The company website is at http://www.denholm-shipping.co.uk
Ivan Sache, 1 March 2004

Devitt and Moore ran a fleet of about 20 sailing ships in the wool trade to Australia in the 1800s and early 1900s. In the 1920s they got rid of the ships and founded The Nautical College Pangbourne which, along with the Conway and Worcester, provided cadet training for the MN, RNR and direct entry to the RN College, Dartmouth. The design was wine red and deep blue alternate quarters with a white rectangle (woolsack?) centred in the flag.

Peter Armitage, 24 June 2000

This flag is illustrated in Carr (1961), Flags of the World, and in Barraclough (1971), Flags of the World.
Jarig Bakker, 24 June 2000

Devitt & Moore of London carried passengers and cargo between Great Britain and Australia from 1863 until the end of the First World War, mainly in sailing vessels.
Port Cities: Jan Mertens, 7 February 2005

 Dodwell & Co.

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

From the website of the National Maritime Museum, "the house flag of Dodwell & Co. A white rectangular flag with a red cross overall and red borders. A black saltire is in the canton. The flag is made of a wool and synthetic fibre bunting. It has a cotton hoist and is machine sewn. A rope is attached."
Jarig Bakker, 11 August 2004

The flag is red with a black diamond.

Donaldson Atlantic line, Ltd. had a red-white-blue vertical tricolor with a blue D on the white stripe but above flew a white pennant with the thistle (the related Donaldson Line, Ltd. flew the same flag, but not the pennant).
Source: Stewart (1953)
Ned Smith, 1 July 2003

According to "All about Ships & Shipping, E.P.Harnack (ed), 1938", There were three companies:

1. Donaldson Atlantic Line (Glasgow-New York): Houseflag: White Pennant, with Red and Green Thistle, over Red, White and Blue vertical tricolor, Blue D in center. (ship: Letitia, Athenia (torpedoed 3 Sep 1939)
2. Donaldson Brother, Ltd. (Glasgow, Liverpool-Canada, British Columbia): Houseflag: Red, White and Blue vertical Tricolor, with Blue D in center. Ship: M.S. Salacia
3. Donaldson South American Line, Ltd. (Glasgow, Liverpool-South America): Houseflag: Blue Pennant, with DSAL in White, over Red, White and Blue vertical Tricolor with Blue D in center. Ships: Coracero, Corinaldo, Corrientes, Cortona, Cordillera.

by Jarig Bakker

A similar flag, but with a gold D, was seen on a pin and one without the letter D also on a large sailing vessel in West Bay of Victoria Harbour (B.C., Canada).
Charla "Vikingwoman", 6 October 2003

The companies as detailed were managed by the owners who originated as Donaldson Brothers around 1855, by 1938 becoming Donaldson Bros. & Black Ltd. Griffin 1895 shows a tapered swallowtail with a black letter but nobody else supports this version. There does seem to be a connection with the version with the yellow D from the pin as T.S.S. Captain Cook was managed by them for the N.Z. Government between 1951 and 1960 but I cannot find any comment on such a flag. Whether it has any connection with the sighting on the sailing vessel depends on what it was and when, as Donaldsons folded in the 1970s.
Neale Rosanoski, 9 January 2004

by Al Fisher, 29 Jan 1999

The Dornoch Steamship Co. has a strikingly similar house flag to the Temple Steamship Co. Ltd.. Both house flags are white with a red triangle. They differ only by the geometry of the triangle. It seems to me very weird that two different companies could have had so similar and potentially confusing house flags.
Ivan Sache, 28 February 2004

It sometimes helps to record the funnel marking as well as the house flag. A white flag with a red triangle, point uppermost, was also the house flag of Lambert Brothers.Ltd. Their ships had black funnels with the red triangle on a white band.
David Prothero, 29 February 2004

J.T. Duncan & Company

by Jarig Bakker

Source: Brown's Flags and Funnels [Wedge 1926]

J.T. Duncan & Company, Cardiff - blue burgee, red cross, in the center white "D".
Jarig Bakker, 31 January 2005

Duncan Dunbar

from Port Cities located by Jan Mertens

Duncan Dunbar established a business in London, and with his son built up a sailing-ship empire which traded all over the world from Dunbar Wharf, Limehouse.
Jan Mertens, 7 February 2005

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

T. Dunlop & Sons

Based on Wedge 1926 T. Dunlop & Sons, Glasgow - white flag; white diamond bordered red, charged with blue "D".
Jarig Bakker, 13 December 2004