Clan Line

The Clan Line was a passenger and cargo shipping company that operated in one incarnation or another from the late nineteenth century and into the twentieth century.

History

Foundation and early years

The company that would become the Clan Line was first founded as C. W. Cayzer & Company in Liverpool in 1877 by Charles Cayzer (see Cayzer Baronets). It was set up to operate passenger routes between Britain and Bombay, India via the Suez Canal. The next year, Captain William Irvine joined the company and it was renamed Cayzer, Irvine & Company.

In 1881 the company was joined by an influential Glasgow businessman, and the Clan Line Association of Steamers was established. The company opened a new head office at 109 Hope Street, Glasgow. Cayzer Irvine built and managed ships for the association and Cayzer himself retained ownership of the original six Clan ships. At the same time, they expanded their operations to South Africa. In 1890 the company became The Clan Line of Steamers Limited with Cayzer holding the majority interest. The company again expanded its operations with the purchase of the Persian Gulf Steam Ship Company in 1894, bringing four more ships into the company. They used these new assets to expand their routes into the Persian Gulf and to North America, and to begin to carry cargo.

The company was incorporated in 1907 as Cayzer, Irvine & Company, Limited, with the Cayzer family retaining control. Charles Cayzer died in 1916, with his sons continuing to run the company. In 1918 they acquired and incorporated the assets of the Scottish Shire Line. Despite suffering losses in the First World War, the company had recovered by the 1930s to become the largest cargo carrying concern in the world.

The Clan Line at war and after

Unloading frozen pork from the Clan MacDougall in the mid-20th century

Clan Line saw a large number of its ships either requisitioned by the British government, or otherwise used to ship vital supplies to Britain during the First and Second World Wars. Their ubiquitousness led to them being called the 'Scots Navy' (due to their officers' sleeve rings being identical to those of the Royal Navy) and they were often in dangerous environments, at risk from mines, air attacks or German U-boats.

During the Second World War, for example, three of the Line's Cameron class steamers were requisitioned in 1942 by the Royal Navy whilst still under construction at Greenock Dockyard and commissioned as HMS Athene (aircraft transporter), HMS Engadine (aircraft transporter) and HMS Bonaventure (submarine depot ship for X-craft). The Clan Line lost a total of 30 ships in the 1939-45 war.

After the end of the war, the Clan Line commissioned six vessels of the Clan MacLaren class (commonly known as the MacL's) to replace war losses and resume a level of pre-war services. Construction started in 1946 and all six had entered service by 1949. Meanwhile the immediate shortage was alleviated by the acquisition of a number of wartime standard construction ships, such as the American Liberty ships. Most of these would continue to serve with the Clan Line fleet until 1962, by which time the first vessels of the Clan MacIver class were entering service. Meanwhile management attempted to further alleviate the shortfall with the purchase of the Thompson Steam Shipping Co. in 1952 and the conversion to motor ships throughout the 1950s.

Post war restructuring

In 1956 the Clan Line joined with the Union-Castle Line, King Line and Bullard King & Company to form British & Commonwealth Shipping Limited. A number of transfers then took place between the component companies. They formed the Springbok Shipping Company in 1959 to take over the operations of their South African services, and several of the Clan Lines' ships were transferred to it. In 1961 the Springbok Shipping Company became part of Safmarine.

Decline

In the 1970s, British and Commonwealth began to diversify into financial services as passenger shipping declined and cargo shipping evolved into container shipping. By the mid-1980s, the business had evolved into one of the country’s largest financial services companies. The Clan Line, now a subsidiary of British & Commonwealth, ceased trading in 1981 with the final voyage made by SS Clan Macgregor. By 1986 British & Commonwealth had disposed of their last ship.

With the move from the third to the fourth generation of the Cayzer family, the family shareholders were becoming increasingly uncomfortable with the reduction in control over British and Commonwealth, caused by its expansion using shares as currency. In 1987 they decided to sell their stake in British and Commonwealth and to concentrate their collective investment in Caledonia Investments, whose function until that time had primarily been as a holding company. This was a timely decision: the sale took place just prior to the Black Monday stock market crash and, two years later, British and Commonwealth went into receivership.

Shipping

The ships of the Clan Lines were often distinguishable by their names, which in the vast majority of cases had the prefix 'Clan'. Their funnel markings were black with two red bands divided by narrow black band, and they flew the house flag, which was a rectangular red flag bearing a white diamond with a red rampant lion in the centre.

Ships of the Clan Line

• Adelaide SS Co., renamed Camira. 2,615 tons.
• Malta convoy. 7,347 tons.
• Furness, Withy & Co., renamed London City (3). 2,461 tons.
• Furness Withy, renamed Loyalist. 2,265 tons.
• Samderwent.
• Sambrian.
• Furness, Withy, reverted to Roanoke. 3,755 tons.
• Furness Withy, reverted to Rapidan. 3,760 tons.
• Adelaide Steamship Company, renamed Ceduna. 2,600 tons.
• Huntscraft.
• Furness Withy, renamed Evangeline. 2,268 tons.
• Furness Withy, renamed St. John City. 2,266 tons.
• Counties Ship Management, London, renamed Dover Hill. 5,815 tons. On 9 June 1944 during the Normandy landings she was scuttled on the coast of Normandy as a Corn cob block ship for a Gooseberry Harbour.
• SS Clan Macwhirter built 1918. ex-Ypresville, 1919 purchased from Lloyd Royal Belge by Houston Line, renamed Halizones, 1920 sold to Convoy Steamship Company, Liverpool, renamed Willcasino, 1922 reverted to Houston Line, 1923 transferred to Clan Line, renamed Clan Macwhirter, 1942 torpedoed and sunk north of Madeira, with the loss of 10 lives. 7,062 tons.
• Ministry of Transport. Scuttled on 27 July 1955 as part of Operation Sandcastle. 5,613 tons.
• Union-Castle Line, renamed Winchester Castle (2). 10,542 tons.
• Union-Castle Line, renamed Dover Castle. 10,541 tons.
• Blue Star Line). 7,976 tons.
• Union-Castle Line, renamed Balmoral Castle (3). 10,541 tons.
• Adelaide Steamship Company, renamed Cantara. 2,604 tons.
• Union-Castle Line, renamed Kinnaird Castle. 7,698 tons.
• Union-Castle Line, renamed Kinpurnie Castle (2). 10,542 tons.
• Union-Castle Line, renamed Kinpurnie Castle (1). 8,163 tons.
• Hamburg America Line, 1914 captured by Royal Navy, renamed Huntscraft, 1919 purchased from Shipping Controller, 1921 renamed Clan Mackay (4), 1934 wrecked Sierra Leone. 5,182 tons.
• edit] Legacy

  It was one of the shipping companies commemorated by the Merchant Navy class of Southern Railway locomotives. Locomotive number 35028 built in 1948 carries the name "Clan Line" and is currently maintained in fully operational condition for hauling excursion trains on the UK's national railway system.

  See also

  • Loch Line
  • Caledonia Investments

  External links

  • History of Clan Line
  • Homepage of Caledonia Investments Plc
  • JP Morgan Case Study about Caledonia Investments Plc

  References

  • Bax, John, Clan Line, Merchant Navy Officers
  • History of the Clan Line, and a list of their ships
  • Clan Line at the National Maritime Museum
  • The Clan Line in World War II