Royal Mail Steam Packet Company

Royal Mail Steam Packet CompanyHouse flag
Industry	Shipping
Founded	1839
Founder	James Macqueen
Defunct	1932
Fate	Liquidated
Successor	Royal Mail Lines Ltd
Headquarters	London , United Kingdom
Key people	Lord Kylsant

TheRoyal Mail Steam Packet Company was a British shipping company founded in London in 1839 by a Scot,James MacQueen. The line's motto wasPer Mare Ubique (everywhere by sea). After a troubled start, it became the largest shipping group in the world in 1927 when it took over theWhite Star Line.^[1] The company was liquidated and its assets taken over by the newly formed Royal Mail Lines in 1932 after financial trouble and scandal; over the years RML declined to no more than the name of a service run by former rivalHamburg Süd.

The RMSPC, founded in 1839 by James MacQueen, ran tours and mail to various destinations in the Caribbean and South America, and by 1927, was the largest shipping group in the world.^[2] MacQueen’s imperial visions for the RMSPC were clear; he hoped that new steamship communications between Britain and the Caribbean would mitigate post-Emancipation instabilities, in particular by promoting commerce.^[3] From the outset the company aimed to be the vanguard of British maritime supremacy and technology, as F. Harcourt suggests, the RMSPC presented itself "as existing not merely for the good of its shareholders but for the good of the nation".^[4] The high hopes for the business were boosted by the government’s mail contract subsidy, worth £240,000 a year.^[5] The RMSPC evolved vastly from 1839 to the beginning of the 20th century. It introduced new technologies, such as John Elder’smarine compound steam engine in 1870, and worked to redefine seafaring by focusing on comfort and passenger requirements.^[6]

In January 1903Owen Philipps was elected to the RMSP's Court of Directors, and that March he was elected Chairman.^[7] Under Philipps, RMSP grew by acquiring controlling interests in multiple companies. Philipps was knighted in 1909 and ennobled as Baron Kylsant in 1923. However, poor economic circumstances and controversy surrounding a deception by Philipps meant that the RMSPC collapsed in 1930, after which various constituent companies were sold off. In 1932, its successor, the Royal Mail Lines (RML) was formed, continuing the memory and operations of the RMSPC.^[8]

Queen Victoria granted the initial Royal Charter of Incorporation of "The Royal Mail Steam Packet Company" on 26 September 1839.^[9] In 1840 the Admiralty and the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company made a contract in which the latter agreed to provide a fleet of not fewer than 14 steam ships for the purpose of carrying all Her Majesty's mails, to sail twice every month to Barbados in the West Indies from Southampton or Falmouth. Fourteen new steam ships were built for the purpose:Thames,Medway,Trent, andIsis (built at Northfleet);Severn andAvon (built at Bristol);Tweed,Clyde,Teviot,Dee, andSolway (built at Greenock);Tay (built at Dumbarton);Forth (built at Leith); andMedina, (built at Cowes). In reference to their destination, these ships were known as the West Indies Mail Steamers.^[10]

The West Indian Mail Service was established by the sailing of the first Royal Mail Steam Packet, PSThames from Falmouth on 1 January 1841. A Supplemental Royal Charter was granted on 30 August 1851 extending the sphere of the Company's operations. In 1864, the mail service to the British Honduras was established. A further Supplemental Royal Charter was granted extending the sphere of the Company's operations on 7 March 1882.^[9]

Philipps modernised RMSP's fleet in the decade before theFirst World War. He started in June 1903 by ordering threerefrigerated cargo ships:Parana,Pardo andPotaro, to bring frozen meat to Europe from ports on theRiver Plate. All three were built in Belfast; two byHarland & Wolff. That October, Philipps ordered three smaller cargo ships for RMSP's Caribbean service,Conway,Caroni andCatalina, fromArmstrong Whitworth onTyneside. Then in November he impressed upon his fellow-Directors the need for new and largerocean liners for the mail contract between Britain and the River Plate.^[11]

This led to the introduction of a series of larger liners ranging from 9,588 GRT to 15,551 GRT on RMSP's Southampton – Buenos Aires route. Each had a name beginning with the letter "A", so collectively they were called the "A-liners" or the "A-series". The first wasRMSAragon in 1905, followed bysister shipsAmazon,Araguaya andAvon in 1906, andAsturias in 1908. A few years later the final four "A-liners" were built:Arlanza in 1912,Andes andAlcantara in 1913 andAlmanzora in 1915. Earlier members of the series, fromAragon toAsturias, had twinscrews, each driven by a four-cylinderquadruple-expansion steam engine. The final four members of the series, fromArlanza toAlmanzora, were significantly larger than the earlier five. They had triple screws, with the middle one driven by a low pressureParsonssteam turbine.^[12]

TheUnion-Castle Line was acquired by RMSP from 1911, though it continued to operate between Europe and Africa under its old name and became independent again in the 1930s restructuring.

After the First World War RMSP faced not only existing foreign competition but a new UK challenger.Lord Vestey'sBlue Star Line had joined the South American route and won a large share of the frozen meat trade. Then in 1926–27 Blue Star introduced its new "luxury five" shipsAlmeda,Andalucia,Arandora,Avelona andAvila to both increase refrigerated cargo capacity and enter the passenger trade. At the same time RMSP introduced a pair of new 22,200 GRT liners,RMS Asturias in 1926 andRMS Alcantara in 1927, which at that stage were the largestmotor ships in the World. Although these were the biggest and most luxurious UK ships on the route, RMSP Chairman Lord Kylsant called Blue Star's quintet"very keen competition".^[13]

Royal Mail Lines Ltd

Industry	Shipping,cruise line
Predecessor	Royal Mail Steam Packet Company
Founded	1932
Defunct	1965
Fate	Acquired
Successor	Furness, Withy & Co.
Headquarters	United Kingdom

The company ran into financial trouble, and the UK Government investigated its affairs in 1930, resulting in theRoyal Mail Case. In 1931Lord Kylsant was jailed for 12 months for misrepresenting the state of the company to shareholders.^[1] So much of Britain's shipping industry was involved in RMSPC that arrangements were made to guarantee the continuation of ship operations after it was liquidated.Royal Mail Lines Ltd (RML) was created in 1932 and took over the ships of RMSPC and other companies of the former group.^[14] The new company was chaired byLord Essendon.^[15]

The new company's operations were concentrated on the west coast ofSouth America, theWest Indies andCaribbean, and thePacific coast ofNorth America; theSouthampton –Lisbon –Brazil –Uruguay –Argentina route was operated from 1850 to 1980. RML was also a leadingcruise ship operator.

RMS's largest ship was the 25,895 GRT turbine steamshipRMS Andes. She was designed as anocean liner but when launched in 1939 was immediately fitted out as atroopship. She finally entered civilian liner service in 1948, was converted to full-time cruising in 1960 and was scrapped in 1971.^[16]

RMSP and RML lost a number of ships in their long history. One of the last was the 17,547 GRT turbine steamshipRMS Magdalena, which was launched in 1948 and grounded and sank off Brazil on her maiden voyage in 1949.^[17]

In 1965 RML was bought byFurness, Withy & Co.,^[1] and rapidly lost its identity. In the 1970s parts of the Furness Withy Group, including RML, were sold on to Hong Kong shipownerCY Tung, and later sold on to former River Plate rivalHamburg Süd; by the 1990sRoyal Mail Lines was no more than the name of a Hamburg-Süd refrigerated cargo service from South America to Europe.

This transport-related list isincomplete; you can help byadding missing items.(October 2021)

^[18]

For conciseness smaller ships such asschooners andlighters are omitted.^[19]

This transport-related list isincomplete; you can help byadding missing items.(October 2021)

This list is of the additional ships acquired by RML in addition to those passed directly from RMSP.

• SeeRoyal Mail Case for more details on RML's financial situation.

• Anonymous (1910).A Link of Empire; or, 70 years of British Shipping: Souvenir of the 70th year of incorporation of the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company. London: Royal Mail Steam Packet Company.
• Bushell, TA (1958) [1939].Royal Mail: a Centenary History of the Royal Mail Line 1839–1939. London:Trade and Travel Publications Ltd.
• Bushell, TA (1950).Eight Bells, Royal Mail Lines War Story 1939–1945. London: Trade and Travel Publications Ltd.
• Green, Edwin; Moss, Michael (1982).A Business of National Importance: The Royal Mail Shipping Group 1902–1937. London: Methuen & Co.
• Haws, Duncan (1982).Royal Mail & Nelson Lines. Merchant Fleets. Vol. 5. Crowborough: Travel Creatours Ltd Publications.ISBN 0-946378-00-2.
• Nicol, Stuart (2001a).MacQueen's Legacy; A History of the Royal Mail Line. Vol. 1. Brimscombe Port and Charleston, SC:Tempus Publishing.ISBN 0-7524-2118-2.
• Nicol, Stuart (2001b).MacQueen's Legacy; Ships of the Royal Mail Line. Vol. 2. Brimscombe Port and Charleston, SC: Tempus Publishing.ISBN 0-7524-2119-0.

• "Archival material relating to Royal Mail Steam Packet Company".UK National Archives.
• Documents and clippings about the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company in the20th Century Press Archives of theZBW
• "Royal Mail Steam Packet Company (R.M.S.P.) Passenger Lists 1921-1926".GG Archives.
• "Royal Mail Steam Packet Company History and Ephemera".GG Archives.
• "Royal Mail Lines History and Ephemera".GG Archives.
• Swiggum, Susan; Kohli, Marjorie (2 June 2009)."Royal Mail Steam Packet Company / Royal Mail Lines Limited".TheShipsList. Susan Swiggum & Stephen Morse.

• 1839 establishments in England
• 1932 establishments in England
• British companies established in 1839
• British companies established in 1932
• Defunct cruise lines
• Defunct shipping companies of the United Kingdom
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