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Shaw Saville & co was formed in 1858, by Robert Shaw
and Walter Saville, former clerks to Willis Gann & co, Robert Shaw
having had a disagreement with Willis Gann, resulting in a pay decrease,
decided to quit and form his own company, Walter Saville quickly followed Shaw
in leaving Gann & co and joined Shaw in his new venture. Despite their
differences the two companies maintained a good working relationship. Regrettably
Robert Shaw was to die at the early age of forty-one. Neither Shaw nor Saville
ever visited new Zealand.
The vessels, lord Worsley and lord Ashley were both built for
the new Zealand royal mail steam packet company. the lord Ashley was 435 tons
and was the sister ship to the lord Worsley, both vessels were
chartered in 1858, within days of Shaw Saville & co coming into
existence, specifically for voyages down to new Zealand, lord Ashley
leaving from Milford haven bound for Auckland and the lord Worsley leaving
from Greenhithe bound for port Chalmers. Both vessels had accommodation
for thirty first class and one hundred second class passengers. These two
vessels were the first commercial steam ship vessels to sail direct from the U.K
to new Zealand.
The Airedale was a steam ship of 400 tons. She followed in the lord Ashley
and the lord Worsley steps, being despatched the following year, in 1859 to Nelson
from the U.K arriving on the 3rd August.
The first sailing vessel chartered by Shaw Saville &
co, was the 382 ton Chieftain, she left graves end three days before the lord
Ashley sailed. Apart from these early vessels, Shaw Saville & co showed
little interest in steam driven vessels, it was not until they chartered the Salamander
in 1868 that they showed interest again in steam ships, the Salamander was a
vessel of 1,500 tons, she was despatched on a voyage down to port Chalmers,
leaving London on the 1st may 1868. Again interest in steam driven vessels
waned, and it was not until 1873 that they used a steam driven vessel on the U.K
to new Zealand run again. This was the newly built 2,260 ton vessel Mongol, built
for the new York, London & china steamship co by Dobie of Glasgow in
1873. She was chartered by Shaw Saville & co in 1874, specifically for
the emigrant trade. She left London for port Chalmers by way of the Cape of Good
Hope, with two hundred and fifty-eight passengers onboard, and made the trip
in fifty-eight days, quite possibly this first trip was a joint loading with
the New Zealand shipping company. Shaw Saville & co departure points in
the U.K were London, Gravesend, Plymouth, Portsmouth in the main, with
embarkation taken place from middles borough, Sunderland, cork and Belfast
occasionally.
In 1879 the steam vessel Stad Haarlem was chartered by Shaw
Saville & co with the new Zealand shipping co, for a voyage from London
to Port Chalmers, Lyttleton and wellington. Her return voyage to the U.K was
from Lyttleton. Once again the trip proved a financial failure, despite on
the outward trip having a full complement of paying passengers.
The following year in 1880 the steam ship Norfolk. undertook
a voyage for the company from London to Lyttleton and wellington via Cape
town ( she was actually jointly loaded by Shaw Saville & co and the new Zealand
shipping co ) returning to the U.K via Sydney ( off charter to Shaw Saville
& co ) and thus back to the U.K .in September of 1880 the Durham, another
steamship undertook a voyage to new Zealand, this time chartered solely by Shaw
Saville & co, the following year in 1881 both vessels did a further trip
each to new Zealand, these trips were deemed to have been successful.
The Norfolk and the Durham were the last two steam ships
chartered by Shaw Saville & co, as the following year in 1882 Shaw Saville
and co, and her old rival Patrick Henderson’s Albion line merged to
form Shaw Saville & Albion (note the “e” now seems to have
disappeared from Walter Saville’s sur name)
To be continued.........
Patrick Henderson’s Albion line had been formed in 1856. The Albion
line had given a good service to the French government during the Crimean
war, and they gave the Albion line permission to use the tri-colour flag
(with colours reverse order) with the union flag imposed in the centre.
Walter Saville ran several vessels as a separate concern, away from the main
body of the company, John Leslie & partners ran their vessels with this
fleet also, John Leslie & partners had five vessels :- Calypso, Lastingham,
Marlborough, May Queen and Taranaki.
The Aberdeen line was started in 1825 in Aberdeen, Scotland by George Thompson.
The company operated a passenger service into the St.Lawrence in Canada and
the return cargo was timber. In 1837 he had a dozen ships and was
trading down to south America and the pacific. In 1905 the Aberdeen line was
taken over and came under the joint control of the white star line and Shaw Saville
& Albion. But the line essentially retained its own identity. In 1928 the
white star line had purchased the Australian commonwealth line. In 1932 Shaw Saville
& Albion purchased the Aberdeen line and in 1933 the former Australian
commonwealth line was also acquired and thus the Aberdeen and commonwealth
line came into existence. In 1938 the Aberdeen part of the name was dropped,
and in 1957 the company had disappeared with the scrapping of their last
ships.
The relationship between ssa and the white star line emerged when they ran a
joint service to new Zealand between 1884 & 1933.the service being taken
over completely by ssa when the white star line merged with the Cunard
steamship Company in 1936.
The prince line was formed in 1884 by James Knott, he having for a few years
previous been involved in the ship broking business. In 1882 he had his first
vessel the 'Saxon prince', a steamer, and at the same time still managing a
few sailing ships. Shaw Saville & Albion became involved with the prince
line in 1950 (they never owned prince line) when ssa started a service from
the east coast of Africa to Australia and chartered the prince line vessel
"Scottish Prince" (which ssa re-named "Afric" for the
duration of the charter) Shaw Saville & Albion was to charter quite a few
prince line vessels over the coming years. In 1972 the management of prince
line was transferred to Shaw Saville & Albion.
The crusader shipping co ltd was formed in 1957 to operate a regular service
between Australia & new Zealand, the far east and the pacific coast of
the states. The company was comprised of vessels from Shaw Saville & Albion,
the New Zealand shipping co, Port line and the Blue star line. The ships were
managed by Shaw Saville & Albion. Shaw Saville & Albion contribution were
the vessels Crusader, Saracen and knight Templar. Thou to meet various
situations Amalric and Carnatic were also used. Blue star line supplied the Caledonia
star, Montreal star, Townsville star and the Canterbury star. Port Montreal
came from the port line and Turakina from the new Zealand.
Some of Shaw Saville’s old sailing ships have been preserved, the “Edwin
fox " is being restored in Picton, New Zealand. She is moored near the Cook
strait ferry terminal. In San Diego, California the " Euterpe " has been preserved as a museum ship.She was sold to an American company, who re-named
her “Star of India " and thus this is the name she can be seen
under today. The Shaw Saville & Albion flag is flown at all times on her.
In 1985 ssa became part of the Furness withy group.
to be continued.........
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