Manchester Liners
Company type | Parent Furness Withy (1970–80) | |
---|---|---|
Website | www |
Manchester Liners was a cargo and passenger shipping company founded in 1898, based in
A successful switch from traditional to container shipping in 1968 was relatively short-lived, as the subsequent introduction elsewhere of much larger container ships meant that the company's ships, which were restricted to a maximum length of 530 feet (160 m) imposed by the ship canal's lock chambers, could no longer compete economically. The line ceased operations in 1985.
Early history
The opening of the Manchester Ship Canal in 1894 made it possible for large ocean-going ships to sail directly into the heart of
Initial operations 1898–1914
Manchester Liners decided from the outset to make Manchester–Canada their prime route, with a secondary route to the southern United States cotton ports of New Orleans and Galveston. Other lesser, sometimes seasonal routes, were added later. Two 1890-built 3,000 gross registered ton (grt) ships were bought for £60,000 in May 1898, and renamed Manchester Enterprise and Manchester Trader. The Trader made the shipping line's first voyage, setting out from Avonmouth for Montreal on 26 May, before docking in Manchester with a cargo of grain.[7]
The two secondhand ships were joined in January 1899 by the newly built Manchester City of 7,696 grt, constructed by
The ML fleet was joined by two new smaller 5,600 grt ships, the Manchester Port and Manchester Merchant during 1899 and 1900, and further new ships followed quickly thereafter. The basic sailing pattern to Canada was
Between 1899 and 1902, four Manchester ships and their crews were requisitioned by the United Kingdom government to transport troops, horses, and supplies to South Africa during the
By 1904 the line was operating fourteen steamships of between four and seven thousand tons,
Operations during the First World War
At the start of the war in July 1914, ML had a fleet of fifteen ships.[18] Most of the fleet continued to operate services to ports in eastern Canada and to USA including Baltimore, returning with war and other supplies. In August 1914, the Manchester Miller (1903) and Manchester Civilian (1913) were requisitioned as supply ships and sent with coal to the Falkland Islands to refuel the battlecruisers HMS Inflexible and HMS Invincible. As the Civilian was coaling the cruisers, the German ships approached and the British warships cast off immediately to engage them.[19] In the battle that ensued Admiral Von Spee's armored cruisers, Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, plus escorting cruisers were sunk.[20] The Civilian was later equipped with minesweeping gear. She returned in 1916 carrying supplies and equipment from Canada to the troops in France.
All ships were fitted with defensive guns at the bow and stern.[
ML acquired seven ships between 1916 and 1918, four of which were sunk in 1917. Manchester Engineer, acquired secondhand in 1917, had a short but eventful career with ML. On 18 June, when bound for
Peacetime operations 1919–39
In 1921–22, ML's fleet was augmented by two second-hand ships. Sailings were resumed to New Orleans, and the Baltimore service was extended to
The line acquired two new ships in 1925, but later that year its fortunes were adversely affected by competition from subsidised American firms on the North Atlantic routes; ML disposed of seven ships between late 1925 and 1930,
Operations during the Second World War
ML had ten ships at the start of
Manchester Merchant, completed in May 1940, quickly became involved in Operation Fish, transporting Britain's
Peacetime operations 1945–68
At the war's end, ML had a fleet of eight ships built between 1918 and 1943, and these continued to operate the traditional service to eastern Canada for a further two years before new ships could be acquired.[39] In 1946 the Manchester Shipper became the first merchant ship to be fitted with radar, and to navigate the St Lawrence with its aid. In the same year the company carried Manchester's Lord Mayor and party to Canada on a goodwill and trade mission.[37] Manchester Exporter was sold in 1947 and replaced by the newly built larger Manchester Regiment. Two further 7,000 ton 14-knot (26 km/h; 16 mph) ships were commissioned in 1952, which meant that the Manchester Division, veteran of both wars, could be sold for scrapping after a record 35 years service with the line.[40] In 1952, Robert B. Stoker, grandson of the second chairman, became the third generation of his family to be appointed an executive director of ML. He had joined the line in 1932 and in turn became chairman in 1968.[41]
Manchester Shipper was used to transport WWII German aircraft to Canada. It left Ellesmere Port on 23 August 1946 arriving in Montreal 1 September. Its cargo included two Me 262s (WNr500210, WNr111690). Manchester Commerce also carried Second World War German aircraft to Canada, leaving Seaforth Docks on 26 August and arriving on 9 September with two He 162s (WNr 120076, WNr 120086) and two Me 163s (WNr191454, WNr191914).[42] The ship featured in the 1961 film "A Taste of Honey".
ML contracted
Manchester Progress, 5,620 grt, opened a regular mid-summer service to Churchill, Manitoba, on Hudson Bay in 1954, during the short ice-free season, bringing back grain shipped to the port by rail from the Canadian Prairies. Captain F. Struss, survivor of sinkings in both wars, retired in March 1954 after forty years service, the last ML Commodore who had gained his master's ticket in sail. That same year the Great Lakes service was extended to Chicago, and ML's pre-1914 service to the southern US ports of Charleston, Savannah, and Jacksonville was resumed.[45]
A
ML's first two motor ships, with engines and accommodation aft, were commissioned in April 1956. The Manchester Vanguard and Venture, 1,662 grt, were designed for the Great Lakes service. Two larger motor ships, the Manchester Faith and Fame, 4,460 grt, were commissioned in April 1959, and the Faith quickly became the first commercial ship to transit the newly opened St Lawrence Seaway with its larger locks.[47]
Two ML ships were involved in a successful mid-Atlantic rescue of airliner passengers on 23 September 1962. A
Switch to containers 1968–78
Manchester Liners House, the company's new headquarters in
By the late 1960s rising shore costs, dock workers strikes, restrictive practices on both sides of the Atlantic, and subsidised competition from American shipping lines, persuaded Manchester Liners to switch its future fleet to
Initially, three new ships were ordered from
On her second voyage in early 1969, Manchester Challenge lived up to her name by entering the heavily iced Montreal harbour, discharging, reloading and departing only two days late. Another thirty-seven conventional ships were stuck at the port for a month.[52] The quartet's ice-breaking capability often resulted them in leading a convoy of other ships into Montreal during the winter months. The four ships of 12,039 gross tons were of the maximum size able to navigate the Manchester Ship Canal.[54]
To obtain the greatest operational efficiency, ML constructed two dedicated container terminals with their own gantry cranes, spreaders etc. The Manchester terminal was built on an open site next to the western end of No. 9 Dock. A second container berth was added in 1972.
ML inaugurated a container service to the Mediterranean in 1971 using smaller ships. Initial destinations included Malta, Cyprus and Israel. Later in the decade, the countries served were extended to include Italy, Greece, Lebanon and Syria. To further improve service to shippers, two large road hauliers were acquired in 1971 and 1972, enabling a "door-to-door" container operation to be introduced. Facilities for container storage and repair were also acquired.
In 1974 ML carried 783,000 long tons (796,000 t) out of the total 2,900,000 long tons (2,900,000 t) of dry cargo handled on the ship canal (27%). During the same year, ML acquired Manchester Dry Docks Ltd, which operated three large and one small dry docks on the canal adjacent to MLs berths in Salford Docks. These facilities assisted greatly in keeping the fleet fully operational.[57] Manchester Challenge completed her 100th round voyage to Montreal in 1975 having carried 95,000 containers weighing 1,440,000 long tons (1,460,000 t) a distance of 554,000 miles (892,000 km) – the equivalent of a round trip to the moon.[58] During 1976 MLs Manchester to Canada route had three sailings per week.[59]
Decline and closure
Manchester Liners had been partly owned by Furness Withy from the beginning, and they became a subsidiary in 1970.[60] Furness Withy was itself taken over in 1980 by the C. Y. Tung Group of Hong Kong. Robert B. Stoker retired in 1979 as Chairman of Manchester Liners after 47 years service with the company.[61]
Severe competition following the building of excess container shipping capacity by many companies badly affected ML's trade and profitability. The company's ships were by then smaller than average in the industry, leading to higher operating costs per unit of cargo carried. Their operations were further severely affected during the mid-1970s by both official and unofficial strikes by dock workers.[62] The service to Canada ended in 1979, and by the early 1980s only five "Manchester" ships remained – the 30,000 ton container ship Manchester Challenge and four 1,600–4,000 ton ships: Manchester Crown, Manchester Trader, Manchester Faith and Manchester City. The line had by then ceased using the Port of Manchester, and the four smaller ships were operating to the Mediterranean out of Ellesmere Port, 33 miles (53 km) closer to the sea on the lower reaches of the ship canal.
In 1981, ML jointly with the
Ship naming policy, house and flag colours
The company's ship-naming policy throughout its 87-year period of operations was to use its home port's name plus a suffix word, often a trade or occupation. The most frequently used name was Manchester Trader, applied to six different ships between 1898 and cessation of operations in 1985.[65] Some names used appropriately during the First World War, such as Manchester Hero, Manchester Brigade and Manchester Division were not reused after the disposal or loss of those ships. Some ships operated short-term or on charter retained their original names and did not receive the Manchester prefix.
From the earliest days, the line's colours were: funnels – dark red with black top and thin black band; hulls – black with white boot topping.[66] During the Second World War, ships were painted in battleship grey and the names were deleted for security, except when in friendly ports. From the 1960s onwards, some ships' hulls were painted light grey and others red.[51]
The line's flag colours were a red oval, placed horizontally, with white "ML" lettering in the centre, imposed on an overall white background.
References
Citations
- ^ Monopolies and Mergers Commission 1976, p. 41
- ^ Monopolies and Mergers Commission 1976, p. 39
- ^ Gray 1993, p. 56
- ^ Gray 1994, p. 5
- ^ Haws 2000, p. 9
- ^ a b Stoker 1985, p. 7
- ^ Haws 2000, p. 18
- ^ a b c Haws 2000, p. 19
- ^ Owen 1983, p. 115
- ^ Stoker 1985, p. 10
- ^ Gray 1997, p. 27
- ^ Stoker 1985, p. 11
- ^ Gray 1994, p. 15
- ^ Gray 1994, pp. 58–60
- ^ Gray 1997, p. 112
- ^ Stoker 1985, p. 13
- ^ Gray 1994, p. 171
- ^ Haws 2000, p. 10
- ^ Stoker 1985, p. 15
- ^ Haws 2000, p. 23
- ^ Haws 2000, p. 21
- ^ Haws 2000, p. 25
- ^ Stoker 1985, p. 16
- ^ Gray 1994, pp. 17–23
- ^ Stoker 1985, p. 17
- ^ Gray 1997, p. 113
- ^ Haws 2000, p. 29
- ^ Gray 1994, p. 24
- ^ a b Stoker 1985, p. 18
- ^ Gray 1994, p. 25
- ^ Gray 1994, p. 26
- ^ Gray 1994, p. 27
- ^ a b Stoker 1985, p. 19
- ^ Gray 1997, p. 116
- ^ Haws 2000, p. 27
- ^ Haws 2000, p. 32
- ^ a b Stoker 1985, p. 21
- ^ Haws 2000, pp. 28–29
- ^ Haws 2000, p. 12
- ^ Gray 1994, p. 29
- ^ Stoker 1985, p. 3
- ^ Butler 1994, p. ?
- ^ Stoker 1985, pp. 23–25
- ^ Gray 1994, pp. 33–35
- ^ Stoker 1985, p. 27
- ^ Stoker 1985, pp. 26–27
- ^ Haws 2000, p. 38
- ^ Marson 1982, p. 480
- ^ Stoker 1985, pp. 47–53
- ^ Stoker 1985, p. 39
- ^ a b Haws 2000, p. 43
- ^ a b c Stoker 1985, p. 44
- ^ Gray 1993, p. 111
- ^ Stoker 1985, p. 43
- ^ a b Stoker 1985, p. 55
- ^ Stoker 1985, p. 54
- ^ Stoker 1985, p. 58
- ^ Stoker 1985, p. 60
- ^ Monopolies and Mergers Commission 1976, p. 12
- ^ Stoker 1985, p. 53
- ^ Stoker 1985, p. 67
- ^ Stoker 1985, pp. 88–89
- ^ Gray 1994, p. 56
- ^ Gray 1993, p. 118
- ^ Gray 1994, pp. 58–64
- ^ Moody 1964, p. 46
Bibliography
- Butler, Phil (1994), War Prizes, Midland Counties Publications, ISBN 0-904597-86-5
- Gray, Ted (1993), A Hundred Years of the Manchester Ship Canal, Aurora Publishing, ISBN 1-85926-030-6
- Gray, Ted (1994), Manchester Liners – A Pictorial History, Manchester: Memories Publications, ISBN 1-899181-05-9
- Gray, Ted (1997), Manchester Ship Canal, Stroud: Sutton Publishing, ISBN 0-7509-1459-9
- Haws, Duncan (2000), Merchant Fleets (38): Manchester Liners (& other Furness Withy Cos), Duncan Haws, ISBN 0-946378-39-8
- Marson, Peter J. (1982), The Lockheed Constellation Series, Air-Britain, ISBN 0-85130-100-2
- Monopolies and Mergers Commission (1976), Report on proposed acquisition of shares in Manchester Liners Ltd Cmd 639, Mergers and Monopolies Commission, ISBN 0-10-263976-0
- Moody, B. (1964), Ocean Ships, Shepperton, Middlesex: Ian Allan
- Owen, David (1983), The Manchester Ship Canal, Manchester University Press, ISBN 0-7190-0864-6
- Stoker, Robert B. (1985), The Saga of Manchester Liners, Kinglish, ISBN 0-9507480-2-1
External links
- Manchester Liners Old Shipmates Association
- Documentary on the history of the ship canal in three parts, including a history of Manchester Liners narrated by R. B. Stoker