Nourse Line
House flag | |
Nourse Line | |
Industry | Shipping |
Founded | 1861United Kingdom | in
Founder | James Nourse |
Defunct | 1990 |
Headquarters | United Kingdom |
Key people |
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The Nourse Line was a shipping company formed by
Early life of James Nourse
James Nourse was born in County Dublin in 1828 and after serving the required time at sea obtained his Master’s Certificate in London in 1851 and was hired as captain on a ship owned by W.N. Lindsay of London. A year later, he joined Foley, Aikman & Company of Glasgow as Master aboard Aberfoyle. Nourse served in the ship for three years before it caught fire. He then became the captain of the Tasmania until 1861.
Establishing the fleet
Nourse bought his first ship, the 839 ton iron hulled sailing vessel, Ganges in 1861, by buying 75% share in the ship bought from the ship builders
Transporting Indian indentured labour
He then began transporting Indian indentured labourers to the West Indies. The general route for the fleet was to leave a European port with a cargo of salt or railway iron for Calcutta. From there a cargo of rice and indentured labourers were picked up for the West Indies, followed by a passage to the east coast of North America where grain or oil was loaded for Europe. Some ships sailed back direct to Calcutta from the West Indies with labourers who had completed their contract of employment. Other voyages were made from Calcutta to Mauritius or to the Fiji Islands with labour for the sugar plantations. Voyages to Fiji usually returned to Calcutta via Australia with cargoes of coal.
Between 1866 and 1869 the company built four more ships with the transportation of indentured labourers in mind, which dictated that each one and a half registered tons equalled the carriage of one passenger, and later the space was measured in covered deck space. The medical requirements of those travelling was monitored by a
After the death of James Nourse
James Nourse died in April 1897, and his executors C.A. Hampton (his main creditor) and E. Bromehead assumed control of both his affairs and the fleet. The ships continued to trade, as before, but on 19 February 1903 they became part of a limited liability company called James Nourse Ltd with C.A. Hampton as its first chairman.
Steam Ships
Nourse Line finally recognised the emergence of steam in May 1904 when it took delivery of its first steamship,
First World War
The end of the Indentured Labour System coincided with the start of the first world war and thus any effect of the loss of labour transportation contract was delayed until the end of the war. Nourse Line lost two of its ships during the war, Indus and Dewa, and both were replaced almost immediately by Megna, purchased in 1916 and Betwa, initially designed as an indentured labour carrier but later altered to that of a cargo ship and delivered in 1917. In an attempt to minimise its war risks and maintain its ships numbers the
External links
See also
- Indian Indenture Ships to Fiji