British shipping companies (O)

Last modified: 2005-12-31 by rob raeside
Keywords: ocean dominion steamship | ot africa line | oregon steamship | orient steam navigation | orkney steam navigation | osborn and wallis | overseas containers |
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• O.I.L. Ltd.
• Olau Line Ltd.
• Oregon Steamship Co.
• Orient Steam Navigation Co.
• Orkney Islands Shipping Co., Ltd.
• Orkney Steam Navigation Co.
• Osborn and Wallis
• OT Africa Line
• Overseas Containers Ltd.

• House flags of British shipping companies
• House flags of shipping companies
• United Kingdom

O.I.L. Ltd.

image by Jarig Bakker, 3 November 2005

O.I.L. Ltd., Woking - white flag, bordered red; black "OIL".
Source: Loughran (1995)
Jarig Bakker, 3 November 2005

Olau Line Ltd.

image by Jarig Bakker, 3 October 2005

Olau Line Ltd., Sheerness - white flag, two lying parallelograms, top one red, bottom one blue, separated by a thin white space. This might have been a Finnish firm, operating the ferry Vlissingen - Sheerness, used by the good old Magic Bus.
Source: Loughran (1995)
Jarig Bakker, 3 October 2005

Oregon Steamship Co.

by Jarig Bakker, based on the website of the National Maritime Museum.

From the website of the National Maritime Museum, "the house flag of the Oregon Steamship Co. Ltd, London. An olive, green rectangular flag with a black diamond in the centre bearing a letter 'O' in white. The flag is made of a wool and synthetic fibre bunting. It has a cotton hoist and is machine sewn. A rope and toggle is attached."
Jarig Bakker, 22 August 2004

Orient Steam Navigation Co.

  by James Dignan

Based on Sampson (1957)
James Dignan, 15 October 2003

Orient Steam Navigation Co. (Anderson, Green & Co,. Ltd., Managers)
Houseflag: white, with blue St. George's Cross and gold crown in center.
Jarig Bakker, 16 October 2003

British. Formed circa 1877 with trade routes to Australia and later New Zealand and by the 1950s to San Francisco, Vancouver and Honolulu. P&O purchased majority interest in 1919 and the balance of the company in 1965. The next year the company was fully absorbed into P&O.
Phil Nelson, 16 October 2003

See also: White Star Lines

Orient Steam Navigation Co. The Stewart series uses this company as an example of the development of a houseflag although it includes one discrepancy. The original flag combined those of Anderson, Anderson & Co. (blue with a white saltire) and Frederick Green & Co. (white with a red cross surmounting a blue panel), who combined as Anderson & Green (also shown as Green & Anderson) in 1874 to operate the Orient Line, forerunner of the Orient Steam Navigation Co. which was formed in either 1877 or 1878. This combined flag was blue with a white saltire and overall an undefined white diamond bearing a red cross over a blue panel. Stewart does not show the panel in his example but it is by Loughran 1979. Whichever is correct was used until c.1880 when the white with red cross and crown format was adopted, presumably being based on the similar flag used by Pacific Steam Navigation Co. who were associated in these early days, but this has the red letters "OSNC" in the respective quarters. This was altered slightly by the addition of a small "o" after the "C" with Loughran quoting 1888 and Stewart c.1892 but both then agreeing that in 1908 the letters were done away with, coinciding with Pacific Steam being no longer connected.
Neale Rosanoski, 26 February 2004

Orkney Islands Shipping Co., Ltd.

image by Jarig Bakker, 10 November 2005

Orkney Islands Shipping Co., Ltd., Kirkwall - red flag, near top and bottom rectangles; in center "O", containing "I", all white.
Source: Loughran (1995)
Jarig Bakker, 10 November 2005

Orkney Steam Navigation Co.

by Jarig Bakker, based on the website of the National Maritime Museum.

From the website of the National Maritime Museum, "the house flag of the Orkney Steam Navigation Co., Kirkwall. A rectangular flag divided diagonally into four broad white and five narrow red stripes."
Jarig Bakker, 23 August 2004

Osborn and Wallis

by Jarig Bakker, based on the website of the National Maritime Museum.

From the website of the National Maritime Museum, "the house flag of Osborn and Wallis, Cardiff. A white flag with the monogram 'OW' in blue in the centre. The flag is made of a wool and synthetic fibre bunting. It has a cotton hoist and is machine sewn. A rope and toggle is attached."
Jarig Bakker, 23 August 2004

Yellow, a white disc with a wide blue border (making an "O") and a blue "T" inside.
Jorge Candeias, 03 Feb 1999

Believe this should be a British company as OTAL appears to be a subsidiary of Thamesport.
Al Fisher, 03 Feb 1999

OT Africa Line. Brown 1995 shows this flag for the Swedish company O.T. Shipping A/B which appears to have originated as O.T. Rederierna which was declared bankrupt by the Swedish Government in 1982 with its assets disposed of to A/B Shipinvest which was formed for that purpose. However it continued to be shown in Lloyds as O.T. Shipping A/B until the early 1990s. Brown makes reference to the OT Africa Line service as having the same flag but with the addition of "OT AFRICA LINE in white outlined blue across the centre which I have presumed to resemble as attached (below). On my original visit to site for OT Africa Line, also known as OTAL, at www.otal.com, I have noted that it was formed 1975 and was based in Nigeria. It showed a logo of the OT flag with the legend plastered over it but not forming part as it extended beyond the flag borders [see logo below]. However 10/1999 it, together with its associate Antrak International, were sold to the Group Bollore of France but remain independent from their shipping arm Delmas [all this from the site].  I have just had another look at their site and are now not at all sure where their HQ is at present. The ships appear to be split between Antak and Delmas and that latter has some registered in the name of Otal Investments Ltd. formed 2001. I can only conclude from the maze that the original name was sold by the Swedes together with the flag and its continued appearance on the website means it still exists but in what context is another matter.

Overseas Containers Ltd.

by Jarig Bakker, based on the website of the National Maritime Museum.

From the website of the National Maritime Museum, "the house flag of Overseas Containers Ltd., London. A rectangular blue flag bearing the letters 'OCL' in white. The flag is made of synthetic fibre bunting with a cotton hoist. A rope is attached."

In use since 1971.
Jarig Bakker, 23 August 2004