Union-Castle Line#Ships

File:A starboard quarter view of the liner Gascon under way (4793356104).jpg

File:Union-Castle Line Intermediate Steamer Galeka.jpg in 1916.]]

File:HS Glenart Castle torpedoed and sunk 26.02.1918.JPG. She was built in 1900 as Galician.]]

The Union Line was founded in 1853 as the Southampton Steam Shipping Company to transport coal from South Wales to Southampton. It was renamed the Union Steam Collier Company and then the Union Steamship Company. In 1857, renamed the Union Line, it won a contract to carry mail to South Africa, mainly the Cape Colony. The inaugural sailing of Dane left Southampton on 15 September.{{harvnb|Damant|1977|p=}}{{page needed|date=January 2018}}

Meanwhile, Donald Currie had built up the Castle Packet Co. which traded to Calcutta round the Cape of Good Hope. This trade was substantially curtailed by the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, and the Castle Line started to run to South Africa instead, later becoming the Castle Mail Packet Company.

In 1872 the Cape Colony gained responsible government and its first Prime Minister, John Molteno, ordered a re-negotiation of the country's mail services. In 1876, keen to avoid either of the two main companies gaining a monopoly on the country's shipping, he awarded the South African mail contract jointly to both the Castle Mail Packet Company and the Union Line. The contract included a condition that the two companies would not amalgamate, as well as other clauses to promote competition, such as alternating services and speed premiums. This competition led to their shipping services running at unprecedented speed and efficiency. The contract was eventually to expire however, and the period of intense competition was later to give way to co-operation, including transporting troops and military equipment during the Boer War. Finally, on 8 March 1900, the Union Line and Castle Shipping Line merged, creating the Union-Castle Mail Steamship Company, Ltd, with Castle Shipping Line taking over the fleet.{{sfn|Murray|1953|p=74}}

{{cite web |url= http://ancestry24.com/currie-sir-donald/ |title=Sir Donald Currie |date=9 November 2021 |publisher=Ancestry24}}{{sfn|Molteno|1900|p=120}}

File:HMHS Dover Castle.jpg

File:RMS Armadale Castle.png in the First World War.]]

File:EB1911 Ship, Union-Castle Liner, Kenilworth Castle.jpg, ed.1911, vol. 24, pg. 889, Plate VIII.]]

File:StateLibQld 1 149283 Edinburgh Castle (ship).jpg in the Second World War.]]

File:SS Gloucester Castle.jpg in the First World War. Afterwards she returned to civilian service. She was sunk by torpedo in 1942.]]

File:RMS Llandovery Castle.jpg

File:Leasowe Castle Troopship.jpg

File:StateLibQld 1 127151 Carnarvon Castle (ship).jpg in 1940.]]

File:StateLibQld 1 133529 Athlone Castle (ship).jpg in the Second World War.]]

Union-Castle named most of their ships with the suffix "Castle" in their names; the names of several inherited from the Union Line were changed to this scheme (for example, Galician became {{HMHS|Glenart Castle||2}}) but others (such as {{SS|Galeka||2}}) retained their original name. They were well known for the lavender-hulled liners with red funnels topped in black, running on a rigid timetable between Southampton and Cape Town. Every Thursday at 4pm a Union-Castle Royal Mail Ship would leave Southampton bound for Cape Town. At the same time, a Union-Castle Royal Mail Ship would leave Cape Town bound for Southampton. In 1922 the line introduced its Round Africa service, a nine-week voyage calling at twenty ports en route. Alternate sailings travelled out via the Suez Canal and out via West Africa.

The combined line was sold to the Royal Mail Line in 1911, but continued to operate as Union-Castle. Many of the line's vessels were requisitioned for service as troop ships or hospital ships in the First World War, and eight were sunk by mines or German U-boats. The Royal Mail Line ran into financial difficulties in the 1930s, culminating in the prosecution of its director Lord Kylsant, and Union-Castle Line became an independent company again with Vernon Thomson as Managing Director. Many vessels were again requisitioned in the Second World War. Three – {{MS|Dunnottar Castle||2}}, Carnarvon Castle, Dunvegan Castle became armed merchant cruisers. {{HMS|Pretoria Castle|F61|2}} (1939) was also first requisitioned as an armed merchant cruiser, but later served as an escort carrier.{{harvnb|Gardiner|1980}}{{page needed |date=January 2018}}

After the war the line made good use of its three ships converted to troop transports to facilitate carrying the vast number of emigrants seeking new lives in East and South Africa. When they ran out of berths the line set up its own internal travel agency to book passages on other lines and even air services. The mail service to South Africa, curtailed during hostilities, recommenced with the sailing of Roxburgh Castle from Southampton on 2 January 1947.

File:StateLibQld 1 147971 Edinburgh Castle III (ship).jpg

File:London Tilbury Union Castle's 'Bloemfontein Castle' geograph-3080502-by-Ben-Brooksbank.jpg

The company took over the King Line in 1949, and merged with Bullard King and Clan Line in 1956 to form British & Commonwealth Shipping. It merged with South African Marine Corporation in 1973 to create International Liner Services, but competition with air travel adversely affected its shipping activities, and cargo shipping rapidly became containerised. The final South African mail service arrived in Southampton on 24 October 1977, and International Liner Services withdrew from shipping in 1982. British & Commonwealth continued in other fields, and acquired Atlantic Computers in 1989, but accounting problems soon became apparent and British & Commonwealth was liquidated in 1990.

In the 1950s and 60s the line operated a fleet of fifteen ships, eight on the principal weekly mail run from Southampton to Cape Town. Each ship could carry an average of two hundred First Class passengers and four hundred and fifty in Tourist Class. Six of the remaining ships operated the monthly Round Africa service, sailing both clockwise and anti-clockwise round the continent. The remaining ship operated a service carrying up to 750 Tourist Class passengers to Beira and back via the West Coast route every three months.

In December 1999 the Union-Castle name was revived for a millennium cruise; the P&O ship {{MS|Victoria||2}} was chartered for a 60-day cruise around Africa, and had its funnel repainted for the occasion.

The last few surviving Union-Castle Line ships were scrapped in the early 21st century, the former Kenya Castle in 2001, the former {{RMS|Transvaal Castle||2}} in 2003, the former Dunnottar Castle in 2004, and finally {{RMS|Windsor Castle|1959|2}} in 2005.

File:StateLibQld 1 129329 Clan Ramsay (ship).jpg MV Winchester Castle, built in 1964 as Clan Line's Clan Ramsay]]

The initial Union fleet consisted of the colliers Union, Briton, Saxon, Norman and Dane. In 1860 this was augmented by the much larger Cambrian.

At the time of the merger in 1900, the Union fleet included:

:Arab (1879–1900), Briton (1897–1926), Falcon (1896–1942), Gaika (1896–1926), {{SS|Galeka||2}} (1899–1916), Galician (1900-1918), {{HMHS|Gascon||2}} (1897–1928), Gaul (1893–1906), German (2) (1898–1930), Goorkka (1897-1926), Goth (1893–1913), Greek (1893–1906), Guelph (1894–1913), Mexican (1883–1900), Moor (1881-1901), Norman (2) (1894–1926), Sabine (1895–1921), {{RMS|Saxon||2}} (1900–1935), Scot (1891–1905), Spartan (1881–1900), Susquehanna (1896–1926), and Trojan (1880–1900), with Celt on order (renamed {{RMS|Walmer Castle||2}} before it came into service)

and the Castle Line fleet included:

:Arundel Castle (3) (1894–1905), Avondale Castle (1897–1912), Braemar Castle (1) (1898–1924), Carisbrook Castle (1898–1922), Doune Castle (1890–1904), Dunolly Castle (1897–1905), {{RMS|Dunottar Castle||2}} (1890–1913), Dunvegan Castle (1896–1923), Garth Castle (1880–1901), Harlech Castle (1894–1904), Hawarden Castle (1883–1904), {{RMS|Kildonan Castle||2}} (1899–1931), Kinfauns Castle (2) (1899–1927), Lismore Castle (1891–1904), {{RMS|Norham Castle|}} (1883–1903), {{SS|Pembroke Castle||2}} (2) (1883–1906), Raglan Castle (1897–1905), Roslin Castle (2) (1883–1904), Tantallon Castle (2) (1894–1901), Tintagel Castle (1) (1896–1912){{refn|It was on the Tintagel Castle in 1900 that Ernest Shackleton met Cedric, the son of Lieutenant-Colonel Llewellyn Longstaff, the principal financial backer of Scott’s Discovery Expedition, that meeting led to Shackleton obtaining a place on The Discovery Expedition of 1901–1904.{{cite book

| last = Huntford

| first = Roland

| author-link = Roland Huntford

| year = 1985

| title = Shackleton

| publisher = Hodder & Stoughton

| location = London

| page =25-30

| isbn = 0-340-25007-0

| url-access = registration

| url = https://archive.org/details/shackleton0000hunt_t8c3

}}}}

{{Reflist}}

{{Refbegin}}

• {{cite book |last=Damant |first=Henry |year=1977 |title=Every Thursday at Four O'Clock |publisher=Weaving International Friendship Foundation}}
• {{cite book |last=Gardiner |first=Robert |year=1980 |title=Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922–1946 |publisher=Conway Maritime Press}}
• {{cite book |last1=Harris |first1=CJ |last2=Ingpen |first2=Brian D |year=1994 |title=Mailships of the Union-Castle Line |place=Vlaeberg |publisher=Fernwood Press |isbn=1874950059}}
• {{cite book |last=Molteno |first=PA |year=1900 |title=The life and times of Sir John Charles Molteno, KCMG, First Premier of Cape Colony, Comprising a History of Representative Institutions and Responsible Government at the Cape |location=London |publisher=Smith, Elder & Co. |volume=II |isbn=1-146-67157-1 |page=120}}
• {{cite book |last=Murray |first=Marischal |year=1953 |title=Union-Castle Chronicle 1853–1953 |url=https://archive.org/details/unioncastlechron0000murr |url-access=registration |place=London |publisher=Longmans, Green and Co}}
• {{cite book |last1=Roussel |first1=Mike |last2=Warwick |first2=Sam |year=2015 |title=The Union-Castle Line: Sailing Like Clockwork |place=Stroud |publisher=The History Press |isbn=978-0750962919}}

{{Refend}}

• {{cite web |url= http://www.theshipslist.com/ships/lines/ucastle.shtml |last1=Swiggum |first1=Sue |last2=Kohli |first2=Marjorie |title=Union-Castle Mail S.S. Company |work=The Ships List}}
• {{cite web |url= http://www.bandcstaffregister.com |title=The British & Commonwealth Shipping Company Limited, The Companies, The Ships & The People }}
• [https://www.ggarchives.com/OceanTravel/Passengers/Union-Castle/index.html Collection of Passenger Lists of the Union-Castle Line] GG Archives
• [https://www.ggarchives.com/OceanTravel/SteamshipLines/Union-CastleLine.html Union-Castle Line History and Ephemera] GG Archives

{{Authority control}}

Category:1853 establishments in the United Kingdom

Category:1990 disestablishments in the United Kingdom

Category:Defunct shipping companies of the United Kingdom

Category:Maritime history of South Africa

Category:Transport companies disestablished in 1990

Category:Transport companies established in 1853