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British shipping companies (H)

Last modified: 2016-03-05 by rob raeside
Keywords: hain steamship | hall brothers | harrison line | hay & co. | hadley shipping | hain nourse management | hall line | hammond | george hammond |
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Hadjilias & Co.

[Hadjilias & Co. houseflag] by Jarig Bakker

From Scott, R.M., The Caltex book of Flags and Funnels, Cape Town, Caltex Africa Ltd. (1959).

Hadjilias & Co., London - red swallowtail, white disk, blue "R".
Jarig Bakker, 2 January 2005

[Hadjilias & Co. houseflag] by Jarig Bakker

However, Brown's Flags and Funnels (1951) [Wedge (1951)] shows for the same firm a completely different flag: blue flag with a coat of arms (argent bend azure bordered red) in the center.
Jarig Bakker, 2 January 2005


Hadley Shipping Co. Ltd.

[Ben Line houseflag] 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 Hadley Shipping Co. Ltd, London. A yellow rectangular flag with a white diamond bearing the black letters 'HSC'. The flag is made of a wool and synthetic fibre bunting. It has a cotton hoist and is machine sewn. A rope and two Inglefield clips is attached.

The company was incorporated in 1926 to buy and charter one of the tankers built for the Anglo-Saxon Petroleum Co. during the First World War and continued to trade as tramp tanker owners. In the 1930s it entered the coastal tanker trade and also began shipping bananas. After the Second World War the company owned tankers and then bulk carriers. It continues in business and is still under the control of the Warwick family."
Jarig Bakker, 14 August 2004


Hain Nourse Management Ltd.

[Hain Nourse Management houseflag] by Jarig Bakker, based on the website of the National Maritime Museum.

From the website of the National Maritime Museum, "the house flag of Hain Nourse Management Ltd., London. A rectangular blue flag with a white rectangle in the centre, bearing the conjoined letters 'HN' in red. 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, 13 August 2004


Hain Steamship Co. Ltd.

[Hain Steamship Co. Ltd. houseflag] by Phil Nelson, 10 April 2000

from Stewart and Styring's Flags, Funnels and Hull Colors 1963

Hain new houseflag: red with in the center a standing black rectangular block, charged with white "H". Source: All about Ships & Shipping, 1959; Lloyd's Calendar 1959.
Jarig Bakker, 17 October 2003

[Hain Steamship Co. Ltd. houseflag] by Jarig Bakker

Hain old houseflag: white H on red field; source: All about Ships & Shipping, 1936
Jarig Bakker, 17 October 2003

Founded 1901 in Cardiff although the company had roots back to 1881. Purchased 1917 by P&O. In 1972 the company was merged into P&O's General Cargo Divison. The company ships started with the Cornish title Tre.
Phil Nelson, 18 October 2003

[Hain Steamship Co. Ltd. houseflag] by Jarig Bakker, based on Wedge 1926

Larousse Commercial Illustré (1930) shows Hain Steamship Co. Ltd., Cardiff: red, white letters (without serifs) EH in the middle, the letters' height being about one third of flag's. Compare with version shown above, 'Hain Steamship Co. Ltd' the older version of which (source: 1936) has a single letter 'H', white on red. 'EH' I take to mean Edward Haines, the firm's founder (back then: E. Hain & Co, St Ives, Cornwall, est. 1878). In any case, on this page: http://www.worldshipsociety.org/publications/books-wss-history.php?RECORD_INDEX(WorldShipSociety)=51 the 'EH' flag is shown on a book cover and in the on-line 1912 Lloyd's Flags & Funnels it's on p. 16 under No. 282 as 'Hain Steamship Co. Ltd. (E. Hain & Son), St Ives' but with the letters much bolder than Larousse has them: http://www.mysticseaport.org/library/initiative/Impage.cfm?PageNum=16&bibid=11061&ChapterId=8. This particular house flag clearly precedes those above, but then the firm went through a number of changes in the course of the years.
Jan Mertens, 28 May 2004

Hain Steamship Co. Ltd. According to Loughran (1979) the company was founded in 1878 by Edward Hain being originally based St. Ives (I presume the Cornwall one) and presumably they began trading through Cardiff in 1901. The original flag was red with the white letters "EH" and this was used until 1938 when the "E" was dropped and then post WW2 the black panel was added. The fleet commodore used a swallowtailed version of this latter flag according to Loughran with no mention being made of a similar provision through the previous flags. The company head office shifted to London in 1917 when P&O took over and the company itself was merged into Hain-Nourse Ltd. in 1964/5.
Neale Rosanoski, 15 June 2004


Hall Brothers Steam Ship Co., Ltd.

[Hall Brothers Steam Ship Co. houseflag] by Phil Nelson, 10 April 2000

from Stewart and Styring's Flags, Funnels and Hull Colors 1963


Hall, Russell and Co.

[Hall Brothers Steam Ship Co. houseflag] image by Jarig Bakker, 6 December 2008

Hall Russell and Company shipbuilders house flag. Description: blue field, white saltire, white diamond, red connected "HR". This illustration comes from a 1931 draughtsman sketchbook of flags and funnels produced in the Hall Russell shipyard - so this is the original document.
John Edwards, 26 November 2008


Hall Line Ltd.

[Hall Line houseflag] by Jarig Bakker, based on the website of the National Maritime Museum.

From the website of the National Maritime Museum, "the house flag of Hall Line Ltd., Liverpool. A rectangular flag quartered diagonally into white quarters at the top and bottom, blue quarters at the sides and 'HALL LINE' in blue letters on the white quarters. Ellerman Group's blue pennant is hoisted above and bears the white letters 'JRE'. The flag and pennant are made of a wool and synthetic fibre bunting. They have cotton hoists and are machine sewn. The letters on the items are printed. The pennant and flag are on a single rope with a toggle attached."
Jarig Bakker, 13 August 2004


James Hall Line

[James Hall Line houseflag]

Though I don't know the flag's age, there exists an old flag, that is a black-blue-black horizontal tricolour. It is the house flag of James HALL in Sunderland. In Lloyds Houseflags and Funnels (Version 1902) it is flag no.925, depicted on p.81.
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 19 August 2008


George Hammond PLC

[George Hammond houseflag] by Jorge Candeias, 02 Mar 1999

A red flag with a blue lozenge centered charged with a white "H".
Jorge Candeias, 02 Feb 1999

Other sites:

Hanseatic Maritime Agency

[Hanseatic Maritime Agency houseflag] image by Ivan Sache, 21 March 2008

Lloyds Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows the house flag of "Hanseatic Maritime Agency" (#56, p. 39), a company based in London, as quartered white-red per saltire with the black letters "MHAL" in the respective quarters. I cannot swear that the letters "H" and "L" are not blue.
There is today a "Hanseatic Group of Companies", part of the "Schulte Group of Companies". The main branch of the group seems to be the "Hanseatic Shipping Company", relocated to Cyprus. The "Hanseatic Shipping Company" has branches in Singapore, Greece and Germany, and maritime agencies in Croatia, Venezuela, Myanmar, Philippines, Indonesia, Latvia, Ukraine, Estonia and Russia.
http://www.hanseatic-indonesia.com/hanseatic_group_of_companies.htm
Ivan Sache, 21 March 2008 


British Shipping lines: continued