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British shipping companies (T)

Tankers, Ltd
W.J. Tatem, Ltd.
Tavistock Shipping Co.
Teck Hwa Shipping Co., Ltd.
Telegram Construction and Maintenance
Temple Steamship Co. Ltd.
Thames & Medway Towing Co.
Thompson Steam-shipping Co.
Townsend Thoresen
Townsend Thorensen European Ferries
Trader Navigation Co., Ltd.
Transatlantic Carriers Ltd.
Turnbull, Scott & Co.
Turner, Edwards & Co.
Tyne Tees Steam Shipping Company
Henry Tyrer & Co.
G.D. Tyser & Co.

See also:

Tankers, Ltd

by Jarig Bakker

Tankers, Ltd (belonged to the Athel Line, which in its turn was part of United Molasses) - blue with black parallelogram bordered white, charged with white "T'. Source: All about Ships & Shipping, 1938
Jarig Bakker, 20 October 2003

W.J. Tatem, Ltd.

by Phil Nelson, 8 April 2000

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

Tavistock Shipping 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 Tavistock Shipping Co., London. A rectangular blue flag with a white letter 'T'. 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."

Brown (1951) lists this as The Tavistock Shipping Co., Ltd. (Purvis Shipping Co., Ltd.), London
Jarig Bakker, 1 September 2004

Teck Hwa Shipping Co., Ltd.

by Phil Nelson, 11 April 2000

from Stewart and Styring's Flags, Funnels and Hull Colors 1963
Yes, the image does show the period on the edge of the lozenge.

Telegram Construction and Maintenance

image by António Martins-Tuválkin, 16 May 2010

From a postcard collection: 12.1.4: Telegram Construction and Maintenance
Postcard #12, 1st row, 4th flag of the collection reads "Telegram Construction and Maintenance" and shows a white ~2:3 flag with a red saltire throughout and the lettering "TC&MC" (standing for "Telegram Construction & Maintenance Company?) in black sans serif bold capitals and placed each letter by order respectively in the upper, hoist side, fly-side, and bottom triangles and the ampersand on the center of the saltire.
António Martins-Tuválkin, 16 May 2010

Temple Steamship Co. Ltd.

by Al Fisher, 05 Feb 1999

The Temple Steamship Co. has a strikingly similar house flag to the Dornoch Steamship Co. Ltd. Both house flags are white with a red triangle. They differ only by the geometry of the triangle. It seems to me very weird that two different companies could have had so similar and potentially confusing house flags.
Ivan Sache, 28 February 2004

It sometimes helps to record the funnel marking as well as the house flag. A white flag with a red triangle, point uppermost, was also the house flag of Lambert Brothers. Their ships had black funnels with the red triangle on a white band.
David Prothero, 29 February 2004

Thames & Medway Towing Co.

image by Jarig Bakker, 9 September 2005

Thames & Medway Towing Co., London - white burgee, black "M"; the "M" is formed so, that two "T's" can be visualised.
Source: Loughran (1995)
Jarig Bakker, 9 September 2005

Thompson Steam-shipping Co.

by James Dignan

Brown 620: Thompson Steam-shipping Co., Ltd., London
Funnel: Yellow with a red T; a black top.
Flag: White, a red, approximately square, diamond in the center, with a white T. The T is about one-third as high as the flag; the square is half the flag's height across.

The flag shown of white with a red diamond bearing a white "T" is, as James states, the flag of Thompson Steamshipping Co. Ltd. (title from Lloyds, some sources show "Steam Shipping"). Neither it nor the company have any connection with Pacific Steam Navigation Co. The flag shown was however also used by V.T. Thompson & Co. of Sunderland in the U.K. who operated at the end of the 19th and beginning of 20th centuries with no apparent connection and the two companies (Thompson Steamshipping dated back to 1892) had different funnels to differentiate them. The initial editions of Stewart shows the flag being flown superior to a red pennant with a white "name" being presumably that of the ship. Brown 1958 incorrectly ascribes the livery to E.G. Thomson Steam Shipping Co., presumably the E.G. Thomson (Shipping) Ltd. who were connected with William Thomson & Co.
Neale Rosanoski, 24 May 2004

Townsend Thoresen

by Ivan Sache, 30 December 2001

Townsend Thoresen flag from about 1965 when the Danish Thoresen company merged with Townsends until about 1984 when the title TT European Ferries was adopted.

Ted Harrison, 11 December 2001

Townsend Thoresen European Ferries

by Ivan Sache, 30 December 2001

Townsend Thoresen European Ferries from 1983 when P&O acquired the company now P&O European Ferries. By 1988 the Townsend logo had disappeared and the P&O house flag was used.

Ted Harrison, 11 December 2001

Trader Navigation Co., 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 Trader Navigation Co. Ltd, London. A red rectangular flag with a white disc in the centre bearing a black letter 'T'. The flag is made of a wool and synthetic fibre bunting. It has a cotton hoist and is machine sewn."

The company was formed in 1936 by the grain merchants and merchant bankers Bunge & Co. Their first tramp vessel was of the 'ARCFORM' type, designed by Sir Joseph Isherwood for economy of hull form during the depression. She was re-named 'English Trader'. All the company's later vessels had the same suffix. By 1970 it was far more economical to charter rather than to own vessels and the company sold off all its ships except 'Essex Trader'. The firm was taken over by the Bostrom Group of Sweden in 1971 and the company name was dropped in 1975."
Jarig Bakker, 1 September 2004

Transatlantic Carriers Ltd.

by Phil Nelson, 11 April 2000

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

Stewart and Styring noted that the company was renamed to Canatlantic, Ltd. and the newer flag had no lettering, but did not have this depicted. Retained for historical accuracy, listed as out of London.

Turnbull, Scott & Co.

by James Dignan

Based on Sampson (1957)
James Dignan, 8 October 2003

Brown 79: Turnbull, Scott & Co., London
Funnel: Black, a simple red heraldic shield with a white border, charged with the letters "TS" in white.
Flag: 2:3, red with the letters "TS" in white. (Brown pictures the letters almost half the height of the flag, and places them approximately a letters width apart; James' images has them one-third the height, and close together.)
Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg, 20 October 2003

Company founded 1872. Appears to have done ship management for the government at some time during WWII.
Phil Nelson, 9 October 2003

Turner, Edwards & Co.

image by Ivan Sache, 4 April 2008

Lloyds Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows the house flag of "Turner, Edwards & Co." (#180, p. 45), a company based in Bristol, as a square red flag with a white eight-pointed star.
Ivan Sache, 4 April 2008

Tyne Tees Steam Shipping Company

image by Jarig Bakker

Red, with a lion rampant holding a pennoned lance on top of a castle tower (all white).
James Dignan, 18 October 2003

The flagchart "Vlaggen in de haven van Amsterdam" (flags in the harbour of Amsterdam), no date, shows this flag as red with a castle-tower, on top of which a lion flying a banner with a saltire at the hoist, all yellow.
Jarig Bakker, 6 July 2004

From the website of the National Maritime Museum, the house flag of Tyne-Tees Steam Ship Co. Ltd, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. A red rectangular flag with a yellow crest of a rampant lion on a tower holding a banner. The flag is made of a wool and synthetic fibre bunting. It has a cotton hoist and is machine sewn with a printed design. A rope and toggle is attached. The design is based on the crest of Newcastle-upon-Tyne being 'A tower argent, therefrom issuent a demi-lion rampant guardant or, holding a flagstaff sable, therefrom flowing a split banner of St George'.

The company was formed in 1904 by the merger of the Tyne Steam Shipping Co. Ltd, the Tees Union Steamship Co. Ltd, The Free Trade Warf Co. Ltd and the coasting interests of Furness Withy & Co. Ltd. It ran passenger services between Newcastle and London until these became unprofitable during the depression. The company coasters were purchased by Coast Lines in 1943. The last ship in the fleet ceased operation in 1976."
Jarig Bakker, 1 September 2004

image by António Martins-Tuválkin, 11 May 2010

From a postcard collection: 11.3.4: Tyne-Tees Steam Shipping
Postcard #11, 3rd row, 4th flag of the collection reads "Tyne-Tees Steam Shipping Co." and shows a flag completely different from the flag above. Flag ~2:3 with white overall throughout saltire dividing two blue triangles at hoist and fly, each charged with an "S", and two red triangles at top and bottom, reading "TT" above and "Co" below” these inscriptions set in white bold san serif capitals.
António Martins-Tuválkin, 11 May 2010

Henry Tyrer & Co.

image by Ivan Sache, 12 March 2008

Lloyds Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows the house flag of "Henry Tyrer & Co." (#112, p. 42), a company based in Liverpool, as divided red-white-blue according to the ascendant diagonal and with a red "T" placed diagonally in the white stripe.

The title of the book "Henry Tyrer. A Liverpool shipping agent and his enterprises, 1879-1979", written by Peter N. Davies, seems to indicate that the company was founded in 1879. The company is still registered in Liverpool as freight forwarders.
Ivan Sache, 12 March 2008

G.D. Tyser & Co.

image by Ivan Sache, 30 December 2001

G.D. Tyser & Co. has a house flag also shown as that of the Port Line, and there is indeed a connection – James P. Corry & Co. and Tyser, along with other firms, merged in 1914 to form the Commonwealth & Dominion Line (later known as Port Line). The flag has been that of Tyser all along and was chosen as the common one. See the on-line 1912 Lloyds Flags & Funnels: http://www.mysticseaport.org/library/initiative/Impage.cfm?PageNum=67&bibid=11061&ChapterId=8, no. 1380, `The Tyser Line, Ltd. (Tyser & Co.), London'.

White flag with blue saltire, a red cross throughout over all (the arms of cross and saltire have the same width). Although the site shows a rather lighter blue, it is reasonable to suppose that the colours really were that of its distant relative – or ancestor, even – the Union Jack.

Sources: http://www.red-duster.co.uk/TYSER.htm
http://www.theshipslist.com/ships/lines/tyser.htm
http://iancoombe.tripod.com/id42.html.

At first called Tyser & Haviside, charterers founded in 1860, the firm soon operated ships of its own and became G.D. Tyser & Co. in 1873. Voyages were made to India, later to Australia and New Zealand. Competition was fierce (transportation of emigrants, meat import, etc.) but thanks to cooperation with other firms such as Royden (Indra Line) and the Nelson Line (resulting in the formation of the Colonial Union Line Ltd), Tyser maintained its position. The first steamship was bought in 1891 (which led to the Colonial Union Line being terminated) and the last sailing ship sold in 1894. Never afraid of a freight war, Tyser entered into another one on the North Atlantic which lasted until 1910 in which year cooperation with German firms (Hansa, Deutsch-Australische Dampf.) led to the establishment of Tyser United Lines. This ended, predictably, in 1914 and in the same year the merger, mentioned above, occurred.
Jan Mertens, 1 December 2005

The company flag not only resembles the Union Jack, but is also virtually identical with its depiction from the cartoons by James Gillray. The company was founded less than 50 years after Gillray's death and, while its flag might have been inspired by his works and created by an admirer of his, it might have also been independently derived from the Union Jack. Which of these was the case, is still to be discovered, but even if it was the latter, still it would make an interesting case of a same design being independently used twice.
Tomislav Todorovic, 13 December 2014

British Shipping lines: continued