Union-Castle Line
The Union-Castle Line (UC) was a British shipping company headquartered in London . The company operated a successful liner service for the transport of passengers, freight and mail between Great Britain and South Africa until 1982 .
history
1900 to 1918
The Union-Castle Mail Steamship Company Ltd. (UC) was created in 1900 through the merger of the shipping companies Union Steamship Company Ltd. (founded 1857) and Castle Mail Packet Company Ltd. (founded in 1862). The two shipping companies were tough competitors on the South Africa route for years before they merged. The new company took over the Castle Line tradition of naming all ships after a castle. A red chimney with a black cap and a hull painted in soft purple became the outer hallmarks of the ships.
On the line to South Africa, the ports of London / Southampton - Madeira and Cape Town were initially called , in the course of time the South African ports of Durban , Port Elizabeth and East London were also called in regular service. There was also a freight connection between Cape Town and New York . In 1910 Union-Castle opened a round-Africa liner service that ran from London to Cape Town and back to Great Britain via the Suez Canal , another service only ran to East Africa.
The shipping company's ships were mostly passenger ships, but with a large cargo capacity. Due to the competition between the Union Line and the Castle Line, the ships had already experienced a considerable increase in tonnage in the 1890s. Shortly before the turn of the century, the Union Line had put the first 10,000 ton trucks into service. Due to the postal contracts, there was a natural need for fast ships, although the economic aspects could not be disregarded. At that time, the South Africa line was only marginally inferior to the transatlantic route.
In 1912 the Union-Castle Line was bought up by Owen Philipps, Lord Kylsant, and attached to the Royal Mail Empire.
During the First World War , a large number of UC ships were used as auxiliary cruisers , troop transports or hospital ships. Many were lost, but the sinking of Llandovery Castle in the English Channel off Fastnet in 1918 was the most tragic. The ship was used and marked as a hospital ship when it was torpedoed and sank with 234 people.
1918 to 1945
After the war began to compensate for the losses with new buildings and in 1919 Bullard Kings Natal Direct Line was bought. In 1921 the sister ships Windsor Castle and Arundel Castle, measured at over 19,000 GRT, began operations. The two ships were the only 4-chimneys used outside of the transatlantic route. In 1926, the Carnarvon Castle, measured 20,122 GRT, was the shipping company's first diesel-powered ship.
In 1931 the parent company of UC , the Royal Mail Line, went bankrupt. Since the Union Castle services were important and the continuation of the line was also in the interests of the British government, the shipping company was not dissolved. The shares were transferred to a kind of trusteeship and bought back piece by piece by a group of investors, making the shipping company a 100% independent company again.
In the 1930s, another new building program had to be implemented because the government had reduced the key data for mail delivery from 16 days to a 14-day crossing, which required a speed of 20 knots . The result of this program were the ships Athlone Castle , Stirling Castle and Capetown Castle , each with 25,564 GRT, which began operations between 1934 and 1936.
During the Second World War almost all UC ships were again used as troop transports for Great Britain. They drove, among other things, in special troop transport convoys such as the WS convoys . Many were lost in the course of the war. The scenario of the First World War was repeated and at the end of the war new buildings were commissioned to compensate for the losses.
1945 to 1982
From the 1950s onwards , the aircraft also became increasingly noticeable as a competitor on the South Africa route . The conditions for mail delivery were tightened, first the duration of the crossing was reduced to 13, later to 11 days. This made further new buildings necessary and many older ships disappeared.
In 1949 the King Line was bought by Union-Castle and in 1956 UC merged with the Clan Line to form British & Commonwealth Shipping Co. Ltd. (B&C) . During the 1950s, the shipping company put the largest ships ever to sail for them - 1958 Pendennis Castle (28,582 GRT), 1960 Windsor Castle (37,640 GRT) and 1961 Transvaal Castle (32,697 GRT) - all of which were turbine steamers around the to be able to cope with faster liner service. A special partnership developed with the South African shipping company South African Marine Corporation (Safmarine), both companies at times operated as one.
Aircraft and containers increasingly attacked the livelihoods of a postal shipping company and in 1977 passenger services were completely discontinued, but freight services continued to operate. In 1982, the last ships from B&C were sold and the company turned to other business areas, the shipping companies Union-Castle Line and Clan Line ceased to exist as active companies.
useful information
The future polar explorer Ernest Shackleton was an employee of the Union-Castle Line between 1898 and 1901 and served as an officer on the ships Tantallon Castle , Tintagel Castle , Gaika and Carisbrooke Castle .
Passenger ships
| year | Surname | tonnage | shipyard | Status / fate |
| 1900 | Saxon | 12385 GRT | Harland & Wolff Ltd., Belfast | Out of service in 1935 |
| 1900 ( 1897 ) | Briton | 10248 GRT | Harland & Wolff Ltd., Belfast | 1897: Union Line / 1900 to UC / 1926 out of service |
| 1900 ( 1899 ) | Kildonan Castle | 9664 GRT | Fairfield SB & Eng. Co. Ltd., Glasgow | 1899: Castle Line / 1900 to UC / 1931 out of service |
| 1900 ( 1899 ) | Kinfauns Castle | 9664 GRT | Fairfield SB & Eng. Co. Ltd., Glasgow | 1899: Castle Line / 1900 to UC / 1927 out of service |
| 1900 ( 1898 ) | Carisbrooke Castle | 7626 GRT | Fairfield SB & Eng. Co. Ltd., Glasgow | 1898: Castle Line / 1900 to UC / 1922 out of service |
| 1900 ( 1894 ) | Norman | 7537 GRT | Harland & Wolff Ltd., Belfast | 1894: Union Line / 1900 to UC / 1926 out of service |
| 1900 ( 1891 ) | Scot | 6844 GRT | W. Denny & Bros. Ltd., Dumbarton | 1891: Union Line / 1900 to UC / 1905 sold to Hapag |
| 1900 ( 1898 ) | German | 6722 GRT | Harland & Wolff Ltd., Belfast | 1898: Union Line / 1900 to UC / 1914: Glengorm Castle / 1930 out of service |
| 1900 ( 1900 ) | Galician | 6757 GRT | Harland & Wolff Ltd., Belfast | 1899: Union Line / 1900 to UC / 1914: Glenart Castle / torpedoed in 1918 |
| 1900 ( 1899 ) | Galeka | 6722 GRT | Harland & Wolff Ltd., Belfast | 1899: Union Line / 1900 at UC / 1916 sunk after being hit by a mine |
| 1900 ( 1896 ) | Gaika | 6287 GRT | Harland & Wolff Ltd., Belfast | 1896: Union Line / 1900 to UC / 1928 out of service |
| 1900 ( 1897 ) | Gascon | 6287 GRT | Harland & Wolff Ltd., Belfast | 1897: Union Line / 1900 to UC / 1928 out of service |
| 1900 ( 1897 ) | Goorkha | 6287 GRT | Harland & Wolff Ltd., Belfast | 1897: Union Line / 1900 to UC / 1928 out of service |
| 1900 ( 1898 ) | Braemar Castle (I) | 6266 GRT | Barclay, Curle & Co. Ltd., Glasgow | 1898: Castle Line / 1900 to UC / 1924 out of service |
| 1900 ( 1890 ) | Dunottar Castle | 5625 GRT | Fairfield SB & Eng. Co. Ltd., Glasgow | 1890: Castle Line / 1900 sold to UC / 1913 |
| 1900 ( 1894 ) | Tantallon Castle | 5958 GRT | Fairfield SB & Eng. Co. Ltd., Glasgow | 1894: Castle Line / 1900 at UC / 1901 sunk near Cape Town |
| 1900 ( 1896 ) | Tintagel Castle | 5958 GRT | Fairfield SB & Eng. Co. Ltd., Glasgow | 1896: Castle Line / 1900 sold to UC / 1912 |
| 1900 ( 1896 ) | Dunvegan Castle (I) | 5958 GRT | Fairfield SB & Eng. Co. Ltd., Glasgow | 1896: Castle Line / 1900 to UC / 1923 out of service |
| 1900 ( 1897 ) | Avondale Castle | 5958 GRT | Fairfield SB & Eng. Co. Ltd., Glasgow | 1897: Castle Line / 1900 sold to UC / 1912 |
| 1900 ( 1893 ) | Goth | 4917 GRT | Harland & Wolff Ltd., Belfast | 1893: Union Line / 1900 sold to UC / 1913 |
| 1900 ( 1893 ) | Horse | 4917 GRT | Harland & Wolff Ltd., Belfast | 1893: Union Line / 1900 sold to UC / 1906 |
| 1900 ( 1893 ) | Greek | 4917 GRT | Harland & Wolff Ltd., Belfast | 1893: Union Line / 1900 sold to UC / 1906 |
| 1900 ( 1894 ) | Guelph | 4917 GRT | Harland & Wolff Ltd., Belfast | 1894: Union Line / 1900 sold to UC / 1913 |
| 1900 ( 1883 ) | Mexican | 4668 GRT | J. Laing & Co. Ltd., Sunderland | 1883: Union Line / 1900 at UC / 1900 near Cape Town sunk after collision |
| 1900 ( 1881 ) | moor | 4644 GRT | Aitken & Mansell Ltd., Glasgow | 1881: Union Line / 1900 sold to UC / 1901 |
| 1900 ( 1895 ) | Arundel Castle (I) | 4595 GRT | Fairfield SB & Eng. Co. Ltd., Glasgow | 1895: Castle Line / 1900 sold to UC / 1905 |
| 1900 ( 1897 ) | Dunolly Castle | 4588 GRT | Barclay, Curle & Co. Ltd., Glasgow | 1897: Castle Line / 1900 sold to UC / 1905 |
| 1900 ( 1897 ) | Raglan Castle | 4588 GRT | Barclay, Curle & Co. Ltd., Glasgow | 1897: Castle Line / 1900 sold to UC / 1905 |
| 1900 ( 1883 ) | Pembroke Castle | 4341 GRT | Barrows Shipbuilding Co. Ltd., Barrows | 1883: Castle Line / 1900 sold to UC / 1906 |
| 1900 ( 1883 ) | Norham Castle | 4341 GRT | John Elder & Co. Ltd., Glasgow | 1883: Castle Line / 1900 sold to UC / 1903 |
| 1900 ( 1883 ) | Roslin Castle | 4341 GRT | Barclay, Curle & Co. Ltd., Glasgow | 1883: Castle Line / 1900 sold to UC / 1904 |
| 1900 ( 1883 ) | Harwarden Castle | 4341 GRT | John Elder & Co. Ltd., Glasgow | 1883: Castle Line / 1900 sold to UC / 1904 |
| 1900 ( 1890 ) | Doune Castle | 4046 GRT | Barclay, Curle & Co. Ltd., Glasgow | 1890: Castle Line / 1900 sold to UC / 1904 |
| 1901 | York Castle | 5501 GRT | Sir J. Laing & Co. Ltd., Sunderland | Sold in 1924 |
| 1901 | Alnwick Castle | 5893 GRT | W. Beardmore & Sons Ltd., Glasgow | Torpedoed and sunk in 1917 |
| 1902 | Berwick Castle | 5893 GRT | W. Beardmore & Sons Ltd., Glasgow | Burned out in Mombasa in 1919 |
| 1902 | Cawdor Castle | 6235 GRT | Barclay, Curle & Co. Ltd., Glasgow | Lost at sea in 1926 |
| 1902 | Newark Castle | 6235 GRT | Barclay, Curle & Co. Ltd., Glasgow | Sunk in 1908 |
| 1902 | Walmer Castle | 12546 GRT | Harland & Wolff Ltd., Belfast | 1932 out of service |
| 1903 | Armadale Castle | 12,973 GRT | Fairfield SB & Eng. Co. Ltd., Glasgow | 1936 out of service |
| 1904 | Kenilworth Castle | 12,974 GRT | Harland & Wolff Ltd., Belfast | 1936 out of service |
| 1904 | Dover Castle | 8271 GRT | Barclay, Curle & Co. Ltd., Glasgow | Torpedoed and sunk in 1917 |
| 1904 | Durham Castle | 8217 GRT | Fairfield SB & Eng. Co. Ltd., Glasgow | Sold in 1939 |
| 1904 | Dunluce Castle | 8114 GRT | Harland & Wolff Ltd., Belfast | Sold in 1940 |
| 1910 | Balmoral Castle | 13,361 GRT | Fairfield SB & Eng. Co. Ltd., Glasgow | Out of service in 1939 |
| 1910 | Edinburgh Castle (II) | 13,330 GRT | Harland & Wolff Ltd., Belfast | Sold in 1940 |
| 1910 | Garth Castle | 7612 GRT | Barclay, Curle & Co. Ltd., Glasgow | Out of service in 1939 |
| 1910 | Grantully Castle | 7612 GRT | Barclay, Curle & Co. Ltd., Glasgow | Out of service in 1939 |
| 1911 | Galway Castle | 7,988 GRT | Harland & Wolff Ltd., Belfast | Torpedoed and sunk near Plymouth in 1918 (143 dead) |
| 1911 | Guildford Castle | 8036 GRT | Barclay, Curle & Co. Ltd., Glasgow | Sunk on the Elbe after a collision in 1933 |
| 1911 | Gloucester Castle | 7,999 GRT | Fairfield SB & Eng. Co. Ltd., Glasgow | 1942 sunk at Ascension by German auxiliary cruiser (93 dead) |
| 1914 | Llanstephan Castle | 11348 GRT | Fairfield SB & Eng. Co. Ltd., Glasgow | 1952 out of service |
| 1914 | Llandovery Castle (I) | 11348 GRT | Barclay, Curle & Co. Ltd., Glasgow | 1918 torpedoed and sunk as a hospital ship in the North Atlantic (234 dead) |
| 1917 | Leasowe Castle | 8106 GRT | Cammell Laird & Co. Ltd., Birkenhead | 1918 torpedoed and sunk (92 dead) |
| 1921 | Arundel Castle (II) | 18980 GRT | Harland & Wolff Ltd., Belfast | 1958 out of service |
| 1921 | Windsor Castle (II) | 18967 GRT | J. Brown & Co. Ltd., Clydebank | Sunk near Algiers after being hit by a bomb in 1943 |
| 1925 | Llandovery Castle (II) | 10640 GRT | Barclay, Curle & Co. Ltd., Glasgow | 1953 out of service |
| 1927 | Llandaff Castle | 10799 GRT | Workman, Clark & Co. Ltd., Belfast | Torpedoed and sunk off Mozambique in 1942 |
| 1929 | Llangibby Castle | 11951 GRT | Harland & Wolff Ltd., Belfast | 1954 out of service |
| 1926 | Carnarvon Castle | 20122 GRT | Harland & Wolff Ltd., Belfast | 1963 out of service |
| 1930 | Winchester Castle | 20109 GRT | Harland & Wolff Ltd., Belfast | 1969 out of service |
| 1930 | Warwick Castle (I) | 20107 GRT | Harland & Wolff Ltd., Belfast | Torpedoed and sunk near Portugal in 1942 (114 dead) |
| 1930 | Dunbar Castle | 10002 GRT | Harland & Wolff Ltd., Belfast | Sank near Ramsgate in 1940 after being hit by a mine |
| 1936 | Athlone Castle | 25,564 GRT | Harland & Wolff Ltd., Belfast | Out of service in 1965 |
| 1936 | Stirling Castle | 25,564 GRT | Harland & Wolff Ltd., Belfast | 1966 out of service |
| 1938 | Capetown Castle | 27,002 GRT | Harland & Wolff Ltd., Belfast | 1967 out of service |
| 1936 | Dunnottar Castle | 15007 GRT | Harland & Wolff Ltd., Belfast | Sold in 1958, scrapped in 2004 |
| 1936 | Dunvegan Castle (II) | 15007 GRT | Harland & Wolff Ltd., Belfast | 1940 torpedoed and sunk near Ireland (27 dead) |
| 1938 | Durban Castle | 17,383 GRT | Harland & Wolff Ltd., Belfast | 1962 out of service |
| 1939 | Pretoria Castle (I) | 17,383 GRT | Harland & Wolff Ltd., Belfast | 1946 Warwick Castle (II) / 1962 out of service |
| 1947 | Edinburgh Castle (II) | 28,705 GRT | Harland & Wolff Ltd., Belfast | 1976 out of service |
| 1948 | Pretoria Castle (II) | 28,705 GRT | Harland & Wolff Ltd., Belfast | 1975 out of service |
| 1950 | Bloemfontein Castle | 18,400 GRT | Harland & Wolff Ltd., Belfast | Sold in 1959 |
| 1951 | Kenya Castle | 17041 GRT | Harland & Wolff Ltd., Belfast | Sold in 1967 |
| 1951 | Rhodesia Castle | 17041 GRT | Harland & Wolff Ltd., Belfast | 1967 out of service |
| 1952 | Braemar Castle (II) | 17041 GRT | Harland & Wolff Ltd., Belfast | 1966 out of service and scrapped |
| 1958 | Pendennis Castle | 28 582 GRT | Harland & Wolff Ltd., Belfast | Sold in 1976, scrapped in 1980 |
| 1960 | Windsor Castle (II) | 37,640 GRT | Cammell Laird & Co. Ltd., Birkenhead | Sold in 1977, scrapped in 2005 |
| 1961 | Transvaal Castle | 32697 GRT | J. Brown & Co. Ltd., Clydebank | 1977 sold to Carnival Cruise Lines and renamed Festivale , scrapped in 2003 |
| 1964 ( 1956 ) | Reina Del Mar | 20501 GRT | Harland & Wolff Ltd., Belfast | built for the Pacific Steam Navigation Company, 1964 at Union-Castle, scrapped in 1975 |