Wilson Line
The British shipping company Wilson Line existed from 1822 to 1978.
history
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The shipping company was founded in Hull in 1822 as Beckinton, Wilson & Company . The shipping company began with sailing ships with which iron ore was imported from Sweden to Great Britain. After Beckinton's death, the shipping company operated as Wilson, Hudson & Company from 1831 . From 1835 a sailing passenger service between Hull, Hamburg and Rotterdam and a steamship connection between Hull and Dunkirk and in May 1840 a liner service between Hull, Christiania and Gothenburg was started. In 1841 John and Thomas Hudson left the partnership, whereupon the name of the company Thos. Wilson, Sons & Company was.
The shipping company expanded its liner services to the Mediterranean from 1870 and briefly to India from 1871, which was soon abandoned. In 1875 Wilson took a service to New York. In 1878 the shipping company Brownlow, Marsdin & Company from Hull with their fleet of seven ships and in 1903 the shipping company Bailey & Leetham with a fleet of 23 ships was taken over. In the same year, Wilson started a London-Baltic Sea Community service with DFDS. At the beginning of the 20th century, the Wilson Line had grown to become the world's largest ship owner. With the North Eastern Railway Shipping Company in 1906 Wilson took on services from the Humber ports to Hamburg, Antwerp, Ghent and Dunkirk.
In 1916, the Wilson Line was taken over by the competitor Ellerman Lines and from 1917 on it operated as Ellerman's Wilson Line Ltd. 1973 all connections of the Wilson Line were incorporated except for the North Sea services at Ellerman City Liners and 1978 the remaining ships of the Wilson Line were sold and the company dissolved.
literature
- John Harrower: Wilson Line . The history and fleet of Thos. Wilson, Sons & Co. and Ellerman's Wilson Line Ltd. World Ship Society, Gravesend 1998, ISBN 0-905617-72-X .
Web links
- The Wilson Line at The Ships List