This page is part of © FOTW Flags Of The World website

British shipping companies (W)

Last modified: 2021-05-29 by rob raeside
Keywords: shipping lines |
Links: FOTW homepage | search | disclaimer and copyright | write us | mirrors



See also:

John Wood & Co.

[John Wood & Co. houseflag] image by Ivan Sache, 28 April 2021

Lloyd's Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows the house flag of John Wood & Co.. (#1004, p. 84), a London-based company, as white with a blue border and a red "W" in the center..
https://research.mysticseaport.org/item/l011061/l011061-c008/49/
Ivan Sache, 28 April 2021


Woods, Tyler & Brown

[Woods, Tylor & Brown houseflag] image by Ivan Sache, 22 April 2021

Source: Brown's Flags and Funnels [Wedge 1926]

Woods, Tyler & Brown, London - white flag, red knotted rope.
Jarig Bakker
, 31 January 2005

Lloyd's Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows the same house flag (#225, p. 47).
https://research.mysticseaport.org/item/l011061/l011061-c008/#12
Ivan Sache, 22 April 2021


Worldfast Line

[Worldfast houseflag] by Jorge Candeias, 22 Mar 1999

White with a blue and white logo centered. The logo is a disc with a very fat "W" "sailing" on wavy lines.
Jorge Candeias, 22 Mar 1999

Other sites:

World Steamship Co., Ltd.

(G.T. Symons & Co.)

[World Steamship Co., Ltd. houseflag] image by Ivan Sache, 24 April 2021

Lloyd's Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows the house flag of the World Steamship Co., Ltd. (G.T. Symons & Co.) (#467, p. 59), a London-based company, as blue, charged in the center with a red disc with a white Equator and cantonned by the white letter "W" (upper hoist) and "S" (lower fly).
https://research.mysticseaport.org/item/l011061/l011061-c008/#24
Ivan Sache, 24 April 2021


Wright, Graham & Co.

[Wright, Graham & Co. houseflag] image by Ivan Sache, 30 April 2021

Wright, Graham & Co. operated the Falls Line.
The "Falls of Clyde", a four-mast sailing ship was built in Glasgow 140 years ago. The 285-foot long and 40-foot wide vessel built by shipbuilders Russell & Co. in 1878 has a wrought-iron hull. She entered service as part of the Falls Line fleet - all of which were named after Scottish waterfalls – and she sailed to ports on all continents except Antarctica.
In January 1898, flying the Hawaiian flag, the "Falls of Clyde" arrived in Honolulu after being sold to an agent of Captain William Matson. He modified the ship’s rig to that of a bark and built a large wooden deckhouse forward and a charthouse on the poop deck. Later registered in the U.S., she carried sugar from Hilo to San Francisco until 1906 when the Associated Oil Company in which Matson had an interest bought her and converted her into an oil tanker. After 10 tanks were added within the hull, she had a carrying capacity close to 750,000 gallons. She also carried molasses from Hilo to San Francisco over the next 13 years. In 1921, she was sold to the General Petroleum Corporation who, after de-rigging the ship, then used her as a floating petroleum depot in Ketchikan, Alaska.

Nearly three decades later, she was taken out of commercial service and was on the verge of being sunk to form a breakwater when "Honolulu Advertiser" columnist Bob Krauss came to her rescue. Supporters and school children raised money to help bring her back to Hawaii, and the U.S. Navy contributed by towing the "Falls of Clyde" from Seattle to Honolulu in 1963.
With financial support from people around the world and hundreds of volunteers working on a variety of restoration projects, the Bishop Museum, which had taken over management of the ship’s operations, opened the "Falls of Clyde" to the public in 1971 at Pier 5 in Honolulu Harbor. Over the next decade, tens of thousands of people visited the ship.

However, during Hurricane Iwa in 1982, the ship sustained major damage. Krauss and other supporters formed the original Friends of The Falls of Clyde group which then took control of the vessel. A few months later, the "Falls of Clyde" was named a National Historic Monument by the National Parks Service, and restoration work began.
Despite this, her future remained uncertain, and she was again saved from being scuttled. The Save Falls of Clyde International Campaign was launched in August 2016 when Honolulu Harbour impounded her. Their aim is to now return her to Scotland.

https://www.maritime-executive.com/article/scottish-group-calls-for-help-to-save-historic-ship
The Maritime Executive, 2 April 2018

Lloyd's Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows the house flag of Wright, Graham & Co. (#1382, p. 102) as horizontally divided red-blue-white-blue-red (1:1:2:1:1).
https://research.mysticseaport.org/item/l011061/l011061-c008/#67

The National Maritime Museum keeps a copy of the flag.
https://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/1010.html
Ivan Sache, 30 April 2021


Wyre Trawlers

[Tavistock Shipping Co., Ltd. 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 Wyre Trawlers, Fleetwood. A white rectangular flag with a red 'W' in the centre. 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."
Fleetwood is a port in Lancashire (England).
Jarig Bakker, 4 September 2004

[Tavistock Shipping Co., Ltd. houseflag] by Ivan Sache

Wyre Trawlers. Appear to have originated as Wyre Steam Trawling Co. Ltd. operated by John N. Ward & Son and using a red flag with a white diamond throughout bearing a blue "W" being shown by Lloyds 1912. Ward appears to have disappeared from the scene post WW2 and in the latter 1950s the company became Wyre Trawlers Ltd. lasting until around the beginning of the 1980s.
Neale Rosanoski, 7 February 2005

The same house flag is shown (#1796, p. 122) in Lloyd's Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912).
https://research.mysticseaport.org/item/l011061/l011061-c008/#87
Ivan Sache, 4 May 2021


British Shipping lines: continued