Union-Castle Line

in 1916. . She was built in 1900 as Galician. The Union Line was founded in 1853 as the Southampton Steam Shipping Company to transport coal from South Wales to Southampton. It was renamed the Union Steam Collier Company and then the Union Steamship Company. In 1857, renamed the Union Line, it won a contract to carry mail to South Africa, mainly the Cape Colony. The inaugural sailing of Dane left Southampton on 15 September. Meanwhile, Donald Currie had built up the Castle Packet Co. which traded to Calcutta round the Cape of Good Hope. This trade was substantially curtailed by the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, and the Castle Line started to run to South Africa instead, later becoming the Castle Mail Packet Company. In 1872 the Cape Colony gained responsible government and its first Prime Minister, John Molteno, ordered a re-negotiation of the country's mail services. In 1876, keen to avoid either of the two main companies gaining a monopoly on the country's shipping, he awarded the South African mail contract jointly to both the Castle Mail Packet Company and the Union Line. The contract included a condition that the two companies would not amalgamate, as well as other clauses to promote competition, such as alternating services and speed premiums. This competition led to their shipping services running at unprecedented speed and efficiency. The contract was eventually to expire however, and the period of intense competition was later to give way to co-operation, including transporting troops and military equipment during the Boer War. Finally, on 8 March 1900, the Union Line and Castle Shipping Line merged, creating the Union-Castle Mail Steamship Company, Ltd, with Castle Shipping Line taking over the fleet. ==Union-Castle Line==

in the First World War. in the Second World War. in the First World War. Afterwards she returned to civilian service. She was sunk by torpedo in 1942. in 1940. in the Second World War. Union-Castle named most of their ships with the suffix "Castle" in their names; the names of several inherited from the Union Line were changed to this scheme (for example, Galician became ) but others (such as ) retained their original name. They were well known for the lavender-hulled liners with red funnels topped in black, running on a rigid timetable between Southampton and Cape Town. Every Thursday at 4pm a Union-Castle Royal Mail Ship would leave Southampton bound for Cape Town. At the same time, a Union-Castle Royal Mail Ship would leave Cape Town bound for Southampton. In 1922 the line introduced its Round Africa service, a nine-week voyage calling at twenty ports en route. Alternate sailings travelled out via the Suez Canal and out via West Africa. After the war the line made good use of its three ships converted to troop transports to facilitate carrying the vast number of emigrants seeking new lives in East and South Africa. When they ran out of berths the line set up its own internal travel agency to book passages on other lines and even air services. The mail service to South Africa, curtailed during hostilities, recommenced with the sailing of Roxburgh Castle from Southampton on 2 January 1947. ==British & Commonwealth, and International Liner Services==

The company took over the King Line in 1949, and merged with Bullard King and Clan Line in 1956 to form British & Commonwealth Shipping. It merged with South African Marine Corporation in 1973 to create International Liner Services, but competition with air travel adversely affected its shipping activities, and cargo shipping rapidly became containerised. The final South African mail service arrived in Southampton on 24 October 1977, and International Liner Services withdrew from shipping in 1982. British & Commonwealth continued in other fields, and acquired Atlantic Computers in 1989, but accounting problems soon became apparent and British & Commonwealth was liquidated in 1990. In the 1950s and 60s the line operated a fleet of fifteen ships, eight on the principal weekly mail run from Southampton to Cape Town. Each ship could carry an average of two hundred First Class passengers and four hundred and fifty in Tourist Class. Six of the remaining ships operated the monthly Round Africa service, sailing both clockwise and anti-clockwise round the continent. The remaining ship operated a service carrying up to 750 Tourist Class passengers to Beira and back via the West Coast route every three months. In December 1999 the Union-Castle name was revived for a millennium cruise; the P&O ship was chartered for a 60-day cruise around Africa, and had its funnel repainted for the occasion. The last few surviving Union-Castle Line ships were scrapped in the early 21st century, the former Kenya Castle in 2001, the former in 2003, the former Dunnottar Castle in 2004, and finally in 2005. ==Ships==

MV Winchester Castle, built in 1964 as Clan Line's Clan Ramsay The initial Union fleet consisted of the colliers Union, Briton, Saxon, Norman and Dane. In 1860 this was augmented by the much larger Cambrian. At the time of the merger in 1900, the Union fleet included: :Arab (1879–1900), Briton (1897–1926), Falcon (1896–1942), Gaika (1896–1926), (1899–1916), Galician (1900-1918), (1897–1928), Gaul (1893–1906), German (2) (1898–1930), Goorkka (1897-1926), Goth (1893–1913), Greek (1893–1906), Guelph (1894–1913), Mexican (1883–1900), Moor (1881-1901), Norman (2) (1894–1926), Sabine (1895–1921), (1900–1935), Scot (1891–1905), Spartan (1881–1900), Susquehanna (1896–1926), and Trojan (1880–1900), with Celt on order (renamed before it came into service) and the Castle Line fleet included: :Arundel Castle (3) (1894–1905), Avondale Castle (1897–1912), Braemar Castle (1) (1898–1924), Carisbrook Castle (1898–1922), Doune Castle (1890–1904), Dunolly Castle (1897–1905), (1890–1913), Dunvegan Castle (1896–1923), Garth Castle (1880–1901), Harlech Castle (1894–1904), Hawarden Castle (1883–1904), (1899–1931), Kinfauns Castle (2) (1899–1927), Lismore Castle (1891–1904), (1883–1903), (2) (1883–1906), Raglan Castle (1897–1905), Roslin Castle (2) (1883–1904), Tantallon Castle (2) (1894–1901), Tintagel Castle (1) (1896–1912) }''||align="center"|1926||align="right"|10,786||Passenger liner/troop transport Built by Workman, Clark & Co Ltd, Belfast She took part in Operation Ironclad Torpedoed and sunk by on 30 Nov 1942 off South Africa Built by Barclay, Curle & Co., Ltd., Glasgow 27 Jun 1918 – Torpedoed and sunk by W of Fastnet Rock, Ireland 1905 sold to J.G. Stewart, Glasgow, renamed Loch Gair 12 Mar 1908 ran ashore from the coast, in Richard's Bay near the Umhlatuzi River, South Africa April 1980 scrapped 1914 captured by Britain 1916 managed by Union-Castle renamed Polglass Castle 1921 sold to Hansa Line, renamed Reichenfels 1946 re-purchased by Union-Castle, renamed Warwick Castle 1962 scrapped 1975 scrapped. 1964–1973 chartered by Union-Castle for cruising 1973 purchased by Union-Castle 1975 scrapped Built by Harland & Wolff Ltd, Belfast Torpedoed and sunk by in mid-Atlantic 1919 purchased from shipping controller, renamed Ripley Castle 1931 scrapped 1919 purchased from shipping controller, renamed Rosyth Castle 1920 transferred to Bullard King & Co., renamed Umlazi Built by Harland & Wolff, Belfast Torpedoed and sunk by in mid-Atlantic on 22 Feb 1943 1981 leased from Lombard Facilities Ltd, London renamed Stirling Universal 1984 transferred to Hong Kong renamed Speedster Universal Built by John Brown & Company, Clydebank, Scotland Sold to Safmarine in 1966 and renamed SA Vaal Scrapped in 2003 21 Sep 1941 bombed and sunk in the Atlantic while convoy rescue ship 1977 renamed Winchester Castle 1979 renamed Winchester Universal 1980 sold to Greece, renamed Lady Madonna Built by John Brown & Company, Clydebank, Scotland Torpedoed by enemy aircraft and sunk on 23 Mar 1943 off Algiers Scrapped at Alang, India, from August 2005 ==References==

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