Manchester Liners
Manchester Liners was a cargo and passenger shipping company founded in 1898, based in Manchester, England. The line pioneered the regular passage of ocean-going ships along the Manchester Ship Canal. Its main sphere of operation was the transatlantic shipping trade, but the company also operated services to the Mediterranean. All of the line's ships were registered in the Port of Manchester, and many were lost to enemy action during the First and Second World Wars.
A successful switch from traditional to container shipping in 1968 was relatively short-lived, as the subsequent introduction elsewhere of much larger container ships meant that the company's ships, which were restricted to a maximum length of imposed by the ship canal's lock chambers, could no longer compete economically. The line ceased operations in 1985.
Early history
The opening of the Manchester Ship Canal in 1894 made it possible for large ocean-going ships to sail directly into the heart of Manchester. However, because of opposition from cartels of ship-owners based at Liverpool and other ports in the United Kingdom, shipping lines were slow to introduce direct services to the new Port of Manchester, which found it difficult to compete against the established ports. New trading routes from Manchester to West Africa and Mediterranean ports were countered by the established shipping conferences sharply reducing their own charges and by inducing their customers to sign binding contracts. In some cases, after achieving their aims, the cartels re-imposed their old charges. To help counter these "sharp practices", Sir Christopher Furness, of Furness Withy & Company, proposed in 1897 that a Manchester-based shipping line should be formed to encourage the use of the Manchester Ship Canal and docks. The public prospectus for Manchester Liners Ltd was issued on 10 May 1898, with an authorised share capital of £1 million. Furness' company became the largest shareholder, and he was appointed chairman. Other directors included representatives from the Ship Canal company and Salford Borough Council. Robert Burdon Stoker, a director of Furness Withy, was appointed as ML's first managing director.Initial operations 1898–1914
Manchester Liners decided from the outset to make Manchester–Canada their prime route, with a secondary route to the southern United States cotton ports of New Orleans and Galveston. Other lesser, sometimes seasonal routes, were added later.Two 1890-built 3,000 gross registered ton ships were bought for £60,000 in May 1898, and renamed Manchester Enterprise and Manchester Trader. The Trader made the shipping line's first voyage, setting out from Avonmouth for Montreal on 26 May, before docking in Manchester with a cargo of grain.
The two secondhand ships were joined in January 1899 by the newly built Manchester City of 7,696 grt, constructed by Raylton Dixon & Co of Middlesbrough. This steamship carried of coal, burned at per day, giving a speed of, fast for her day. She was a refrigerated ship, designed to carry frozen meat and live cattle, and was claimed to be one of the largest meat-carrying ships then afloat. She made a successful maiden voyage from Canada and up the new canal to Manchester, which she took two days to negotiate after stopping overnight at Irlam to give the crew a rest. The Manchester Guardian reported on 16 January 1899 that "there were many shakings of the head, not only in Liverpool, at the audacity of the attempt" and that "the canal pilots, on reaching Irlam, looked as if they had not been in bed for a week, as their eyes were bleared with exhaustion". The City discharged 450 cattle and 150 sheep at Manchester Corporation's Foreign Animals Wharf near the Mode Wheel locks in Salford. With an overall length of, she was by far the largest ship to have ventured up the waterway, and her successful navigation disproved the claim of Liverpool owners that only ships of or less could safely reach Manchester. The ship continued to Manchester docks for further unloading, where she was met by the Lord Mayor, accompanied by a band and a festive crowd. This successful voyage did much to encourage other shipowners to use the new port. On her first voyage to Halifax, Nova Scotia, in March 1899, the City took nine days and sixteen hours; and arrived before the mail boat, which had left the Mersey twelve hours ahead of her.
The ML fleet was joined by two new smaller 5,600 grt ships, the Manchester Port and during 1899 and 1900, and further new ships followed quickly thereafter. The basic sailing pattern to Canada was Saint John, New Brunswick, year-round and to Montreal when the St Lawrence River was ice-free.
Between 1899 and 1902, four Manchester ships and their crews were requisitioned by the United Kingdom government to transport troops, horses, and supplies to South Africa during the Boer War and its aftermath. Collecting points for horses and mules included Galveston and New Orleans and Buenos Aires and Montevideo in South America. Manchester Port made its second voyage to the Cape in 1900, then continued to Australia to bring troops to the conflict. On the first voyage after her return to ML, in January 1903, the first Manchester Merchant was lost while on passage from New Orleans to Manchester. A serious fire developed in her cotton cargo, and she was scuttled in Dingle Bay on the west coast of Ireland to douse the flames, but subsequently broke up in bad weather.
By 1904 the line was operating fourteen steamships of between four and seven thousand tons, several built by the associated Furness Withy shipyards. Services to ports in eastern Canada were supplemented by regular sailings to Boston, Philadelphia, and the southern US cotton ports of New Orleans and Galveston. Between 1904 and 1908 ML deployed three ships including the Manchester City to the River Plate route, serving other UK ports as well Manchester. The main return cargo was frozen and chilled meat, and the City set a record for the largest meat consignment up to that time. Lord Furness, as he had become, died in 1912 and was succeeded as ML's chairman by R. B. Stoker until his death in 1919. ML's fleet was maintained at 14 ships during the last few years before the First World War. Eleven of their ships were deployed on the Canadian routes, carrying mainly manufactured goods outwards and meat and grain inbound.
Operations during the First World War
At the start of the war in July 1914, ML had a fleet of fifteen ships. Most of the fleet continued to operate services to ports in eastern Canada and to USA including Baltimore, returning with war and other supplies. In August 1914, the Manchester Miller and Manchester Civilian were requisitioned as supply ships and sent with coal to the Falkland Islands to refuel the battlecruisers HMS Inflexible and HMS Invincible. As the Civilian was coaling the cruisers, the German ships approached and the British warships cast off immediately to engage them. In the battle that ensued Admiral Von Spee's armored cruisers, Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, plus escorting cruisers were sunk. The Civilian was later equipped with minesweeping gear. She returned in 1916 carrying supplies and equipment from Canada to the troops in France.All ships were fitted with defensive guns at the bow and stern. In June 1917 Manchester Port beat off a submarine attack with gunfire near Cape Wrath. Manchester Commerce, outward-bound for Quebec City was sunk off northwest Ireland on 26 October 1914, with the loss of 14 crew, becoming the first merchant ship to be sunk by a mine. On 4 June 1917 the second Manchester Trader, en route from Souda Bay in Crete to Algiers, fought a running battle with U-boat before she was captured and sunk near Pantellaria island, with the loss of one crewmember. The master, Captain F.D. Struss, was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, and went on to complete 40 years service with the line after surviving another sinking in the Second World War. A further nine ships were sunk by U-boats, seven of the losses occurring in 1917.
ML acquired seven ships between 1916 and 1918, four of which were sunk in 1917. Manchester Engineer, acquired secondhand in 1917, had a short but eventful career with ML. On 18 June, when bound for Archangel, she was chased by a U-boat but escaped when her naval escort arrived. On 16 August when sailing from the Tyne to St Nazaire with coal, she was torpedoed five miles off Flamborough Head and sunk. Manchester Division achieved fame on her maiden voyage from West Hartlepool to join a westbound Atlantic convoy at Plymouth when she rammed and sank a German submarine off Flamborough Head in October 1918. At the end of the war in November 1918, ML had twelve surviving ships on strength.
Peacetime operations 1919–39
In 1921–22, ML's fleet was augmented by two second-hand ships. Sailings were resumed to New Orleans, and the Baltimore service was extended to Norfolk, Virginia. Some ships including the Manchester Civilian and Manchester Spinner became regular carriers in the coal trade from Sydney, Nova Scotia. The Civilian made several round trips from the US to Japan in 1923, carrying relief supplies after the Japanese earthquake. ML took delivery of the 7,930 tons steam turbine Manchester Regiment in 1922, constructed on the Tees by the Furness Shipbuilding Company. This ship with a crew of 65 was the largest operated to date, carrying 512 cattle, plus hold cargo and was equipped with large derricks to assist in heavy goods handling. The Regiment's record from the Mersey Bar to Quebec was seven days nine hours. In 1925 her captain won the gold-headed cane traditionally awarded each Spring to the master of the first ship to break through the St Lawrence ice to reach Montreal, a feat repeated later by several other ML captains. ML's old head office in Deansgate, Manchester became inadequate and was replaced in August 1922 by a purpose-built five-storey modern building in St Ann's Square next to the Royal Exchange.The line acquired two new ships in 1925, but later that year its fortunes were adversely affected by competition from subsidised American firms on the North Atlantic routes; ML disposed of seven ships between late 1925 and 1930, reducing its fleet to ten ships. The Regiment steamed 160 miles through a gale in 1929 to reach the sinking Glasgow steamer Volumnia. A lifeboat was launched to rescue the crew of forty-five. On return home, King George V awarded the Regiment's lifeboat crew the Silver Medal for Gallantry in Saving Life at Sea and Manchester's Lord Mayor presented a silver salver from the Board of Trade to Captain Linton. In 1933, amid the Great Depression, several ships were laid up; the Manchester Merchant of 1904 was disposed of for breaking up and the Manchester Civilian was sold to Greek owners. The public sailing programme for the 1933 summer season listed six ships as allocated to the weekly "Fast Freight Service" to Quebec and Montreal. The six steamers were advertised as being "fitted with fan or forced ventilation and all have cold storage accommodation". Most ships were also able to carry up to twelve passengers. After a ten-year gap, three new ships were commissioned between 1935 and 1938 as trade started to recover, maintaining the fleet at ten ships. The trio were equipped with automatic stokers for their coal-fired boilers and had greatly improved accommodation for the passengers and the crew.