1 Introduction: Ocean to Ocean 2 a Unique Style of Management 3 Sailings and Services 4 Representatives Abroad 5 Eastward Ho! Th
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Notes 1 Introduction: Ocean to Ocean 1. C. A. Middleton Smith, The British in China and Far Eastern Trade (New York: E. P. Dutton, 1919) p. 146. 2 A Unique Style of Management 1. Graham Turner, 'The Ship with Eight Captains', The Observer, 9 June 1968. 2. John Wyles, 'How Student Princes led Ocean away from the Sea', The Financial Times, 9 November 1976. 3. Richard Durning Holt, Speech at Liverpool Town Hall, 14 April 1939; reprinted in Fifty Years: A Commemoration of the Association of Sir Richard D. Holt with the Blue Funnel Line, 1889-J939 (1939). 4. P.J. Waller, Democracy and Sectarianism: A Political and Social History of Liverpool, 1868-1939 (Liverpool University Press, 1981) p.277. 5. Speech by Major Roland Thornton at the Nestorians' Annual Dinner on 29 April 1965. 6. Sir John Nicholson, 'Some Problems and Personalities of A. H., 1930-1960', unpublished manuscript, 1976. 7. Beatrice Webb's Diary. These and subsequent references are from the manu script diaries held in the British Library of Political and Economic Science. 3 Sailings and Services 1. W. s. Lindsay, History of Merchant Shipping and Ancient Commerce, IV (London, 1874) p. 436. 2. Captain E. W. C. Beggs, 'Voyage in the 55 Titan'. I am grateful to Mr Julian Holt for drawing my attention to this document and making a copy available tome. 3. A. Jackson and C. E. Wurtzburg, The History of Mansfield and Company, I, 1868-1924 (Singapore, 1952) p. 5. 4 Representatives Abroad 1. Middleton Smith, The British in China, p. 194. 2. S. Marriner and F. E. Hyde, The Senior: John Samuel Swire, 1825-98 (Liver pool University Press, 1967) p. 61. 3. Ibid, p.205. 4. K. G. Tregonning, Home Port Singapore: A History of Straits Steamship Company Limited, 1890-1965 (Singapore: Oxford University Press for Straits Steamship Company Limited, 1967) p. 59. 5. Ibid, p.55. 5 Eastward Ho! The Beginnings of Ocean Steam Ship 1. J. K. Fairbank et al., East Asia: The Modern Transformation (London: Allen & Unwin, 1965) p.340. 378 Notes 379 6 Combined Efforts: Holts and the Conference System 1. Marriner and Hyde, The Senior, pp. 135-6. 2. Ibid, p.115. 3. Quoted in Eric Jennings, Cargoes: A Centenary Story of the Far Eastern Freight COllference (Singapore: Meridian Communications, 1980) p. 25. 4. China Mail, Hong Kong, 22 November, 1879, quoted in Jennings, Cargoes, p.24. 5. D.]. Amos, The Story of the Commonwealth Fleet of Steamers (Adelaide: E.]. McAlister) p. 12. 7 The New Century: Profits and Perils 1. Diary of a Liverpool Dock Worker: Memoirs of Mr Pridgeon, 1883-1940, unpublished manuscript in the possession of his granddaughter, Miss Cathy Pridgeon, to whom I am indebted for permission to quote from the memoirs. 2. The House of Dodwell: A Century of Achievement, 1859-1958 (London: Dodwell, 1958) p. 29. 3. Ibid, p.30. 4. F. E. Hyde, Blue Funnel: A History of Alfred Holt and Company of Liverpool, 1865-1914 (Liverpool University Press, 1957) pp. 180-1. 5. F. G. Hanham, Report of Enquinj into Casual Labour in the Merseyside Area (Liverpool, 1930). 6. Based on information communicated to the author by G. P. Holt. 7. See Brian Heathcote, 'Lawrence Holt', in Strive (Outward Bound magazine) winter 1971. 8. Based on information communicated to the author by Sir Lindsay Alexander. 9. Diary of a Liverpool Dock Worker. 10. Hyde, Blue Funnel, p.175. 11. The Economist, 24 November 1917, p.833. 12. Ibid. 8 After the War: An Uncertain World 1. A. G. Arnold, Development of the Marine Diesel Engine in Messrs Alfred Holt and Company's Fleet, 1921-1956 (paper read before the Institute of Marine Engineers) p. 135. 2. Department of Overseas Trade, Report on the Commercial, Industrial and Economic Situation in China for 1927 (London: HMSO, 1928) p. 27. 3. W.]. Moore, Shanghai Century (Ilfracombe: A. H. Stockwell, 1966). 4. Ibid, p.70. 5. Ibid, pp. 70-1. 9 The 1930s: Collapse and Revival 1. Compton Mackenzie, Realms of Silver: One Hundred Years of Banking in the East (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1954) p. 254. 2. Tregonning, Home Port Singapore, p. 161. 3. There is interesting information on competition between Glen and Blue Funnel ships in M. Cooper, 'McGregor Gow and the Glen Line: The Rise and Fall of a British Shipping Firm in the Far East Trade, 1870-1911', Journal 380 Notes of Transport History, September 1989. I am grateful to Dr Cooper forietting me see a copy of his paper prior to publication. 4. The Times, 12 March 1932. 5. The Economist, 19 March 1932. 6. Quoted in E. Green and M. Moss, A Business of National Importance: The Royal Mail Shipping Group, 1902-1937 (London: Methuen, 1982) pp. 185-6. 10 The Company at War 1. S. W. Roskill, A Merchant Fleet in War: Alfred Holt and Co., 1939-1945 (London: Collins, 1962) p. 20. 2. Ibid. 3. I am grateful to Mr Julian Holt for the loan of this document. 4. R. H. Thornton, British Shipping (Cambridge University Press, 1939). A second edition was published in 1959. 5. Roskill, A Merchant Fleet in War, p.30. lt Picking up the Pieces 1. United Nations, Economic Survey of Asia and the Far East, 1951 (New York: United Nations, 1952) p. xv. 2. The Economist, 20 February 1965. 3. A. McLellan, The History of Mansfield and Company, Part II, 1920-1953 (Singapore, 1953) p. 9. 4. Ibid. 12 Into the 1960s: Calm before the Storm 1. The Financial times, 22 May 1964. 13 Organising a Group 1. The Financial Times, 9 November 1976. 2. Ibid. 14 Blue Funnel Contained: New Ships and New Enterprises 1. The Economist, 15 January 1966. 2. The Economist, 8 April 1972. Sources and Bibliography The major primary source used in the preparation of this volume has been the Ocean archive housed in the Record Office of the Liverpool Maritime Museum. This important archive contains minute books, ledgers, Managers' correspond ence, Chairmen's reports to shareholders, voyage records, fleet books, and a great deal of additional material. Sadly, though, the bulk of Company material relating to the years before 1941 was lost as a result of the destruction of India Buildings in the war. Another important archival source is contained in the records of John Swire & Sons, deposited in the Library of the London School of Oriental and African Studies. Due to the courtesy of the companies concerned I have also been able to use additional material still retained in India Buildings in Liverpool and in Swire's head office in London. Many documents relating to the Holt family are deposited in the Record Office of Liverpool City Libraries (including Sir Richard Holt's unpublished diary). George Palmer Holt kindly made available to me the unpublished diaries of Alfred Holt and George Mansfield. Anyone wishing to explore the history of Blue Funnel from published works must start with the major history of the company, F. E. Hyde, Blue Funnel: A History of Alfred Holt and Company of Liverpool, 1865-1914 (Liverpool University Press, 1957). The history of the Blue Funnel and Glen fleets during the Second World War is told in S. W. Roskill, A Merchant Fleet in War, Alfred Holt & Co., 1939-1945 (London: Collins, 1962). Also useful are two fleet lists, H. M. Le Fleming, Ships of the Blue Funnel Line (Southampton: Adlard Cotes, 1961) and Duncan Haws, Merchant Fleets: Blue Funnel Line (Torquay: TCL Publications, 1984). From time to time the Company has published brief historical booklets and other material, of which the best is The Blue Funnel Line (Liverpool: Alfred Holt and Company, 1938). Much information can also be obtained in The Manchester Guardian Commercial, The Blue Funnel Line', 24 June 1924. For particular aspects of Blue Funnel history the various issues of the house magazine Staff Bulletin, first published in 1947 (and later renamed Ocean and Ocean Mail) are invaluable. Technical details of the diesel engines can be found in A. G. Arnold, Development of the Marine Diesel Engine in Messrs. Alfred Holt and Company's Fleet, 1921-1956 (Liverpool: A. Holt and Co., 1957). W. J. Moore, Shanghai Century (Ilfracombe: A. H. Stockwell, 1966) gives a vivid picture of conditions in the 1930s and 1940s at Holt's wharf in Shanghai. The biography of John Swire by S. Marriner and F. E. Hyde, The Senior, John Samuel Swire, 1825-98 (Liverpool University Press, 1967) contains much of interest about Alfred and Philip Holt, the Blue Funnel Line, and early conference operations. Also concerned with Swire history are Charles Drage, Taikoo (London, Constable, 1970); and Fifty years of Shipbuilding and Repairing in the Far East (Hong Kong: The Taikoo Dockyard and Engineering Co., 1953). Mansfields is less well served, although there is much of interest in Eric Jennings, Mans fields: Transport and Distribution in South-East Asia (Singapore: Meridian Com munications, 1973) and in the two brief pamphlets A. Jackson and C. E. Wurtzburg, The History of Mansfield and Company, Part I, 1868-1924 (Singapore: Mansfield and Co., 1952) and A. McLellan, The History of Mansfield and Company, Part II, 1920-1953 (Singapore: Mansfield and Co., 1953). Histories of other Holt agencies which have relevant material include D. R. 381 382 Sources and Bibliography MacGregor, The China Bird: The History of Captain Killick and One Hundred Years of Sail and Steam (London: Chatto & Windus, 1961), and Dodwell and Co., The House of Dodwell- A Century of Achievement (London: Dodwell and Co., 1958). For the component parts of Holts' shipping interests, by far the most detailed treatment is that given to Elder Dempster in P.