Company names and their ships names

[Ken Atkinson]

Ropner's ships were named after North Yorkshire villages ending in by such as Romanby, Thirlby etc.
Ropner sister company Pool had that as the suffix Stonepool, Bridgepool etc.
Reardon Smiths were the opposite of Ellermans having city as the suffix Welsh City, Tacoma City etc.
Jebsens had nes (headland in Norwegian) as the suffix Bravenes (+30k), Sharpnes (+20k), Rocknes (+10K), Clarknes (-10k)
Most ships following this pattern could be identified to an owner quite easily by a shipper or crew looking for reliability.

[vic mcclymont]

Court Line. Named after country houses.
Vic

[Tony Taylor]

Louis,
Your post about the Baron boats sent a shudder through me, I joined the Baron Elibank knowing nothing about them, over to Canada for pit props, one of my worst trips. Then later I joined a tanker and the name didn't click, the Baron Kilmarnock, but she was a terrific ship single accommodation, built for the Swedes, finest cook I ever sailed with.
As for names, the Hain's Co all had Cornish names starting with Tre
Des

Was there not a song about Baron Line? I have vague memory of someone singing it, but only the last couple of lines stick in my mind, "you might have sailed on all these ships and had a helluva of a time, but you've never yet been thro the mill till sailed on the Baron Line" or similar?

[Keith Tindell]

I think the old Haines trampers were named after Cornish villages, and i read somewhere , chosen by his wife. I sailed on the Treworlas, and when on holiday, made a point of looking it up, and it was just a gaggle of houses, no shop pub etc.

[Barry Peck]

Another obvious company name was Strick Line, after its founder Frank Clark Strick, but a lot don't know where the ship names came from. The trade was of course was always based on the Arabian Gulf, so the ending "istan" is Farsi and Arabic for "land of", hence Turkistan, Serbistan, Farsistan, etc.

Have you gone to sleep yet?

[James Curry]

U.S.S Head line ships called after famous head lands in Ireland , Fair Head, Bengore Head, etc!

[Tony Taylor]

Another obvious company name was Strick Line, after its founder Frank Clark Strick, but a lot don't know where the ship names came from. The trade was of course was always based on the Arabian Gulf, so the ending "istan" is Farsi and Arabic for "land of", hence Turkistan, Serbistan, Farsistan, etc.

Have you gone to sleep yet?

If I recall correctly, most of their ships were built by Redheads in S. Shields. I used to see them regularly in Middle Docks drydock.

[ian williamson]

What about good old Willie Tam Sing's Scottish Navy, even the port launch in Hong Kong was a 'Ben'.

[cappy]

If I recall correctly, most of their ships were built by Redheads in S. Shields. I used to see them regularly in Middle Docks drydock.

Never saw strick line vessels on the board in the pool in shields ......but if i remember they were all native crew and white officers and POs.....also as some one said earlier .....baron boats always emptied the pool and ropners ...although....our old friend from torquay ivan praised them quite highly ....perhaps it was a bad name from earlier timesR683532

[Harvey Stanger]

Hunting & Sons (the first company to operate tankers) had ships with the suffix ‘field’. I remember Thamesfield, Forthfield. They also managed the Argyll for an American company, probably Coral Venture too.