Collection of 11 items relating to the Orient Steam Navigation Company
Date1880 - 1897
Object numberANMS0575
NameArchive series
MediumPaper
ClassificationsEphemera
Credit LineANMM Collection
DescriptionThese 11 items detail correspondence relating to the Orient Steam Navigation Company. The series consists of one telegram regarding the SS COTOPAXI; one set of notes of an interview with George Skelton Yuill, General Manager in Australia; one account of salaries, wharf and freight charges handwritten by Yuill; one memorandum and seven letters sent from the Orient Steam Navigation Company in London to its offices in Australia. The documents span the period 1880 - 1897.HistoryThe Orient Steam Navigation Company, also known as the Orient Line, began as a British ship broking company founded by James Thompson in 1797. The company was joined by James Anderson in 1828, and his nephew in 1854, and operated sailing routes around the world under the name of Anderson, Anderson and Co. In 1878, the company bought a fleet of steam ships and formed the Orient Steam Navigation Company (shortened to the Orient Line). In 1879 the ORIENT, a ship purpose-built for the company, entered service on the Australia route.
By the turn of the century, the Orient Line had a close association with the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company, with the two companies sharing the lucrative Australian Government mail contract. This was a time of rapid expansion for the Orient Line, with five 12,000 tonne ships - ORSOVA, OTWAY, OSTERLEY, OTRANTO and ORVIETO - entering the fleet in 1909.
After World War I, the Orient Line sought to replenish its tonnage and commissioned the construction of five sleek new turbine-driven ships: ORAMA, ORONSAY, OTRANTO, ORFORD and ORONTES, completed between 1924 and 1929. The magnificent 20,000 tonners were designed to carry more than 1,200 migrants in modest third class accommodation and nearly 600 first class passengers in opulent surroundings. By the mid-1930s the third class capacity on these ships was reduced and renamed tourist class. In 1935, the ORION was launched, and its corn-coloured hull went on to become the Line's signature colour.
In the 1950s three new ships, ORONSAY, ORCADES and ORSOVA, were built to replace vessels lost during World War II. With competition from air travel, the Line's ships were increasingly diverted to cruising. ORIANA was the last ship ordered for the Orient Line and the last one to fly the Orient Line flag. The Orient Line was eventually absorbed into the P&O Line in 1966.