Collection of 135 documents relating to Orient Steam Navigation Company Limited
Date1878 - 1910
Object numberANMS0572
NameArchive series
MediumPaper
ClassificationsEphemera
Credit LineANMM Collection
DescriptionThese 135 documents outline agreements and corresponsdence between the Orient Steam Navigation Company and the Pacific Steam Navigation Company over the purchase of steam ships and the provision of a fortnightly service to Australia. The series consists of three sets of advice; two legal opinions; two sets of settlement instructions; one precis; 13 sets of handwritten notes, four proposed agreements, 12 draft agreements, nine agreements and 10 heads of agreement and arrangements refarding fortnightly sails and chartering vessels; 70 letters, three telegrams and six memorandums relating to agreements between the two companies. The documents span the period c1878 - 1910.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.