The Allen Collection

Clan Line

History

Clan Line was founded in Liverpool in 1877 as C.W.Cavzer  & Company; the name changed to Cayzer, Irvine & Co. in 1878 when William Irvine joined the company. They ran passenger steam services between Bombay and the UK via the Suez Canal and started a service to South Africa in 1881 and opened a larger office in Glasgow. Company vessels all had names with the prefix 'Clan'.

The company became Clan Line Steamers Ltd 1890 with Cayzer having a majority interest. They acquired the Persian Gulf Steam Ship Company in 1894 and extended its routes in the Persian Gulf and to North America  and started to handle cargo. Cayzer Irvine & Co. was incorporated in 1907 but remained in the hands of the Cayzer family.

Clan Line acquired the Scottish Shire Line, the Houston Line was taken over together and the British and South American Steam Navigation Company in 1918 and by the late 1930s it was the biggest cargo carrying concern in the world. The fleet sustained losses in both world wars.

The company changed over to motor ships in the 1950s and took over the Thompson Steam Shipping Co. in 1952. There was a merger between Clan Line and Union-Castle groups (including King Line and Bullard King & Company) in 1956 and the new company was called British & Commonwealth Shipping Limited.

With the advent of containerisation, the company ran down the shipping side of the business and in the early 1980s were diversifying into other business ventures. Clan Line ceased trading in 1981 but Cayzer Irvine continued to manage ships until 1987.

Because there are so many Clan Line photographs in this collection they have had to be split over multiple pages.

Clan Line

Clan Allen to Macauley

Clan Macbean to Maclay

Clan Maclean to Urquhart