The Fleets
Originally, from 1849 the line carried cargos of fruit, wine, and brandy from Marseilles, Tarragona, Denia, Malaga, Cadiz and Charente to Montreal. Their fruit was in such excellent condition that merchants from Canada and the US came to Montreal to buy from them. They added Leghorn to their stops for marble; Naples and Sicily for lemons and oranges; Patras for currants; Valencia and Burriana for oranges and Bordeaux for wine. They ran fortnightly between Newcastle and Montreal, calling at London, Dundee or Aberdeen.
Few details are available of the early activities of the company's steamers, but in 1880 they began to carry cattle from Canada to Britain and from an early date, passengers and cargo were carried between the Mediterranean and Canada. In 1884 the company became known as Wm. Thomson & Sons. In 1907 the company was taken over by Cairn Line (Cairns, Noble & Co.) but the name Thomson Line was retained. Thomson Line passenger ships were sold to Cunard Line in 1911 and the company then operated only cargo services under the name Cairn - Thomson Line.
Many thanks to Ted Finch for his assistance in collecting this data. The following list was extracted from various sources. This is not an all inclusive list but should only be used as a guide.
Routes
- 1909 Newcastle - Quebec - Montreal (summer)
- 1909 Newcastle - Portland (winter)
- 1910 London - Southampton - Quebec - Montreal.
Ships
| Name | Built | Additional Information | GRT |
|---|---|---|---|
| Avlona | 1880 | wrecked in March of 1901, near Bilbao, Spain. | 1,833 |
| Barcelona | 1878 | 1890 wrecked and sold to Canada & Newfoundland Line | 1,802 |
| Bellona | 1881 | 1907 to Cairn Line, 1912 aground Nfld, refloated and 1914 sold to Canada renamed Desola, 1915 destroyed in Halifax explosion. | 2,932 |
| Cairnrona | 1900 | ex- Consuelo, 1909 purchased from Wilson Line renamed Cairnrona, 1911 sold to Cunard Line renamed Albania. | 7,640 |
| Canny | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Carmona | 1884 | lost | 3,000 |
| Cervona | 1896 | 1907 to Cairn Line, 1913 wrecked off Fermeuse, Nfld. | 3,779 |
| Deodar | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Deodara | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Deodarus | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Devona | 1896 | 1907 to Cairn Line, 1920 sold to Convoy SS Co., Dundee renamed Willkeno. | 3,779 |
| Dracona | 1884 | n/a | 1,854 |
| Escalona | 1884 | n/a | 1,854 |
| Fremona | 1887 | 1908 to Cairn Line, 1917 torpedoed and sunk off Brittany; loss of 11 lives. | 2,922 |
| Gerona | 1888 | 1898 wrecked Seal Island | 3,056 |
| Hurona | 1892 | 1908 to Cairn Line, 1919 sold to Charles M. Barnett, Dundee. | 3,432 |
| Iona | 1892 | 1908 to Cairn Line, 1915 torpedoed and sunk off Fair Isle. | 3,344 |
| Jacona | 1889 | 1908 to Cairn Line, 1915 mined and sunk off Troup Head; loss of 29 lives. | 2,969 |
| Latona | 1893 | ex- Warrigal, 1906 purchased from Blue Anchor Line,1907 to Cairn Line, 1908 sunk in collision with s/s JAPANIC in English Channel. | 4,338 |
| Scot | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Strathtay (1) | n/a | wrecked | n/a |
| Strathtay (2) | n/a | wrecked | n/a |
| Tortona | 1909 | 1911 sold to Cunard Line renamed Ausonia. | 7,907 |