The Story of P&O
Front Cover and Spine, The Story of P&O: The Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company by David Howarth and Stephen Howarth, 1986. Jacket Design by Wendy Taylor. GGA Image ID # 2054066ada
From the Dustjacket Flaps
P&O is as old as seagoing steamships, and its story weaves like a thread through the history of the British Empire. For 150 years, P&O has been one of the world's greatest shipping lines. Beginning with the mail contract to Gibraltar, P&O quickly became the natural way for generations of English men and women to travel to India and the Far East.
Many great names and colorful personalities have played their part in the story since Brodie McGhie Willcox and Arthur Anderson won, in 1837, their first contract to carry mail. Within a few years, P&O ships were familiar sights in ports throughout the Mediterranean and the Middle East.
As early as 1844, Arthur Anderson invented deep-sea cruising. By the 1880s, Victorian doctors had no hesitation in prescribing health-giving sea voyages. A hundred years later, cruising on P&O's famous white ships remains integral to the company's activities.
In Queen Victoria's age, traveling to Egypt or Aden was exciting enough. Still, as the gateway to India and the Far East (especially Hong Kong), P&O's name became indelibly imprinted on the minds of Englishmen of every class and fortune.
In wartime, P&O's service and sacrifice was vital to Britain's survival. In two world wars and the Falklands conflict, P&O ships and their crews endured with unprecedented courage, contributing to eventual victory.
Today, P&O is a modern, internationally-based company with wide-ranging interests; it faces the future with pride in its past and confidence in its ability to rise to new challenges.
P& O's quartered blazon is now as familiar inland as ever on the sea lanes. The naval historians David and Stephen Howarth tell vividly an exciting story of the birth and development of one of Britain's greatest companies.
Contents
Foreword
1. Steam and Sail
2. Onwards to India
3. Overland via Suez
4. Cruising
5. Crews and Passengers
6. Eastern Seas
7. The Crimean War and the Canal
8. Pax Britannica
9. Merger and Expansion
10. Endurance
11. End of Empire
12. Changing Patterns
13. Local Wars
14. A New Era
Illustration Acknowledgements
Index
Back Cover, The Story of P&O: The Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company by David Howarth and Stephen Howarth, 1986. 1937-1987 150 Years. GGA Image ID # 2054b6ec89
Jacket Illustration, P&O SS Medina Leaving Portsmouth in 1911, Carrying King George V and Queen Mary to India for the Durbar at Delhi. From an Oil Painting by W. Wyllie. GGA Image ID # 20547c4ec0
About the Authors
David Howarth is a distinguished naval and military historian whose accounts of Trafalgar and Waterloo are now regarded as classics. However, the first book that made him a best-selling author was an autobiography, The Shetland Bus (1951), and his most recent book is also an autobiography, Pursued by a Bear(1986). As the New Yorker once wrote, 'He is a brilliant writer full of grace, wit and solid common sense.'
Stephen Howarth (David Howarth's son) was born in 1953 and published his first book (The Koh-i-Noor Diamond: The History and the Legend) in 1980. He is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, a keen sailor, and an officer in the Royal Naval Reserve. His other books include The Knights Templar (1982) and Morning Glory: A History of the Imperial Japanese Navy ( 1983). His next book, Union with Its Native Sea: A History of the United States Navy, will be published in 1987.
Passenger Ships Referenced in The Story of P&O
- Aaron Manby
- Admiral Hipper
- Amra
- Anco Charger
- Arafura
- Arcadia (1888)
- Arcadia (1954)
- Aska
- Atfeh
- Atlantic Conveyor
- Awatea
- Banka
- Benares
- Bentinck
- Bharata
- Britannia
- Canberra
- Canton
- Carthage
- Cathay
- Ceylon
- Chantala
- Chilkana
- China
- Chitral
- Chusan (1852)
- Chusan (1950)
- Clan MacIntyre
- Commonwealth
- Comorin
- Corea
- Corfu
- Delta
- Domala
- Don Juan
- Douro
- Dragon
- Enterprise
- Ettricky
- Fauny
- Gairsoppa
- Gazana
- General Belgrano
- Glenartney
- Gneisenau
- Great Britain
- Great Eastern
- Great Liverpool
- Great Western
- Himalaya (1854)
- Himalaya (1892)
- Himalaya (1949)
- Hindostan
- Hugh Lindsay
- Iberia (1836)
- Iberia ( 1954)
- Jack-o'-Lantern
- Karanjdy
- Karachi
- Karmala
- Karoa
- Kenya
- Khiva
- Lady Margarety
- Lady Mary Woody
- Lady Newman
- Lady Sally
- Lahore
- Lauderdale
- Lincoln
- Lisbon
- Liverpool
- Lotusy
- Macedonia
- Madagascar
- Madras
- Maloja
- Martela
- Mashobra
- Mata Hari
- Mongolia
- Mooltan
- Möwe
- Nagpore
- Naidera
- Nalgora
- Nardana
- Narkunda
- Narvik
- Nellore
- Nepaul
- Neuralia
- Nirvana
- Norland
- Norsea
- Oceana
- Orama
- Oriana
- Oriental
- Orissa
- Ormond
- Oronsay
- Otaki
- Ottawa
- P&O Pencillings
- Pacha
- Parramatta
- Pera
- Persia
- Peshawar
- Plassyt
- Purfina Congo
- Rajputana
- Ranchi
- Rangitoto
- Ranpura
- Rawalpindi
- Redcar
- Regional Endeavour
- Rohilla
- Royal Princess
- St Rognvald
- St Ola
- Salsette
- Sardinia
- Savannah
- Scharnhorst
- Sea Quest
- Sérica
- Shanghai
- Shillong
- Shirala
- Simla
- Strathaird
- Strathallan
- Strathcarron
- Stratheden
- Strathewe
- Strathnaver
- Straths
- Sumatra
- Surada
- Swallow
- Taepingy
- Tagus
- Talamboy
- Trewidden
- Uganda
- Umeta
- Valetta
- Vasna
- Vectis (1853)
- Vectis (1881)
- Viceroy of India
- Victoria
- Wahine
- Waratahy
- William Fawcett
- Witch of the Wave
Steamship Lines Referenced in The Story of P&O
- Blue Anchor Line
- Blue Funnel Line
- Calcutta and Burmah Steam Navigation Company
- General Steam Navigation Company
- Hamburg America Line
- Khedivial Mail Line
- Mogul Line
- New Medway Steam Packet Company
- New Zealand Shipping Company
- Nourse Line
- Ocean Transport & Trading (OTT)
- Orient Line
- P&O Australia
- P&O Cruises
- P&O European Transport Services
- P&O New Zealand
- P&O-Orient Lines
- Peninsular Steam Navigation Company
- Princess Cruises
- Union Steamship Company of New Zealand
