Wikipedia / Allan Line
Wikipedia / Allan Line
The Allan Shipping Line was founded in 1819, by Captain Alexander Allan of Saltcoats, Ayrshire, trading and transporting between Scotland and Montreal, a route which quickly became synonymous with the Allan Line. By the 1830s the company had offices in Glasgow, Liverpool and Montreal. All five of Captain Allan's sons were actively involved with the business, but it was his second son, Sir Hugh Allan, who spearheaded the second generation. In 1854, Hugh launched the Montreal Ocean Steamship Company as part of the Allan Line, and two years later ousted Samuel Cunard to take control of the Royal Mail contract between Britain and North America. By the 1880s, the Allan Line was the world's largest privately owned shipping concern.
In 1891, the company took over the State Line (founded 1872) and was often referred to as the Allan & State Line. In 1897, Andrew Allan amalgamated the various branches of the Allan shipping empire under one company, Allan Line Steamship Company Ltd., of Glasgow. The company by then had added offices in Boston and London. In 1917, under Sir Montagu Allan, who represented the third generation of the Allan family, the company was purchased by Canadian Pacific Steamships, and by the following year the Allan name had disappeared from commercial shipping.
Notable collisions
In 1891, the Allan Line steamship Carthaginian collided with the York River Line steamship Charlotte in the shipping channel at Baltimore, Maryland. Among those aboard Carthaginian was the Danish-American composer Asger Hamerik. Both ships were damaged, but neither sank.
In 1905, the Allan Line ship was involved in a collision with the Hamburg America Line ship Albano off of Halifax, Nova Scotia. The Exchequer Court of Canada found Albano to be fully at fault, according to Reports of Cases Relating to Maritime Law. The case was later appealed to Canada's supreme court.
List of steamships
The Allan Line fleet evolved over the course of decades, changing as new ships were added, lost at sea, sold, or scrapped:
SS America
SS Assyrian
SS Austrian
SS Australasian (1857)
SS Australasian (1901)
SS Bavarian (1899)
SS Belgian (1855)
SS Bohemian (1859)
SS Brazilian
SS Buenos Ayrean
SS Californian
SS Canadian (1854)
(1859)
SS Canadian (1872)
SS Carthaginian
SS Caspian
SS Castilian
SS Circassian
SS City of Vienna
SS City of Bombay
SS Corean
SS Corinthian
SS Corsican
SS Damascus
SS Diamant
SS European
SS Gallia
SS Germany
SS Grecian
SS Hanoverian
SS Hesperian
SS Hibernian (1861)
SS Hibernian (1888)
SS Hibernian (1902)
(1859)
SS Hungarian (1902)
SS Huronian
SS Indian
SS Ionian
SS John Bell
SS Jura
SS Lake Erie
SS Laurentian
SS Livonian
SS Lucerne
SS Manitoban
SS Melita
SS Mersey
SS Mongolian
SS Monte Videan
SS Moravian
SS Nestorian (1866)
SS North American
SS North Briton
SS Norway
SS Norwegian (1861)
SS Norwegian (1865)
SS Nova Scotian
SS Numidian
SS Ontarian
SS Orcardian
SS Ottawa
SS Palestine
SS Prussian
SS Peruvian
SS Phoenician
SS Polynesian
SS Pomeranian
SS Roacian
SS Roumanian
SS Saint Andrew
SS Saint David
SS Saint George
SS Saint Patrick
SS Samaritan
SS Scandinavian (1869)
(1898)
SS Siberian (1946)
SS Sicilian
SS State of California
SS State of Georgia
SS State of Indiana
SS State of Nebraska
SS State of Nevada
SS State of Pennsylvania
SS Sweden
SS Tainui
SS Tower Hill
SS Tunisian
SS Turanian
SS Waldensian
References
Bibliography
Appleton, Thomas E. (1974). Toronto: McClelland and Stewart. (cloth)
"C.P.R. Gets Allan Line; Report Declared to be Correct in Spite of Official Denials," The New York Times. August 17, 1910.
Further reading
External links
A Shameful, Forgotten Wreck - the Untold History of the SS INDIAN Disaster (1859) via YouTube
HORRIFYING: The Disastrous Wreck of the SS HUNGARIAN (Cape Sable Island, NS - 1860) via YouTube]
The Bohemian's Missed Signals (1864) via YouTube