Prince Line
was founded by James Knott who was born on 31st January
1855, the eldest son of Matthew Knott, a grocer of
Heddon on the north bank on the River Tyne. Matthew
Knott owned a corner shop where he manufactured his
own brand of biscuit and other relatives included
a chemist and a rope manufacturer. By the end of 1855
Matthew Knott had expanded into beer, wine and spirits
retailing and had moved to North Shields. When James
was ready to leave school at the age of 14 his father's
business was moderately successful and James could
have taken an easy path and joined the family firm.
However, having become a regular worshipper and helper
at the Howard Street Wesleyan Church, the puritanism
of the chapel probably influenced James's choice of
career.
Consequently, in 1869, he found a job as an office boy with
a shipping company on Newcastle Quayside and six years later,
at the age of 20, started his own business as a shipbroker
and merchant. He quickly came to the conclusion that shipowning
provided more opportunities than broking and in 1878 he purchased
his first ship, the Scarborough registered collier brig Pearl,
for £186. At the same time he began to manage other
sailing ships which were owned by shareholders on the 64ths
principle. In the same year James married Margaret Annie,
the daughter of the Reverend Thomas Garbutt, who was destined
to bear him three sons, Thomas, James and Henry.
James was quick to see the
advantages of steam and in March 1881 his fist steam ship,
the Saxon Prince, was launched at C.S. Swan & Hunter's
yard at Wallsend and during the following two years eight
additional vessels joined his fleet. On 11th July 1884 James
formed the Prince Steam Shipping Company to manage some of
his ships even though the shipping industry was at the time
in a depressed state. The Highland Prince, which had been
built by Short brothers at Sunderland in 1883, was the first
ship registered under the new company. The company, in which
James was the principal shareholder, had a nominal capital
of £250,000 of which only £52,060 was initially
paid up. The Prince of Wales feathers were adopted as the
company crest.
James Knott (1855-1934)
During the following two years
six more six new ships joined the fleet and a close relationship
developed between James Knott and the Short Brothers at Sunderland,
a relationship which provided financial stability for the
shipyard. When John Young Short took control of the yard upon
the death of his father George in 1870 he was keen on ship
design development and advocated the construction of cargo
vessels with greater beams to improve stability. This new
trend won the company awards for ship design and established
the shipyard as a builder of quality ships.
In 1886 James Knott sold his remaining sailing ships to W.
Milburn of South Shields and by 1888 his fleet of steam ships
consisted of twenty one vessels. The company was, by now,
reasonably well established and James called upon his shareholders
to contribute further paid up capital to finance the building
of four additional ships, each of around 3,200 tons. One of
the new buildings, the Asiatic Prince, had the distinction
of being one of the first ships to enter the new port at Buenos
Aires in 1889.
Still very aware of new opportunities
within the shipping industry James Knott ordered a bulk 4,380
dwt bulk oil-tanker from the yard of Armstrong, Mitchell &
Co. Ltd at Tyne only three years after the first purpose built
oil-tanker, the Gluckauf, entered service in 1886. Named Russian
Prince she was quickly joined by the Circassian Prince and
the Oranje Prince, the former being the first bulk oil-tanker
built by C.S. Swan & Hunter. The ships were deployed on
the company's routes which, by now extended from North to
South America, the UK to the Continent and South America and
a service from the Mediterranean to West Indies and Gulf ports.
In building a major shipping
company James Knott was a hard task master. All his ships
carried the notice 'All accidents are the result of carelessness'
pasted on the forepart of the bridge and the wise master took
every precaution to avoid a confrontation with the owner.
In addition to building a shipping empire James Knott also
studied law and was called to the Bar in 1889 but had to abandon
his legal practice after only four years to concentrate on
his marine business. In 1906 he unsuccessfully contested the
Parliamentary seat at Tyneside but in 1910 was elected to
the House of Commons as the Conservative member for Sunderland.
Since most of his ships were built in Sunderland this may
have contributed to his election and certainly to the Presidency
of the Institute of Marine Engineers in 1907. James Knott
was a man of many talents, shipowner, barrister, Member of
Parliament, farmer, colliery owner, churchman, sportsman,
deep sea fisherman, yachtsman, philanthropist, student and
gardener, attributes which were recognised when he became
a Knight of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem.
By 1890 the fleet consisted of 29 steam ships and three years
later the size had increased to 47 ships with new ships arriving
at regular intervals. Up until 1896 most of the ships had
clipper bows and were affectionately referred to as 'Jimmy
Knott's yachts'.
The company commenced a regular service to the Mediterranean
in 1894 just prior to the opening of the Manchester Ship Canal.
This came about primarily because Moss Line, who had a virtual
monopoly of the Egyptian cotton trade, refused to use the
canal in line with other Liverpool shipowners who had opposed
the maritime link to Manchester. James Knott, who up until
the canal's opening used Saltport for a service to Tunis,
Malta, Egypt, Palestine, Syria, Greece and Cyprus, accepted
an invitation to use the canal and was represented at the
Opening Ceremony on 1st January 1884 by the Belgian Prince
which had recently arrived from Alexandria with a cargo of
raw cotton.
Prince Line (1895) Ltd was
incorporated on the 28th February 1895 with fourteen ships
so as to make the company more attractive to shippers using
the regular liner trades to the River Plate, West Indies,
Levant, Greece, Egypt and Syria. The company, whose registered
office was at the Prudential Assurance Buildings in Dean Street,
Newcastle was formed with a nominal capital of £500,000
divided into 50,000 shares of £10 each. The first six
directors were C.H. Scott, J. Donald, W.R. Kay, J.D. Harrison,
J.Unwin with James Knott as Managing Director. G.H. Elder
was the company's first managing clerk. James Knott, however,
had the powers of the full Board and permanency of office
as long as his shareholding remained above 100, he remained
solvent and healthy and did not undertake any action which
was deemed to be wilful misconduct. He had full power to make
all seagoing and shore based managerial appointments and to
effect all contracts relating to insurances, charters, repairs
etc. James's remuneration was based on gross registered tonnage
and a percentage of the voyage profits.
.JPG)
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