The history of Thos.B.Royden
& Co. began in 1800 when Thomas Royden in partnership with
a timber merchant named Bland started to build small sailing
ships in Liverpool on the site where the Brunswick Dock stands
today. It was a fairly common practice in those days, especially
in Canada, for a timber supplier to work in conjunction with
a shipbuilder. The timber would be supplied on credit and the
timber merchant would recoup his costs plus a percentage of
the profit from the sale of the ship. Royden's in this instance
provided the yard and between six and twenty four shipwrights
to build the ships which were of a basic design and rig to carry
a specific tonnage of cargo at a quoted price.
As with most other shipbuilders Royden and Bland often ended
up with shares in some of the ships they built and occasionally,
when new buildings were not sold quickly, they operated the
ships on their own account. It was quite common to build ships
'on spec' in order to keep the yard busy so that key personnel
were not lost to other yards and the move into ship owning and
operating was a slow but logical step.
By 1854 Thomas Royden was building
one wooden ship every other year for their own account and seven
were completed on that basis. The Anne Royden (1175grt), completed
in 1856, was the largest wooden ship built for their fleet and
operated out of Liverpool to India. In 1860 the smallest of
the fleet was the Zingara (287grt) built for the South America
trade and the difference between these two ships indicates the
spread of Royden's sea-going activities at that time.
The yard started to build iron
hulls in 1864 and, apart from intermarriage, the Bland family
had no involvement whatsoever in the company which was known
as Thos. B Royden & Son and headed by Thomas Bland Royben
who was later to become Lord Royden. In July of that year the
barque Beatrice (591grt) joined the fleet on the Liverpool to
Australia run, quickly followed by six other iron hulled vessels,
the Clifford (915grt), the Ismyr (610grt), the L'Allegro (612grt),
Royden's largest sailing ship the Lucile (1491grt), the Lurlei
(835grt) and the Sabina (792grt). The sailing ships operating
to India gradually came under the management of the Liverpool
firm of McVicar, Marshall & Co. who were well established
in that particular trade.
In 1888 Royden's built their
first two steamers, the Indra and the Indrani, for their own
account. Before the days of limited liability companies ships
were owned by one ship companies and the profits and liabilities
were limited to the equity of that particular vessel. The two
ships were initially placed on the India run, managed by McVicar,
Marshall & Co., and advertised as the Indra Line of Steamships.
G. D. Tyser & Co. chartered the Indra in 1891 for their
New Zealand service and thus began a developing relationship
which eventually culminated in the formation of the Commonwealth
& Dominion Line in 1914. However, it was James P. Corry
& Co. who organised the sailing schedules and integrated
the ship with their 'Star Line' vessels. In the following year
Tyser's chartered the Indramayo for their Australian service
and fitted her out with a refrigeration plant so that she could
carry frozen meat. Payment to Royden's was on a commission basis
which increased when trade was good so that Royden's shared
some of the risk. Tyser & Co., who were in reality voyage
brokers, were protected to some extent against financial risks
which could occur in distant Australia. As the pattern of Royden's
trade altered McVicar, Marshall & Co. who were managing
the India trade, eventually dropped out but continued in their
right as Palace Steamship Co. until the end of World War 1.
In 1893 Royden's sold their yard
to the Mersey Docks & Harbour Board and withdrew from shipbuilding
as it was not big enough to cope with growth in steamship construction
and the cost of a new building was considerably higher than
that which could be obtained from the Clyde or similar yards.
The Indra Line Ltd was incorporated
in 1901 with Thomas Bland Royden as manager and operated ten
steamships from New York to the Far East. The remaining ships
worked in conjunction with Tyser & Co. but with James P.
Corry & Co. Ltd operating them on the Australia run within
their own sailing schedules. This policy led to the smaller
ships being replaced with a fleet of modern vessels each with
a sound trading base. Built at different yards their varying
profiles revealed the differences between the ships and with
a new modern fleet Thos. B. Royden & Co soon became very
prosperous.
On 23rd January 1914 three ships, the Indrapura, the Indrabarah
and the Indralema were transferred to the newly incorporated
Commonwealth & Dominion Line becoming, in 1916, the Port
Adelaide, the Port Elliot and the Port Alma respectively. To
provide a feeder service from the West Indies to New York the
Santa Clara Steam Ship Co. was incorporated with T.B. Royden
& Sons as managers. The steamship Santa Clara was built
to operate the service. In 1915 the remaining New York service
was sold to Alfred Holt's Blue Funnel Line and Indra Line Ltd
was wound up. The Santa Clara S.S. Co. remained as T.B.Royden's
only independent shipping interest.
When Cunard's new office was
completed at Liverpool's Pier Head in 1917 the Santa Clara S.S.
Co. moved in still under the same management. Thomas Royden
was also a director of Cunard and later became Chairman as Sir
Thomas and then Lord Royden.
The Pinar del Rio was built for
the Santa Clara S.S. Co. in 1920 and when the Santa Clara foundered
in September 1924 the company continued to maintain a service
with one ship. In 1930 the Pinar del Rio was sold to the Bristol
City Line and renamed City of Montreal and with that transaction
the shipowning saga of the Royden family came to an end after
130 years.
The Fleet
The history of Thomas B. Royden
& Co. and its' ships has been extracted from
Merchant Fleets 21: Port Line by Duncan Haws
to whom we extend our grateful thanks.
Available from TCL PUBLICATIONS
