Philip's objective was clearly to dominate
the Far East routes. In 1913 the Radnorshire(3) and the Merionethshire(3)
were bought at the yard to replace the two Brocklebank ships.
But these alone were insufficient for developing the Far East
routes so seven larger ships were ordered, five for Shire
and two for Glen. The Cardiganshire, built in Belfast and
launched in the September, was the first and half as big again
as any previous Shire vessel. When she joined the fleet the
clipper bowed Flintshire was sold to the Ellerman Line. The
Carmarthenshire and the Pembrokeshire hitherto on the West
Indies routes were renamed and transferred to Royal Mail's
Canada - West Indies route.
The outbreak of the First World
War in August 1914, effectively postponed Owen Philips' plans
as the ships came under wartime government control. In the
same year the Panama Canal was opened which was to have far
reaching consequences for Royal Mail's activities.
As expected hostilities bring
about losses but it was not until January 1917 that Shire
lost a vessel.. The Radnorshire was captured by the German
auxiliary cruiser Mowe and, after ferrying the crew to Pernambuco,
was sunk and four days later, during her maiden voyage, the
Breckonshire was similarly captured and sunk by the Möwe
but on this occasion the crew were interred for the duration.
Also in 1917 Charles Holland
became managing director of Glen & Shire Line and shortened
the name of the agents to McGregor, Gow & Holland Ltd.
In May 1918 the company lost
its only other ship, the Merionethshire, when she was torpedoed
and sunk north of the Azores. After the hostilities the fleet
consisted of six ships, the former Jenkins' vessels Denbighshire
and Monmouthshire and Royal Mail's Cardiganshire, Carnarvonshire,
Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire. The war losses were replaced
with standard ships, the War Armour became the Glamorganshire(5),
the War Diamond the Radnorshire(4) and the War Valour became
the Montgomeryshire(3) but not until 1921. The two Jenkins'
ships became surplus to Far East requirements and were transferred
to Royal Mail's West Indies routes and renamed.
From 1920 Shire Line was integrated with Glen Line and traded
as GLEN & SHIRE LINE but the Glen operation predominated
with the Shire vessels being given black topped, red funnels.
The Royal Mail house flag was similarly replaced. Although
management was transferred to McGregor, Gow & Holland
Ltd the Shire vessels remained under Royal Mail ownership.
One consequence of the amalgamation was that the China-Japan-North
America service was dropped being taken over by Royal Mail
via the Panama Canal. The Glen and Shire Line was strictly
limited to the Far East services.
Gradually the Shire element
diminished and ships built to the 1910 Glen Line Ltd specification
were only given Shire names so as to fulfill the Conference
allocation rules. To all intents and purposes the Shire identity
had virtually disappeared, its history thereafter being part
of Glen Line's.
The history of Shire
Line and its' ships has been extracted from
Merchant Fleets 22: Glen and Shire Lines by Duncan Haws
to whom we extend our grateful thanks.
Available from TCL PUBLICATIONS
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