Currie Line of Leith

175 Years in the Continental Trades

The 1,718grt Zealand was built in 1906 by Barclay, Curle at Whiteinch. She suffered a spell in German hands during WW 1. In 1935 she moved to Ulster SS Co. and was renamed Fair Head. On 5th May 1941 she was mined in Dufferin Dock, Belfast and subsequently broken up at Bangor.

The Hull and Leith Shipping Company was formed around the year 1800, and the rival Leith and Hamburgh Shipping Company was formed around 1816 with services between Leith and Hamburg. In 1836, a small wooden paddle steamer, Pegasus of 130 grt began trading between Leith and Hull, but she was wrecked off Holy island in 1843. In 1847, the companies merged with the Edinburgh and Dundee Steam Packet Company to become the Forth and Clyde Shipping Company. In 1852, regular sailings between Leith and Hamburg began and the company name was changed to a new title of the Leith, Hull and Hamburg Steam Packet Company (LHHSP).

One of the leading partners in the LHHSP at this time was Thomas Barclay, a brother of the Head of Barclay, Curle & Co. Ltd., shipbuilders on the Clyde. Vessels such as the iron three masted screw steamer Edina of 380 grt were completed by Barclay, Curle & Co. Ltd. in 1854 for the passenger and cargo services to Hamburg, Copenhagen and Stettin. She was sold in 1862 for service in Australian waters for Callender & Walker of Melbourne. Barclay, Curle & Co. Ltd. also built the sisters Cumberland and Sutherland of 959 grt in 1966, the first for the company with the suffix ‘land’. They were three masted steamers with fo’c’stle and poop of length forty feet, and powered by two cylinder compound steam engines by the builders. They were lengthened during 1869/71 to give dimensions of length 252 feet by beam of thirty feet, the same dimensions of two new steamers built in 1871/72 as Courland and Gothland of 1,482 grt from the Robert Napier and J. & J. Thomson yards on the Clyde. The latter pair had a spar deck for passengers, and other vessels ran cargo only services to all German, Baltic and Russian ports such as Bremen, Danzig, Pilau, Koningsberg, Libau, Pernau and St. Petersburg.

The 629grt Britannia was built in 1918 by Smith’s Dock Co. at South Bank as the patrol frigate Killiney. She was rebuilt as the cargo ship Thropton for Joplin & Hull Shipping Co. in 1920. She joined the Leith, Hull & Hamburg SP Co. as Britannia in 1924. In 1960 she was sold to Biagio Mancino and renamed Angelina Mancino. She was broken up at Baia in 1976.

The first ship named Britannia of 327 grt had been taken over in 1947 with the Edinburgh and Dundee Steam Packet Company, and the second Britannia of 371 grt had been built in 1862 and sold a year later to a Liverpool owner for use as an American Civil War blockade runner. Britannia of 420 grt built in 1866 was the third steamer of this name for the company, but was wrecked in 1873 off Holy island. The steamer Ferrara of 1,162 grt built in 1880 by Robert Steele & Company at Greenock achieved greater fame later when sold in 1915 to the Anglo-Persian oil Co. Ltd. (renamed BP in 1954) as a cased oil carrier until she was burnt out and sunk in July, 1923.

The Currie Family

In 1862, Donald Currie (1825-1909) gained a controlling interest in the LHHSP Company. He was the third son of ten children of James Currie of Belfast (1797- 1851), who began his career at the age of fourteen years as an errand boy in a shipowner’s office, followed by a position of clerk with Cunard Line at Liverpool in 1843. In the same year of 1862, he founded the famous Castle Line with four sailing ships with ‘Castle’ names for trade between Liverpool and Calcutta, and ten years later his first ship sailed for Cape Town. In 1900, his Castle Line merged with the Union Line to form the Union- Castle Line with regular passenger and cargo sailings to South Africa for the next 78 years. Castle Line ships flew a blue and white Scottish saltire houseflag with a central white diamond bearing a red ‘C’.

Very shortly after Donald Currie acquired the controlling interest in LHHSP, its elderly manager died and his brother James Currie, who worked on the engineering staff of David and Charles MacIver of the Burns, MacIver and Cunard Line companies, moved across from MacIver’s to head up the LHHSP as James Currie & Company in Leith. Donald Currie then resigned from Cunard Line and formed Donald Currie & Company at 48 Albany, Liverpool for the Indian trade. Donald Currie was knighted on 20th July 1881 and the Castle Mail Packet Co. Ltd. issued public shares to vastly increase its capital and fleet at the same time. The Currie brothers operated a joint service from Liverpool to Hamburg from 1877 as the Liverpool & Hamburg Line, and it was on these ships that the suffix ‘land’ came into regular use in the LHHSP ships. Donald Currie also often chartered vessels from the LHHSP to supplement his sailings to South Africa.

The LHHSP vessels accounted for half of the steam tonnage operating from Leith by 1865, and James Currie wrote a letter that year to the Leith Dock Commission, formed in 1826, about delays in loading his ships with coal. Many times his steamers had been forced to use Granton instead of Leith and one ship had to wait five days at Leith for its cargo. Leith serviced a flourishing general cargo trade at this time and was also the principal outlet for the Lothians coal field output. In 1852, the Victoria Dock had opened at Leith as the first part of rebuilding the old port as there was insufficient space at low tide for the London and Continental steamers to berth. The Albert Dock followed in 1869, the Edinburgh Dock was opened at Leith in 1881 and the imperial Dock in 1902. By 1890, the LHHSP had become so successful that it contributed no less than 15% of the port tonnage dues, 21% of goods dues, plus a corresponding amount in dry-dock charges and other sums due to the Leith Dock Commission. The hydraulic crane used for loading coal at Leith had a wooden operating tower placed separately from the crane.

James Currie died in 1900 when his LHHSP fleet numbered 42 steamers, tributes being paid by local business people, the Leith Dock Commission, and the royal Scottish geographical Society, of which he was a founder member. His eldest son, Dr. James Currie, born 1863, took over as Senior Partner in James Currie & Company until his death on 2nd November 1931 aged 67 years. His youngest son, Alastair Currie, was also a partner in James Currie & Company until he retired from business in 1937 but remained a partner for another year. He later died in January 1942 at his home at Walkerburn in Peebleshire, and he had also been a partner between 1900 and 1930 in Donald Currie & Company, shipowners of London and Liverpool and managers of Union-Castle Line. This shows the continuing close connection in the Currie family interests in the LHHSP and the Union-Castle Line.

A New Century

The 2,736grt Pineland was built in 1949 by Caledon at Dundee. In 1957 she was sold to A/S D/S Neptun and renamed Cetus, and in 1961 she joined D/S A/S Solo of Oslo as Skrymer. In 1962 she moved to Polish SS Co. as Poznan II. In 1972 she was hulked as the storage barge MP-ZP-GDA22.

A large fleet of forty steamers was being operated by the LHHSP Company in 1900, with many of the fleet having German names such as the passenger carrying Breslau, Coblenz, Prague and Weimar, with six more cargo only steamers of 1,475 grt completed during 1904/13 as Mecklenburg, Brandenburg, Luxemburg, Magdeburg, Oldenburg and Westphalia. The fourth Britannia of 726 grt was owned at the turn of the century, she had been sunk by collision off St. Abbs Head in 1891, but was later salvaged and served in the fleet until she was wrecked on the Farnes on 25th September 1915 under Capt. Halerow while on a voyage from the Tyne to Leith, all 19 crew and two passengers were rescued. Cumberland built in 1866 was also still in the fleet at the turn of the century, but she was sunk by collision in the Elbe eleven years later. The passenger steamer sisters Breslau and Coblenz of 1,366 grt had been built in 1883 and sailed from Leith on Wednesdays and Saturdays for Hamburg on regular services, and were supported by the older steamer Prague of 1,077 grt built in 1872, which also had time to fit in a fortnightly call at Bremerhaven, and by Weimar of 1,590 grt launched on 21st December 1889 by Miss Elsa Currie at the local shipyard of Ramage and Ferguson. all of the Hamburg passenger and cargo only steamers had German names, whereas Rona and Thorsa were white hulled passenger steamers for the Copenhagen service of 1,312 grt with accommodation for 46 First Class passengers, twenty in Second Class, and many more in steerage in the ‘tween decks.

World War I

The LHHSP Company fleet had a large fleet of 37 ships in august 1914, three of these ships were seized in German ports on the outbreak of war, and five more were caught up in the Baltic. Vienna of 1,912 grt completed in 1903 by Ramage & Ferguson at Leith with accommodation for fifty First Class passengers for the Hamburg trade was detained at Hamburg on the outbreak and converted into an armed auxiliary raider but she was scuttled on 9th august 1915 in the North Sea to avoid capture by the royal Navy. Rona and Thorsa of 1,312 grt built in 1884 by Barclay, Curle & Co. Ltd. were two other passenger steamers with accommodation for 46 First Class passengers, several Second Class passengers as well as steerage passengers in the ‘tween decks. Both sisters became war losses, but Corsica of 1,100 grt built in 1895 and detained at Hamburg, Coburg of 928 grt built in 1898 and detained at Danzig with a cargo of sugar, and the passenger steamer Breslau of 1,366 grt built in 1882 were luckier, with Breslau only detained for a day by German naval restrictions. A large party of German tourists were left stranded in Leith on the outbreak, and Breslau made a return voyage to Hamburg with them after the outbreak, and was allowed to sail for home.

Many of the fleet were transferred to Mediterranean citrus fruit trading, and the full list of fifteen LHHSP Company vessels sunk by mines and U-boats is as follows:-

Savona struck a mine on 1.9.1915 in the North Sea 0.5 miles from the Shipwash Light vessel while on a voyage from Oran to Leith with esparto grass and lead, 3 lost.

Sardinia was captured and sunk by gunfire on 15.6.1916 38 miles from Gorgona Island near Leghorn in Italy by U35 while on a voyage from Genoa to London with generals.

Rona was captured and sunk by gunfire on 18.6.1916 when 212 miles SSW of Capo delle Melo, Sardinia by U35 while on a voyage from Genoa to Lisbon with generals.

Dresden was captured and sunk by bombs in the English Channel on 23.9.1916 when 41 miles from the Nab Lighthouse while on a voyage from the Tyne to Rouen with coke.

Bernicia was captured and sunk by bombs in the English Channel on 13.11.1916 when 20 miles SSE of Beachy Head while on a voyage from Rouen to London in ballast.

Scalpa was torpedoed and sunk on 18.4.1917 when 150 miles WNW of the Fastnet while on a voyage from Marseille to Liverpool with oranges and onions.

Luxembourg struck a mine on 11.9.1917 3.5 miles NNE of Pendeen Lighthouse, Cornwall while on a voyage from Le Havre to Newport with government stores.

Britannia was torpedoed and sunk in the English Channel on 19.10.1917 off Portland Bill while on a voyage from the Tees to St. Malo with pig iron, 22 lost including Master.

Minorca was torpedoed and sunk on 11.12.1917 when 2.5 miles from Cabo de las Huertas in the Mediterranean while on a voyage from Genoa to Cartagena in ballast, 15 lost including Master.

Warsaw was torpedoed and sunk in the English Channel on 20.12.1917 four miles ESE of Start Point while on a voyage from St. Malo to Liverpool in ballast, 17 lost including Master.

Alster was torpedoed and sunk on 14.1.1918 when five miles ESE of Noss Head near Wick while on a voyage from Bergen to Hull with dried fish.

Birkhall, a tramp of 4,541 grt purchased in 1917 from the West Hartlepool Steam Navigation Co. Ltd., was torpedoed and sunk on 23.1.1918 four miles SE of Cape Doro in Greece while on a voyage from Salonica to Alexandria with government stores, 2 lost including Master.

Westphalia was torpedoed and sunk on 11.2.1918 near Dublin while employed on government Special Service.

Elba was torpedoed and sunk on 28.4.1918 six miles NNW of Pendeen Lighthouse while on a voyage from Cardiff, ten lost.

Thorsa was torpedoed and sunk on 2.5.1918 three miles NNW of Pendeen Lighthouse while on a voyage from Le Havre to Liverpool with generals.

The fifth Britannia was posted as ‘missing’ on 19th October 1917 while on a voyage from the Tees to St. Malo with a cargo of pig iron, she had been purchased two years earlier as the Earl of Aberdeen from the Aberdeen and Hull Shipping Co. Ltd. She is believed to have been torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine UC75 in the English Channel with the loss of all of her 22 crew including the Master.

Inter War Years

The passenger and cargo sister steamers Breslau and Coblenz of 1,366 grt built in 1883 by Robert Steele & Company at Greenock survived the war. They were transferred to the Leith to Copenhagen service after the war to replace the lost white hulled Rona and Thorsa, and had accommodation for 56 First Class passengers, 170 Second Class passengers in the poop deck, and many more steerage passengers in the ‘tween decks. They were three masted with a single funnel between the main and mizzen masts, and had an excellent first class lounge ‘midships, and they were both broken up in 1932. Weimar of 1,583 grt was another passenger steamer that survived the war, she had been built in 1890 by Ramage & Ferguson at Leith with accommodation for 56 First Class passengers and 170 steerage in the ‘tween decks. She was employed for the whole of her long 43 year career on the Leith to Hamburg trade until broken up at Stockton in 1933. The biggest ship in the LHHSP Company fleet after the war was Inverawe of 2,185 grt and built in 1914 by Mackay Brothers at Alloa, and served for 21 years before her sale to Estonian owners in 1935 and was renamed Kurassaar.

The 2,021grt Finland was built in 1920 by Caledon Shipbuilding at Dundee as the Mahmoudieh for Khedivial Mail SS Co., joining LHHSP as Finland in 1923. In 1951 she was sold to Matteo Beraldo and renamed Ruta, and in 1955 she became Bulwark of African Coasters Ltd. On 1st April 1963 she was wrecked at Danger Point, Cape Algulhas while on a voyage from Cape Town to Durban.

The fleet of the Liverpool & Hamburg Line operated by Donald Currie & Company was transferred in 1919 to the LHHSP Company and the management of James Currie & Company. These all had names ending in ‘land’ such as Borderland, Finland, Foreland, Greenland, Iceland, Rhineland, Rutland, Sutherland and Zealand. a quartet of ‘tween deckers with pronounced counter sterns was purchased from the Khedivial Mail Steamship Co. Ltd. in 1921/22 as Montazah, Monassir, Malmoudieh and Matema and were renamed Foreland, Switzerland, Finland and Sutherland respectively. A similar Dutch quartet was purchased at the same time as Stad Kampen, Stad Utrecht, Stad Schiedam, and Stad Vlaardingen and renamed Haarlem, Hague, Helder, and Helmond respectively.

The LHHSP Company services in 1927 were operated as follows :-

Leith to Hamburg – Weimar, Corsica

Leith to Bremen – Oder

Leith to Copenhagen – Breslau

Leith to Rotterdam – Haarlem, Helder, Helmond

Leith to Stettin – Foreland

Leith to Konigsberg – Finland

Leith to Libau – Switzerland

Leith to Memel – Inverawe, Greenland

Grangemouth to Hamburg – Dalwhinnie

Grangemouth to Danzig – Majorca

Glasgow to Hamburg – Sutherland

Glasgow to Bremen – Hague

The 1,846grt Shetland was built in 1921 by Ramage & Ferguson at Leith as the Kara for Wm. Thomson & Co. She joined LHHSP in 1927. On 23rd June 1943 she was bombed and sunk off Cape St. Vincent with the loss of four of her crew.

Similar new or second hand vessels of up to 2,500 dwt were then completed for the LHHSP Company in the 1920s and 1930s as Courland of 1,325 grt, Gothland of 1,286 grt, Kirkland of 1,400 grt, Lakeland of 1,500 grt, Lapland of 1,300 grt, Merkland of 1,400 grt, Rutland of 1,400 grt, Shetland of 1,846 grt, Switzerland of 1,291 grt (the former Marie Ferdinand of Hugo Ferdinand of Hamburg) and Zealand of 1,400 grt. A fleet of twenty steamers was operated in 1921, rising to 33 steamers by 1933, when an expansion to the Portuguese and Mediterranean trades was achieved by the takeover of the Isaacs Line of M. Isaacs & Son of London. More second-hand vessels were purchased in the mid 1930s including the ‘boilers on deck’ type Oslo steamer Honnor of 1,318 grt purchased in 1937 and renamed Lapland as the first of this type of ship to be owned in the U.K. a fleet of 27 steamers were operating in the Continental and Mediterranean trades by September 1939 and the outbreak of another devastating war.

All of the Currie steamers had black hulls and flew the dark blue houseflag with red to the top and bottom and a white ‘X’ and ‘+’ sign on the blue part. The LHHSP Company changed its name to Currie Line Ltd. in 1940 to better reflect the Currie family ownership and to remove the ‘Hamburg’ part of the LHHSP Company title. The only exceptions to the black hulls were two triple expansion powered steamers with white hulls, Hengist and Horsa of 1,500 dwt, trading to Copenhagen and built in 1928 by Ramage & Ferguson at Leith and the Caledon yard at Dundee. Boot topping was red and ventilators were black or brown on the outside and blue on the inside. The steamers had two masts and a single pair of kingposts with up to a dozen derricks including a heavy lift derrick on the foremast to service the three holds and hatches. The maximum number of passengers carried had now been reduced to a dozen in ‘midships cabins.

World War II

The 1,361grt Kirkland was built in 1934 by Caledon Shipbuilding at Dundee. On 23rd April 1942 she was torpedoed by U-565 in the gulf of Sollum. One crew member was lost.

The steamer Corsica of 1,100 grt built in 1895 by Ramage & Ferguson at Leith had already been sold to the admiralty in 1938 for service as an ammunition hulk at Simonstown in South Africa. She became a training ship at Durban in 1942 for the South African Navy. The entire fleet was requisitioned by the admiralty, and half of the Currie Line fleet were sunk by the enemy during World War II:-

Brandenburg – Torpedoed and sunk on 10.2.1941 in the North Atlantic while on a voyage from villa real to Oban and Leith with sulphur and pyrites, crew of 23 all lost.

Courland – Torpedoed and sunk on 9.2.1941 when 200 miles west of the Straits of Gibraltar while on a voyage from Lisbon to London with general, crew of 28 and two gunners lost.

Greenland – Sunk by mine explosion on 6.12.1941 off Southwold while on a voyage from London to Grangemouth with scrap iron, nine crew lost.

Hengist – Torpedoed and sunk on 8.3.1942 off Cape Wrath while on a voyage from Reykjavik to Scrabster and Grimsby with fish, 3 lost.

Iceland – Shelled and then sunk on 11.2.1941 by torpedo from German pocket battleship admiral Hipper about 500 miles from the Portuguese coast while on a voyage from Seville and Gibraltar to Bristol with oranges, crew of 23 taken prisoner.

Kirkland – Torpedoed and sunk on 23.4.1942 in the gulf of Sollum to east of Tobruk while on a voyage from Tobruk to Alexandria in ballast, one crew lost.

Lapland – Torpedoed and sunk on 28.7.1941 off Cape St. Vincent while on a voyage from London to Lisbon with tinplate, general and prisoner of war parcels.

Melrose Abbey – Torpedoed and sunk on 27.12.1942 in the North Atlantic to north of Azores in convoy ONS 154 while on a voyage from London and Loch Ewe to Boston and Trinidad with coal and mail bags, seven lost.

Minorca – Torpedoed and sunk by E-boat on 26.2.1941 off Cromer while on a voyage from London to Grangemouth with cement, 17 crew and two passengers lost.

Rhineland – Torpedoed and sunk off Ireland on 21.9.1941 while in convoy og74 from the Mersey and the Clyde to Gibraltar, 26 lost.

Rutland – Torpedoed and sunk off Rockall Island in convoy HX82 on 30.10.1940 by U124, she had straggled behind this homeward convoy.

Shetland – Bombed and sunk on 23.6.1943 when 2.5 miles off Cape St. Vincent while on a voyage from Lisbon to Belfast with cork, sardines, wolfram and antimony, four lost.

Zealand – Torpedoed and sunk on 28.6.1942 near Haifa while on a voyage from Port Said to Famagusta with cased aviation benzene, 14 lost.

The 2,898grt Iceland was built in 1943 by Caledon Shipyard at Dundee. In 1956 she was sold to Shamrock Shipping and renamed Moyle, and in 1960 she moved to Osprey (Bermuda) Ltd. as Wingrove. In 1961 she joined Cannon Corporation as Cannonbury. In 1962 she was sold to La Naias Cia Maritima SA of Beirut as Kyriakatsi and in 1966 they renamed her Efstathios. On 17th April 1961 she arrived at Perama to be broken up.

Melrose Abbey of 2,473 grt and 4,350 dwt had been built in 1936 by William gray & Co. Ltd. at West Hartlepool for the Abbey Line of Frederick Jones & Sons of Cardiff and had been purchased by James Currie & Company in 1942. She had been used in the outward coal trade from South Wales to Lisbon and the Mediterranean, as well as for the republican cause of the Spanish Civil War during 1936/39. over 150 British seamen died in the hard fought convoy of 45 ships of ONS 154 which passed across the path of nineteen U-boats, Melrose abbey was one of thirteen vessels lost, and was sunk nine days into her voyage after sailing from Loch Ewe on 18th December 1942.

James Currie & Company lost two ships in convoy Hg53 which sailed from Gibraltar on 6th February 1941 taking a wide detour into the mid Atlantic to avoid aircraft and U-boats operating off the Portuguese coast. Courland was sunk first with her survivors being rescued by Brandenburg, but was herself sunk the following morning at daybreak when hit by two torpedoes. Capt. Henderson of Brandenburg and his crew of 23 and the rescued Capt. Smith and his crew of 29 from Courland all lost their lives. The sole survivor of this double blow was a passenger that was later landed at Gibraltar. Gothland, Lapland, Finland and Merkland all served as Convoy rescue Ships from 1941. Capt. Hadden of Gothland saved many lives of the crews of torpedoed ships on North Atlantic and arctic convoys to Murmansk. A convoy rescue ship was always stationed as the most rear vessel of the convoy, and thus more easily picked off by the U-boats, but Gothland was a lucky ship and came through the war unscathed.

Post-War Years

The 979grt Horsa was built in 1928 by Ramage & Ferguson at Leith. In 1956 she moved to Wm. Sloan & Co. as Endrick before being broken up at Willebroek where she arrived on 26th June 1969.

Merkland was a war survivor built in 1934, as was Horsa of 1928, Foreland of 1919, and Gothland of 1932. Another war survivor was the sixth Britannia of 623 grt built in 1918 as Thropton for Joplin & Hill of Newcastle and purchased in 1924, but she was sold at the end of 1945 to the Primrose Hill Steamship Co. Ltd. of London. Services were restored to the Baltic in 1946, but this trade then declined in importance and the Mediterranean trade increased correspondingly. In 1946, a new passenger service was begun between Grangemouth, Middlesbrough and Finland in conjunction with Finland Line in vessels with accommodation for a dozen passengers. Joint services were also run with Argo Line and Bugsier Reederei of Germany.

Fourteen war replacements entered service between 1946 and 1949, in two Hansa ‘a’ types renamed Highland and Lowland, three American engines ‘midships N3 ‘Jeep’ types renamed Beechland, Larchland and Spruceland, the ‘Scandinavian’ type Greenland of 4,700 dwt built as Empire Crusoe, and six new traders from the Caledon yard at Dundee in the sisters Lapland and Iceland of 4,600 dwt, the sisters England and Scotland of 3,540 dwt, and the three hold engines ‘midships sisters Pineland and Woodland of 4,000 dwt. The sisters Rutland and Zealand of 2,330 dwt came from the Troon yard of the Ailsa Shipbuilding Co. Ltd., with Zealand renamed Shetland in 1954 to free up the name for a new ship. A steamer of 1,221 grt built in 1938 for Atkinson & Prickett of Hull was purchased in 1949 and renamed Rhineland to give a Currie Line fleet of seventeen ships in 1950.

The 2,758grt Woodland was built in 1949 by Caledon at Dundee. In 1955 she was sold to Union SS Co. of New Zealand and renamed Kaponga, and in 1961 she moved to Hang Fung Shipping as Nam Feng. In 1963 she was sold to Leecho Shipping and renamed Empress of Victoria. On 10th August 1967 she was wrecked at Liu Ch'liu Hsu, south of Pescadores Islands while on a voyage from Sandakan to Kaohsiung with a cargo of logs. — The 2,758grt Woodland was built in 1949 by Caledon at Dundee. In 1955 she was sold to Union SS Co. of New Zealand and renamed Kaponga, and in 1961 she moved to Hang Fung Shipping as Nam Feng. In 1963 she was sold to Leecho Shipping and renamed Empress of Victoria. On 10th August 1967 she was wrecked at Liu Ch’liu Hsu, south of Pescadores Islands while on a voyage from Sandakan to Kaohsiung with a cargo of logs.

The four hold England and Scotland built in 1946/47 traded from the Thames to west coast ports of Italy and Mediterranean ports of Spain in voyages that would last three months. After loading general cargo into the ‘tween decks at St. Katherine’s Dock, they sailed to Fowey to load china clay into the holds. Marseille was the first port of call in the Mediterranean, then the west Italian ports of Genoa, Livorno, Naples, Palermo and Palma (Majorca) and Valencia, Cartagena and Malaga. Pineland and Woodland had been ordered by W.C. Norton, Currie Line Chairman and r. F. Scovell, Currie Line Managing Director, for the timber trade from Eastern Canada and were given two large unobstructed holds for the trade. Iceland and Lapland were also built for the timber trades, this time from the Baltic. Five Continental and Mediterranean traders entered service in the mid 1950s in the new three hold three hatch engine ‘midships Zealand of 3,092 dwt, for the fortnightly London trade to Portugal from the Henry Robb yard at Leith, the secondhand Ireland of 3,570 dwt built at Lubeck in 1951 and purchased three years later, and three smaller engines aft traders of 1,340 dwt built at Elmshorn in Germany in 1956 as Courland, Finland and Pentland for the Baltic trades. The trio had seven derricks to work cargo from three holds and hatches, and a service speed of 12 knots from a Henschel eight cylinder two stroke single acting diesel engine of 1,300 bhp. Zealand had dimensions of length 292 feet by beam of 45 feet, and was lengthened forward of the bridge by 26 feet in 1965 to give her four holds and hatches, of which numbers 1,3 and 4 were refrigerated, and she was later able to carry 120 TEU of containers. Zealand was only the third short sea trader built by the famous Henry Robb yard at Leith for Currie Line, the others being Gothland of 1932 powered by a triple expansion steam engine by Barclay, Curle & Co. Ltd., and the motor coaster Edina of 489 grt completed in November 1939 for the LHHSP Company and sold in 1946 to the Dundee, Perth & London Shipping Co. Ltd. and renamed Gowrie two years later.

The 1,286grt Gothland was built in 1932 by Robb Caledon at Leith. In 1958 she was sold to Claymore Shipping and renamed Asrar before being broken up at Perama, arriving there on 17th April 1961.

A fleet of fourteen short sea traders were owned and operated in 1959, but containerisation by 1965 resulted in further reductions in the fleet with England, Scotland and Ireland sold in 1967. In 1969, Currie Line was acquired by the Runciman group of Newcastle owned by Viscount Runciman. The vessels were registered under anchor Line until all of the short sea fleet sold off in 1972. The five ships that were taken over in 1969 were the ore carrier Gothland, and the short sea traders Courland, Finland, Pentland and Zealand. A sixth ship was the chartered England, which had container capacity, and was owned Sea Containers Ltd. and operated as the Anglo-Portuguese Container Line. Courland, Finland and Pentland were sold to the same Lebanese owner and were operated by the RIF Navigation Company, while Zealand became Maldive Envoy of the Maldives Shipping Co. Ltd. Maldive Envoy was beached at Gadani Beach on 12th December 1981 after a career of 26 years.

The 2,037grt Zealand was built in 1955 by Robb Caledon at Leith. In 1965 she was lengthened by 7.9 metres. In 1970 she was sold to Maldives Shipping and renamed Maldive Envoy. On 23rd December 1981 she arrived at Gadani Beach to be broken up by Republic Corporation Ltd.

Deep Sea Tramping

A closed shelterdecker of 12,830 dwt on dimensions of 479 feet by 62 feet was completed in 1957 at the Bordeaux yard of Forges et Chantiers de la Gironde as Roland. This five hold five hatch engines aft bridge ‘midships motor tramp had derricks on three goalpost masts, two of which had topmasts, and traded for Currie Line for seven years before beginning a long life under the Greek and Singaporean flags until she was broken up in 1987 after a thirty year career.

Roland was joined in 1962 by the new Highland of 11,753 dwt at a cost of one million pounds from the Port Glasgow yard of Lithgows Ltd. She had dimensions of length 505 feet by beam of 66 feet, with seventeen derricks on five masts or sets of posts to handle cargo from five hatches and five holds. She had a good service speed of fourteen knots from an eight cylinder two stroke single acting B & W diesel by J. g. Kincaid & company of Greenock. She was ideally suited for charter to liner companies, and after five years she was sold for £810,000 and transferred to anchor Line, owned by the Walter Runciman group, and renamed Elysia for their Indian trade. However, two years later she was sold to Spanish exile Ramon de la Sota Junior operating his Artagon Shipping Co. Ltd. from Biarritz and was renamed Arteaga. A further change to Greek owners and the name Olympus occurred in 1981, and she became a constructive total loss following a grounding in the Kii Channel in Japan on 5th March 1984.

Currie Line Finale

A larger iron ore carrier, Gothland of 24,300 dwt, entered service in 1961 from the Port Glasgow yard of Lithgows on a fifteen year charter to the British Iron & Steel Company (Bisco). She had dimensions of length 595 feet by beam of 32 feet and a loaded draft of 32 feet, and had a small mast on the centreline of her fo’c’stle forward of her five large holds. She had a service speed of fourteen knots from a Kincaid diesel engine, and was the only remaining vessel in the Currie Line fleet in the early 1970s. at the end of her Bisco charter in 1977, her Currie Line black and white funnel was painted out on her sale to Greek owners under the name of Dapo Sky, but she only lasted another year in service. She was badly damaged by an engine room fire on 22nd august 1978 when leaving the Clyde in ballast for Puerto Ordaz and put back to Glasgow. She was deemed beyond economical repair and was broken up at Faslane. Currie Line and its predecessor, the LHHSP Company, had lasted 175 years, and then passed into the realms of maritime history.

The Port of Leith had also declined over the same period, from 2.5% of the total British imports and exports in 1875 to only 0.5% a century later in 1975. However, Currie remained in business as freight forwarders and was purchased in 1990 by Avena of Sweden. Five years later, the Currie management at Grangemouth purchased the business for £8.5 million as a warehousing and export business, shipping whisky, electronics, plastics and oil related products from the nearby BP Grangemouth refinery.