A Great British Liner and Tramping Success Story

A partnership was formed in 1908 between the brothers Stanley and John Thompson to act as the managing owners of the new St. Helen’s Steamshipping Co. Ltd. of London. The company owned one tramp, Wearmouth, which was soon renamed Silverbirch. The Thompson brothers were members of the famous Sunderland shipbuilding family of Joseph L. Thompson & Sons Ltd., and other members of the family owned tramps in Sunderland. Farringford was purchased from Charlton & Thompson in Sunderland to become Silverash, and the Burrell tramp Fitzpatrick was purchased in 1913 to become Silvercedar. The finances of the company were reorganised for expansion in 1912, and then a management contract was entered into in 1913 with the America-Levant Line, whose directors included Sir Alfred Allen Booth and the Catto family of shipowners. Former British tramps included the Burrell Fitzclarence renamed with ‘River’ names, and were used for Transatlantic services, a contract that was to run until 1930.

The Thompson brothers were also managing two ships for the Pensacola Trading Co. Ltd. at the end of World War I that had been previously managed by Watts, Watts & Co. Ltd. on U.S. Gulf, Mexico and Caribbean liner services. The tanker Rion was managed for three years from 1920, having been owned for the previous three years by a subsidiary of the Anglo-Persian Oil Co. Ltd., now BP Shipping. Silverash and Silverbirch were purchased in 1922 but were sold on the West Hartlepool Steam Navigation Co. Ltd. two years later. The brothers then turned to managing ships for the Kerr Steamship Company Inc. of New York. This company had been formed in 1916 by H. Farquath Kerr and Alfred E. Clegg, and they started a service between Eastern Seaboard ports and European ports. At the end of World War I, operations were begun from Eastern Seaboard and Gulf ports to Asia, Africa and South America. In the early 1920s, H. Farquath Kerr and Kermit Roosevelt, Kerr Vice President, reached agreements with Kokusai Kisen Kaisha of Japan for Pacific trading in joint operation of eight ships of 9,000 dwt.

Silver Line

In 1926, the main project of the H. Farquath Kerr was developed into Silver Line Ltd. in which he was the main shareholder. Most of the required capital was obtained from British sources under the Trade Facilities Acts. The early westbound Round the World service with Kerr owned ships was then taken over by Silver Line and Prince Line operating jointly with alternate sailings. The only other American competition was Dollar Line of New York, but British competition came from James Chambers of Liverpool and his Lancashire Shipping Co. Ltd. with ‘Castle’ ships, as well as Bank Line to the Pacific islands. Kerr eventually disposed of his own ships and he died in 1933, selling his shares to Alfred E. Clegg.

A large fleet of nineteen new cargoliners was then ordered for delivery between 1924 and 1930 by Kerr, and Silver Line Ltd. was registered on 24th November 1925 to be managed by Stanley and John Thompson with British crews. The houseflag was a blue flag with a white central band bearing ‘SILVER’ in capital letters. Eight cargo-liners came from the family yard in Sunderland as Silveray, Silverash, Silverbeech, Silverbelle, Silverhazel, Silverpalm, Silverwillow and Silveryew. The remaining eleven cargo-liners came from yards at Belfast and on the Tyne as well as the Doxford and Laing yards on the Wear. One of the Doxford built ships was purchased in the water as Oristano of Gulf Line Ltd. owned by Furness, Withy & Co. Ltd. Silverelm was completed first by Doxford in June, 1924 at a cost of £190,000 and was equipped with one of the first examples of Doxford three cylinder opposed piston oil engines. The massive cost of the nineteen ship building programme could only be met by negotiating loans from the Northern Ireland Government backed by promissory notes in respect of the four ships built by Harland & Wolff Ltd. at Belfast as Silvercypress, Silverteak, Silverwalnut and Silversandal.

After 1927, the Silver Line ships were equipped with four cylinder Doxford oil engines as in the twin screw trio of Silverpalm, Silverwillow and Silveryew of 1929/30. The quartet of Silvercypress, Silverteak, Silverwalnut and Silversandal that were built at Belfast had six cylinder B & W air-injection oil engines, four holds with one insulated, and two deep tanks for the carriage of oils. Silverpine and Silverlarch were built on the Tyne and had twin hatches between the bridge and funnel, with engines in the ‘three quarters aft’ position and similar to the competing Greystoke Castle built for James Chambers in 1928. They were laid up for over four years from 1930 to 1934, and the only possibility for their return to service was to re-engine them and alter their hulls.

Silver Java Pacific Line

In October, 1930, Silver Line came to a merger agreement with the Java Pacific Company, established in 1903 and later known as Java-China-Japan Line (JCJL) with cargo-liners with ‘Tji’ as a prefix, and their combined fleets took the name of Silver Java Pacific Line. The General Steamship Company of San Francisco was their American agent, and a fleet of thirteen Silver Line ships and seven Dutch ships then operated on three distinct monthly services in addition to the westbound Silver-Prince Round the World service. These services were:-

1. Pacific Coast of U.S.A. and Canada to the Philippines, Dutch East Indies, Straits ports, and India.
2. Eastbound Round the World via Panama, South Africa, India, Dutch East Indies and the Philippines.
3. Pacific Coast of U.S.A. and Canada to the Philippines, Dutch East Indies, Straits ports, Ceylon, Bombay and the Persian Gulf.

The Silver Line motorships performed well on these long routes throughout the 1930s, but the financial losses mounted with the family Thompson yard owed half a million pounds on its account with Silver Line, and which was written off. Silverhazel was wrecked on San Bernadino Island in the Philippines on 9th November 1935, and Silvercypress was badly damaged by fire on 13th January 1937 and beached near Iloilo on Panay Island in the Philippines, she was later salvaged and repaired in 1939 as Yasukawa Maru. Silver Line changed over to steam turbines in March 1938 for Silverlaurel completed by the family Thompson yard at Sunderland. She had three steam turbines with the high pressure turbine double reduction geared and the intermediate and low pressure turbines single reduction geared to a single screw shaft. Silver Line went on to order six turbine driven ships after the war, and so made a clear preference for turbines with their long term reliability on very long Round the World services. Shippers demanded that the ships arrived on time at the specified ports throughout the world.

World War II

The fleet on the outbreak of war comprised eighteen cargo-liners, of which eleven were to be sunk by the enemy, and 201 brave seafarers were to lose their lives:-

Silverlaurel was damaged by bombs at Hull in June 1941 and Silversandal similarly at Liverpool one month earlier. Silverpalm had sailed from Calcutta under Capt. Pallett on 17th April 1941 and from Freetown on 31st May for Glasgow and was sighted on the following day by the outward bound Silverlaurel, but nothing more was heard from her until a lifeboat was found about five hundred miles west of the Hebrides containing the bodies of eight men. Papers on them identified them as members of the crew of Silverpalm. All 68 crew had perished when torpedoed by U-101 on the afternoon of 9th June, no distress signals were sent so the end must have been very sudden.

Silvercedar was torpedoed and sunk in convoy SC48 by U-553 on 15th October 1941, breaking her back with bow and stern sections floating briefly before plunging to the bottom taking Capt. Keane and twenty of his crew with her. Silverbeech exploded with the loss of all 62 crew when torpedoed just after midnight on 28th March 1943 by U-172 in convoy RS3 to West Africa, her cargo included ammunition and high explosives. The surviving Silver Line ships were mostly sailing to West Africa at the end of the war, and Silverlaurel arrived off Falmouth on 18th November 1944 from the same area only to succumb to a torpedo from U486.

Post-War Challenges

There were only seven motorship survivors in Silverash, Silverelm, Silverguava, Silverlarch, Silversandal, Silverteak and Silverwalnut, plus the new motorship Silveroak of 11,350 dwt completed by the Thompson family yard at Sunderland in 1944. Immediate orders were placed with the Thompson yard for six turbine powered cargo-liners. In 1946/47, Silver Line acquired Kerr (Canada) Ltd. plus a ‘Liberty’ ship and a ‘Victory’ ship as replacements. The first pair of high class cargo-liners to be completed at Sunderland were the twin funnelled Silverbriar and Silverplane.

Twin funnelled passenger liners and combination passenger and cargo-liners were commonplace, the rarity however was the twin funnelled cargo-liner. Early examples were Howick Hall of 8,079 dwt built in 1910 by William Hamilton & Co. Ltd. of Port Glasgow for Charles Dunn & Co. Ltd. of Liverpool. She ran on a service from New York to South American ports for five years until purchased by an American steel company for their Isthmian Line. The Deutsch-Australisch D.G. (DADG) fleet of Germany built a number of twin funnelled cargo-liners just before and after 1900. The last to this design was launched as Mulhausen in 1915 by A.G. Neptun yard at Rostock. She was completed as the Lennep of 8,000 dwt towards the end of the war, and surrendered to Britain as war reparations before her sale to Bergen Line as Brant County in 1921. The vogue in the early 1960s was two thin engine exhausts placed side by side e.g. the four cargo-liners of Manchester Liners, the ‘Cap San Marco’ class of Hamburg-Sud, and the ‘C3-S-37’ and ‘C4- S-66’ types of Lykes Brothers, and the 1967 pair of ‘Skandia’ cargo-liners for Transatlantic Rederi of Sweden in Talarah and Woollahra of 16,740 dwt.

Silverbriar and Silverplane of 10,160 dwt were much more well known under their later Cunard Line names of Andria and Alsatia. They were completed for the Round the World service of Silver Line in 1948 by the Sunderland yard of Joseph L. Thompson & Sons Ltd. They had five holds and six hatches, with lower and upper ‘tween decks in numbers one, two and four holds, and upper ‘tween decks in numbers three and five holds. There were four deep tanks in number three hold for the carriage of fuel oil, palm oil, latex or water ballast. Cargo gear consisted of fourteen five tonne, four ten tonne, and a single fifty tonne heavy lift derrick on the foremast for use on number two hold. The forward funnel was a dummy and encased the bridge structure with chartroom, wheelhouse and Captain’s House, and was fitted with a ‘monkey island’ on the inside of the top. Accommodation for twelve passengers was of a high standard in eight single berth and two double berth staterooms, each with a private bathroom, on Bridge Deck.

The superstructure was two decks high, with the Bridge Deck above the Upper Deck. The passenger Smoking Room and adjoining Lounge and Writing Room were forward on Bridge Deck. The Smoking Room had oak timbered walls and an oak beamed ceiling to create the atmosphere of an old English inn. The red brick fireplace was flanked by bold side pillars and was surmounted by a large oak beam. A model of a fully rigged ship was placed above this, and an open red brick hearth had an ornamental grate. The period furniture included Windsor armchairs, high backed settles, and oak tables. The adjoining Lounge and Writing Room had murals of matza birch panelling on fawn coloured walls with walnut furniture, armchairs, and moquette covered sofas, walnut writing tables and a recessed bookcase. The passenger Dining Room at the aft end of Bridge Deck had seating for eighteen persons, and was panelled in walnut with sycamore reliefs and soft furnishings in pleasing shades of blue. A large mural adorned the forward wall, and the aft wall had folding doors to give direct access to a pleasant sheltered verandah. These doors were of opepe wood, with the doors at the forward end being double swing glass panelled doors, and together with a general pleasing colour scheme and good quality lined and weighted curtains provided a cosy and relaxing atmosphere.

Silverbriar was launched on 21st May 1947, and completed her trials on 11th February 1948 off the North East Coast, having achieved an average of 16.7 knots from a set of Parsons double reduction turbines. She sailed on a positioning voyage to New York, and then to inaugurate the merged U.S.A. to Persian Gulf and U.S.A. to India routes. Silverplane was launched in November 1947 and followed her sister to New York later in 1948, and could be distinguished as she had a narrower blue top to her funnel with the blue band on the white part correspondingly lower. Internally she also slightly differed in that the aft wall of the passenger Dining Room had sliding and folding screens so that the whole of the room could be opened to the verandah.

Change Of Trading

Silverbriar and Silverplane were the first victims of a complete change in trading for Silver Line. In 1947, the Thompson brothers ownership and management moved to the Barraclough family, with Henry as Chairman and William and David as directors. Under the new leadership the direction of the company’s thrust was changed from a liner company to tramping and time charter trading in worldwide bulk commodities. The four later sisters of Silverbriar and Silverplane were sold after launching to other British owners, and were each completed with a single funnel as Teiresias, Ulysses and Teucer for Blue Funnel Line, and Eastern Glory for the Indo-China Steam Navigation Co. Ltd. of Jardine, Matheson & Co. Ltd. of Hong Kong.

After less than four years trading, Silverbriar and Silverplane were sold in March, 1952 for £1.25 million to Cunard Line for Transatlantic trading although the passenger accommodation was never used again. They were renamed Andria and Alsatia respectively and the famous red and black funnels of Cunard improved the appearance of the pair. Andria sailed from London on 17th April 1952 bound for New York via Le Havre, and together with sister Alsatia they were employed on the London and New York and Canada routes for the next eleven years. The pair were then sold to a subsidiary of the C.Y. Tung Group, China Union Lines and renamed Union Faith and Union Freedom. Union Faith met a fiery end on 17th April 1969 when she was in collision with a tug and three oil barges off New Orleans, resulting in an enormous oil spill and fire and considerable loss of life. Union Faith was later broken up where she lay as a blackened fire wrought wreck. Union Freedom sailed on until February 1977 when she arrived for breaking up at Kaohsiung.

This left only five pre-war cargo-liners carrying out the Silver Line Round the World services, and they were sold off between 1952 and 1955. The motorship Silveroak of 1944 was taken on charter by Port Line in 1955 and renamed Port Stephens, and then sold to Ben Line in September 1956 as Benvannock for Far Eastern services. Silver Line switched over to tramping by the transfer of the tramp Riodene from the Dene Shipping Co. Ltd. in 1951, renamed Silvertarn. This company had been created in 1937 to take over various single ship companies managed by Dene Shipmanagement Co. Ltd. and Walter S. Hinde. This was the same Hinde family that hailed from Portland in Dorset, William E. Hinde then moved to Cardiff to manage the Cardiff office of the Truro based Chellew Steam Navigation Co. Ltd. He later set up his own Cardiff tramp company, Portfield Steamship Co. Ltd., and operated a dozen tramps with names beginning ‘Port’ during the 1920s and early 1930s from Portfield House in Cardiff. Seven tramps all with the suffix ‘Dene’ e.g. Cressdene were owned on the outbreak of World War II and all were sunk.

William Gray of West Hartlepool built three tramp replacements in 1947/48 as Riodene, Mardene and Avondene, followed by Exedene and Hallindene in 1951/52 from the same yard. Silver Line Ltd. then became a fully owned subsidiary of Dene Shipping Co. Ltd. in 1957, with the new funnel colours being the Dene colours of black with blue and white central cross hatching but now with two blue bands above and below the cross hatching. Later, the black funnel had the cross hatching in a smaller central block, and the white houseflag was changed to have this smaller central cross hatching block.

A New Silver Line Fleet

In the ten years from 1953, a large fleet of eighteen closed shelterdecker tramps, engines aft bulk carriers, four ore carriers, and two tankers were completed for Silver Line. The latter pair were Silverdale and Silverbrook of 16,700 dwt, and Silverburn, Silverforce, Silverlake, Silverpoint, Silverbeck, Silverdene, Silverfell, Silverisle and Silverleaf were engines ‘midships closed shelterdeckers. Silverbeck was of 13,800 dwt, and the sisters Silverfell, Silverforce, Silverisle, Silverlake and Silverpoint were of 11,710 dwt as closed shelterdeckers. A typical voyage was the last year of trading of Silverleaf in 1967/68 under Capt. Bowen, when she sailed from dry-dock at Greenwell’s in Sunderland in ballast for Destrehan on the east bank of the Mississippi at New Orleans to load grain for Navlakhi in India. She then moved on to Karachi, Durban, Cape Town, Montreal and Philadelphia, where she loaded grain for Hull, and then handed over to Greek owners at Sunderland and was renamed Pleias.

Silverweir was an engines aft bulker of 16,660 dwt from the family Thompson yard at North Sands in Sunderland in July, 1961 on dimensions of 500 feet length by 67.3 feet beam with a depth of 28.9 feet, with a four cylinder Doxford 2SA oil engine giving a service speed of 15 knots. She was strengthened for ore cargoes with holds one, three and five empty when carrying iron ore. She made her last voyage in 1969 from Baltimore to Sunderland to hand over to new Greek owners as Agios Antonios at Greenwell’s dry-dock. Silverbeach and Silversea came from the French La Seyne yard of Societe des Forges de la Mediterranee in early 1963 as Totem Star and Totem Queen for the Fulcrum Shipping Co. Ltd. with Silver Line as managers, and took their ‘Silver’ names in 1964.

The four ore carriers were completed by the Laing yard at Sunderland in 1958/59 as Silvercrag and Silversand of 15,500 dwt, and Aldersgate and Bishopsgate of 18,800 dwt for the Bishopsgate Shipping Co. Ltd. Aldersgate received a Silver Line name in 1969 becoming Silvershore, but Bishopsgate was sold off to John I. Jacobs to become Beechwood, and Silvercrag became Cherrywood in 1969. All four ore carriers remained on fifteen year charters to BISCO during their British careers from 1958/59/60 to 1973/74/75.

Most of this new fleet had Mainland Chinese and Indian crews from 1966, and Silverweir under Capt. N. Tuddenham sailed with a Mainland Chinese crew from Avonmouth on 25th September 1967 for Corpus Christi in the U.S. Gulf. She then traded to Brazil and Argentina from the Gulf before going through the Panama Canal to Astoria and the Columbia river in January 1968. She then loaded grain at Kalama on the Columbia river for India, and later loaded homewards at Montreal with grain for the U.K. in June 1968. Silversea and Silverbeach were purchased in 1964 as Totem Queen and Totem Star for Silver Isle Navigation (Bermuda) Ltd., and had a dozen derricks on three bipod masts, and were engaged in the bulk grain trade from the Columbia river to Japan and Korea.

Seabridge Consortium

Silver Line Ltd. joined the Seabridge consortium in 1965 along with Hunting, Bibby, Bowring, Clarkson and Houlder Brothers for worldwide bulk trading and contracts of affreightment. The heavy cost of large bulk carriers made it necessary to group together and by 1969 when Furness, Withy & Co. Ltd. joined the consortium had taken delivery of 21 bulkers with another thirteen on order. The bulker Silverhow of 37,280 dwt was building at the Laing shipyard in Sunderland in 1965 and was completed as Tower Bridge for a five year charter to Seabridge. She traded between Canada and Shanghai and Tanggu in China with an Indian crew. Chelsea Bridge of 107,470 dwt was completed in 1967 as Sigsilver under the British flag and was the biggest British bulker at that time, and was renamed Chelsea Bridge in 1971 and then sold to BHP in 1974 to become Iron Sirius.

Orders were then placed in Japan for two large ships, the bulker Severn Bridge of 120,000 dwt and the ore/bulk/oil Silver Bridge of 145,000 dwt, both completed in 1972 for management by Denholm. Four similar giant bulk carriers were purchased from H. Clarkson in 1974, the OBOs Eden Bridge and Spey Bridge, and the bulkers Erskine Bridge and Stirling Bridge, all four managed by Denholm of Glasgow. Silver Line played a leading role in the Seabridge consortium, which was a great success story for British bulk shipowners for twenty years. Spey Bridge sailed on one of her last voyages with a Silver Line crew on 24th April 1984 from Hay Point with coal for Pohang, and was sold shortly afterwards to China and renamed Chia Fu. The Seabridge houseflag was a blue swallowtail pennant with ‘SEABRIDGE’ in white, but the funnel colours of the individual shipowners were retained.

Silver Chemical Tankers Ltd.

This subsidiary was also set up in 1965 to operate in the coastal oil and chemical trades and especially in the Baltic, having loaded at Europort or on the Tees. Many different types of oil and chemical hazardous cargoes were carried, ranging from naptha to sulphuric acid, propane, butane, ethylene and tetraethyl lead. These small tankers had close knit crews where rapid promotion often led to Masters as young as 25 years of age being appointed. Silverkestrel was the first tanker and capable of carrying 750 tonnes of caustic soda, most subsequent tankers were given ‘bird’ names. Silverfalcon and Silvermerlin were built in Sweden and were the first British ships to be built with stainless steel tanks, Silvermerlin of 1,870 dwt being actually owned by John I. Jacobs and on long term charter to Silver Chemical Tankers Ltd. Silverfalcon and Silvermerlin were of 1,950 dwt and were sold in 1980 to Altanin Shipping Co. Ltd. without change of name under the management of Buries, Markes Ltd.

The largest ship in the coastal tanker fleet was Silverhawk of 10,500 dwt, which was built by Cammell, Laird & Co. Ltd. at Birkenhead in 1969 but was owned by Finance for Shipping via the Nile Steamship Co. Ltd. and managed by Silver Line Chemical Tankers for long term charter on Australian coastal trading. She had the same profile as Silvereagle and Silverosprey. Silvereid, Silvereirik, Silverharrier, Silverosprey, Silverpelerin, Silverkite were the other Silver Line chemical tankers. Silversea and Silversky were LPG tankers of 3,240 dwt, and often loaded liquid gas at Zueitina in Libya for Lisbon and Spanish ports.

Silvereagle of 6,360 dwt under Capt. Burfitt headed south to Huelva to load for the warmer waters of Santos and Buenos Aires in 1973, this was the only time she deviated from North Sea and Baltic trading. She was built of part high tensile steel and her sister, Silverosprey, was later lengthened in 1977 by the Lloyd Weft yard at Bremerhaven, upgrading her accommodation and increasing her deadweight to 7,925 tonnes. Silverhawk of 10,560 dwt continued her long term charter on the Australian coasts until 1985, and was then sold on to Reliance Pacific Shipping Ltd. of Hong Kong and was renamed Philchem. The subsidiary of Silver Chemical Tankers Ltd. operated until 1985, and there is still one of these tankers in service today. This is Silversea, which was sold in 1983 to WGS Trading of Panama City for Caribbean trading, and carries propane and butane under the name of Carigas in six gas tanks with a total of 3,007 cubic metres capacity. Silversky, her sister also built in 1967 by the Moss yard in Norway, had a much shorter career, being broken up in April 1986.

Silver Line ‘Handy’ Bulkers

Two Japanese built bulkers of 18,600 dwt from a Namura yard joined Silver Line in 1967 from the Namura yard as Silvercove and Silvercape for worldwide trading. Silvercove traded for eleven years, and was one of the first ships through the reopened Suez Canal in October 1975 on a voyage from Singapore to Hamburg. One of her last voyages was when she sailed from Albany (New York) on 15th August 1978 for Algiers with a call at Gibraltar. Two car and bulk carriers of 25,550 dwt and 28,876 dwt joined the fleet in 1970/72 from the Uljanik shipyard at Pula in the former Yugoslavia as Silvermain and Silverfjord for the newly formed Silverfjord Shipping Co. Ltd. They traded on a regular run between Japan and the West and Gulf coasts of Canada and the U.S.A. carrying grain from the Columbia river westwards, and Toyota cars the other way. Silverfjord was fifty feet longer than Silvermain, but both had six holds and the same loaded draft, and had twin funnels side by side aft. Silverfjord had three deck cranes whereas Silvermain had five deck cranes, and Silverfjord took a two year charter to Danish owners in 1971 as Jytte Engholm. Japanese cars were also transported to Valparaiso and Buenos Aires, and Silverfjord sailed from the latter port on 19th September 1978 to load sugar at Port Louis in Mauritius for Shanghai. Silvermain and Silverfjord were the last bulkers and car carriers in the Silver Line ‘Handy’ bulkers fleet on their sale in 1982/83 to Far Eastern owners. They had grey hulls and black funnels bearing the blue and white houseflag of Silver Line Ltd. and Silver Navigation Ltd.

A bulk carrier of 32,850 dwt was completed by the merged Scott Lithgow Ltd .yard at Port Glasgow on the Clyde as Silverdon for Pacific trading in 1973, and was the largest of the Silver Line ‘Handy’ size bulkers. She had been launched as Bravenes for Jebsen of Norway but was completed as Silverdon and was handed over after four years trading to Cosco at Rotterdam on 13th February 1978 and was renamed Fei Cui Hai for a further twenty years of trading. Three bulkers of 21,000 dwt with river names were managed from 1974 for H. Clarkson as Silverclyde, Silverforth and Silvertweed and operated in both the Transatlantic and Pacific trades. Two Japanese built ‘tween deckers were purchased for a twelve month charter in 1977 for trading to Abidjan in West Africa from Marseille for the Societe Ivoirienne de Navigation (Sivomar) of the Ivory Coast as Silveravon and Silverness. They were sold to Sivomar at the end of the charter with management retained, and Silver Line crews continued to sail on the pair as Bandama and Taabo.

Silver Line Finale

Silver Line had amalgamated with Shipping Industrial Holdings (SIH) in 1971, and Silver Line Ltd. and SIH were acquired by Navcot Shipping (Holdings) owned by Vlasov in the mid 1970s, with Silver Line Ltd. then being appointed to operate all Alva (U.K.) Ltd. tonnage for the Vlasov Group. At the end of 1978, Silver Line owned or managed three giant OBOs and bulkers on charter to the Seabridge consortium, six smaller bulkers, and seven chemical tankers of which Silverharrier and Silverhawk were on charter and operated around Australian coasts. Silver Line moved out of the Seabridge consortium in 1981, but freight rates were hardly encouraging for the rest of the fleet, and by February 1982 the fleet was down to two bulkers, Silverfjord and Silvermain, and some chemical tankers. Silverhawk was the last Silver Line managed ship until her sale to Panamanian owners in 1985. The Thompson, Barraclough and Vlasov interests of Silver Line and its predecessor company of St. Helen’s Steamshipping Co. Ltd. had operated for a total of 77 years, with most ships proudly flying the Red Duster.