ORIGIN OF ORIENT LINE.
Sir Frederick Green, the only one of the founders of the Orient line still living, celebrated his SOth birthday in June, and on that day spoke to a representative of the London "Evening News"" about the birth of the famous line and its progress from running .".000-ton ships to the hujie liners of to-day.
"As a young man T went into my father's shipping firm. F. Green and C 0.." Sir Frederick said. "We ran a line of sailing ships to Australia —a sort of extension of the famous Backwall Line to India. The passage to Australia in the old wind-jammers took 60 days under the most favourable conditions, and often twice as. long. I soon ?nw that we could not hope to do much unless we took to steam.
"When T went into the firm a steamship had already done the journey from London to Melbourne. The rival firm of Anderson and Anderson was also turning its attention to steam, and we joined forces to form the Orient Steam Navigation Company. I was head of my own firm at that time. ami. as far as T ran recollect, about 25 years old. All the other founders are dead, and some 01 them must have been younger than 1 was.
"Our first boat was called Garonne; we flid not build her. but bought her. She had been running on the South American service, ami her trip distance of 12.000 miles was just the same as the journey to Australia. The first boat we had built for ourselves was the Orient; she was a five or six thousand tonner, and carried a total of 000 people, paet-engers and crew combined. Our crack modern boats of 20,000 tons carry 600 first : class and 1200 third-class passengers, but the old Orient was not a bad ship —single screw of course: twin scren-3 had not been invented then, nor yet triple-expansion engines. Of course, she had to go the lone , way round, and she used to coal at the Cape of Oood Hope."
Although SO. Sir Frederick H a very active and busy man. He is no longer a
director of the Orient. line, though it is ,-itill managed by Anderson. Green and Company, but he is. among other things, chairman .of the London office of the Bank of New South Wales, and attended a board meeting there recently.
ORIGIN OF ORIENT LINE.
Auckland Star, Volume LVI, Issue 211, 7 September 1925, Page 15
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