JUBILEE OF THE ORIENT COMPANY.

Otago Witness, Issue 3869, 8 May 1928, Page 10

JUBILEE OF THE ORIENT COMPANY.

FIRST DIRECT AUSTRALIAN LINE. Illustrations in This Issue. The jubilee of the Orient Steam Navigation Company is an event of outstanding importance in British shipping. This company’s history provides a notable instance of the successful operation of steam services by men who have already achieved much in the clipper ship trade. So far as the general public is concerned, however, the special significance of this jubilee is that the Orient Line, in 1877, gave Australia its first direct steam connection with London. Seven years elapsed after the inauguration of this service before any other steam line ran direct between. London and Sydney.

Since the Orient steamers actually started running in 1877 it may be thought strange that the jubilee is being celebrated this year, but it must be understood that it was the old-estab-lished Orient Line, which for 25 years had been running clipper ships to Australia, that sent the first Orient steamers there, and after 12 months' thorough test proved that the trade would pay. The Orient Steam Navigation Company was then formed, and registered in February, 1878, “to take over the Orient Line of steamships running between England and Australia, and to develop communications between the two countries.” The first steamer under the new flag, the Garonne, sailed from London on March 5.

The joint agents and principal owners were Messrs Anderson, Anderson, and Co., and F. Green and Co., whose names carry the history of the line far back in shipping records, even beyond 75 years ago, when the clipper Orient entered in the Australian trade.

One of these firms originated when James Thompson and Co. was founded in 1797. In 1863 Mr James Anderson joined it, and the name was changed to Anderson, Thompson, and Co., and again in 1870 to Anderson, Anderson, and Co. On the other side F. Green' and Co. date back a very long time. They won fame with the Blackwall clippers, in which comfort as well as speed made them unique at a time when record trips at the risk of all else were the main aim.

At first the Orient Company combined the policy of its predecessor in using chartered steamers from the fleet of the Pacific Steam Navigation Company. of Liverpool, which since 1840 had maintained steam services round Cape Horn to Valparaiso, calling at many South American ports. One of these, the Lusitania, of 3825 registered tons and 300 nominal horse-power, had started the Orient Line’s Australian service on June 28, 1877, making the passage from Plymouth to Melbourne in 40 days. This smart run had aroused interest in Australia and Jxuidon. One writer said: “ This is the quickest passage yet made, and is 10 days less than the advertised time of the Peninsular and Oriental steamers from Southampton to Glenelg' (South Australia), via the Suez

Canal.” But the P. and O. service was not run by through steamers, and thus the new line, though using the longer Cape route, made manifest the advantage of a direct, service to Australia.

In 1879 the Orient Company built its first steamer, the Orient, of 5386 tons, and named after the clipper Orient. Except the Great Eastern, of 13,000 tons net, there was no larger ship than the Orient afloat at that' time. This fact gave much distinction to the young company.

The Orient’s first voyage, made by way of the Cape, from Plymouth to Adelaide, was accomplished in 37 days, including time spent in ports.

After the Orient came the Austral, 5588 tons, another vessel whose name is still remembered, and, later, the Ormuz, 6465 tons, and the Ophir, 6910 tons and 10,000 horse-power. This handsome ship had the honour of carrying the Duke and Duchess of York, now the King and Queen, on their visit to Australia to open the first Commonwealth Parliament, and afterwards took them on their cruise to New Zealand, South Africa, and Canada.

Then came the Omrali, 8291 tons, and the Orontes, 9023 tons. In 1905 the working arrangement which had existed for 29 years with the P.S.N. Company for the use of its steamers was transferred to the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company until 1909, when the Orient Company provided five new steamers of 12,000 tons register for the mail services between Sydney and London by wav of the Suez Canal. These were the Orvieto, Osterley, Otranto, Otway, and Orsova, followed by the first Orama in 1911. The Orama, Otway, and Onir'ah were lost by enemy action in the World War, and the Otranto whilst transporting troops.

The Orient Company had now grown to be numbered among the great steamship lines of the world, and larger ships were required. Since 1924 four new ships of 20,000 tons and 20,000 horsepower each have been added to. the fleet, and an order for a fifth placed with British builders. To-day the service is maintained by the Orsova, Osterley, and Orvieto, of 12,000 tons; the Ormonde, of 15,000 tons; and the Orama, Oronsay, Otranto, and Orford, of 20,000 tons, while the new Orontes is building. From the first Orient clippers to the steamers of 1877 was a big step along the road of sea progress, and just as marked is the contrast between those tailsparred, clipper-bowed steamers and the graceful leviathans of to-day. In a hundred ways comparisons of outstanding interest may be made, and in no department is this more remarkable than in the commissariat department. The menu of the Lusitania, which had no refrigerator, when placed alongside that of the Otranto, equipped with every modern appliance, makes one realise what luxuries are available to-day at sea; and at the same time one realises what wonders were achieved on the pioneers without these aids.