Thos. & Jno. Brocklebank (Brocklebank Line)

Founded in 1801 as Thos.& Jno.Brocklebank, Whitehaven, with one sailing ship, the company traded mostly with coal. With the abolition of the Hon. East India Company's trading monopoly to India in 1813, Brocklebank entered the India trade, which became its mainstay field of operation, but the company also traded to North and South America and to the West and East Indies. In 1819, the company moved from Whitehaven to Liverpool which became its terminus port. A London to China Treaty Ports service began in 1858 and in 1860 regular services to Brazil ceased.

Although the Suez Canal opened in 1869, Brocklebanks continued to operate sailing ships to India via the Cape for another 30 years. Its first steamship was built in 1889, but sailing ships were also operated until 1901. In 1906, Brocklebank invested in Shire Line (David Jenkins & Company) and transferred five ships to this company which ran sailings to Japan.

Jenkins was bought out in 1907 by Royal Mail Steam Packet Company, who now became partners and in 1911 purchased the remainder of the shares in the Shire Line. The same year, Brocklebanks sold its shares to members of the Cunard board of directors and the same year, Cunard purchased Anchor Line and Anchor-Brocklebank Limited was formed. Tyzack & Branfoot's Well Line of Sunderland was taken over in 1916.

During World War II, the company lost many ships and owned only eleven in 1945, but the independence of India and Pakistan in 1947 brought stringent trading regulations by these countries and Brocklebank's trade to this area was more than halved. The closure of the Suez Canal from June, 1967 to January, 1971 following the Egypt - Israel War caused ships to make a 5,000 mile detour in both directions round the Cape of Good Hope and this, together with containerisation ultimately led to the end of Brocklebank trade to India.

In 1968, Cunard-Brocklebank Limited was formed and ships were pooled between the two companies, but financial losses continued and the last two Brocklebank liveried ships were sold in 1983 and the company disappeared.

Many thanks to Ted Finch for his assistance in collecting this data. The following list was extracted from various sources. This is not an all inclusive list but should only be used as a guide. If you would like to know more about a vessel, visit the Ship Descriptions (onsite) or Immigrant Ship web site.

Sail 1800-1901

• Whitehaven / Liverpool - West Indies
• Whitehaven / Liverpool - Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Peru.
• Whitehaven / Liverpool - Canadian Maritime Provinces.
• Whitehaven / Liverpool - Calcutta - Durch East Indies.
• Liverpool / Birkenhead - Colombo - Bombay - Karachi.

The India routes slowly took over and the others were discontinued.

Steam

• 1901-1983 Liverpool / Birkenhead / Manchester - Mediterranean ports (cargo) - Suez - Calcutta plus Singapore and East Indies.
• 1905-1914 Antwerp - Suez - Singapore - Shanghai - Kobe - Yokohama.
• 1906-1911 London - Malaya - Singapore - Hong Kong - China - Japan.
• 1911-1939 Glasgow - Liverpool - India (Anchor-Brocklebank)
• 1916-1968 UK East Coast ports - Suez - Colombo - Madras - Calcutta (Well Line)
• 1971           Bombay and Karachi calls ceased.
• 1968-1978 US Gulf and East Coast ports - South Africa - India / Middle East
• 1970-1983 South America - South Africa - Middle East / India and world wide tramping.

Funnel: Black with blue and white bands. Fleet:

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Last updated: February 05, 2005 and maintained by and M. Kohli