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British shipping companies (L)

Lambert Brothers
W. & K.B. Lamplough
Lamport & Holt Line Ltd.
R. Lapthorn & Co. Ltd.
Larne & Stranraer R. M
Larrinaga Steamship Co. Ltd.
John Latsis (London) Ltd.
La Tunisienne
Lawson-Batey Tugs Ltd.
Richard W. Lewis
Leith Hull & Hamburg Steam Packet Co. Ltd.
Lewis, Heron & Co. (William Lewis & Co.)
Lewis Lougher & Co., Ltd
Leyland Line

See also:

Lambert Brothers

by James Dignan

Flag image based on Sampson (1957). Company based in based in London.
James Dignan, 8 October 2003

Brown 175: Lambert Bros., Ltd., London
Funnel: Black, on a white band a red equilateral triangle.
Flag: 2:3; white a red equilateral triangle, with a spanning circle of approximately half the flag's depth. James' images appears to be:
Flag: 2:3; white a red isosceles triangle, one-third of the flag in height.
Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg, 20 October 2003

W. & K.B. Lamplough

image by Ivan Sache, 22 March 2008

Lloyds Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows the house flag of "W. & K.B. Lamplough" (#68, p. 340), a company based in London, as white with a red border and a white letter "L" bordered blue.
Ivan Sache, 22 March 2008

Lamport & Holt Line Ltd.

by Phil Nelson, 9 April 2000

from Stewart and Styring's Flags, Funnels and Hull Colors 1963

R. Lapthorn & Co. Ltd.

by Ivan Sache

R. Lapthorn & Co. Ltd. (Rochester, Kent, United Kingdom - http://www.lapthorn.co.uk/index.asp?company) - red-black-red with yellow star.
The company was founded by Tony Lapthorn in November 1951 and is still a family business.
Ivan Sache, 1 November 2003

Line succeeded by Coastal Bulk Shipping.
Jan Mertens, 6 March 2009

Larne & Stranraer R. M

image by António Martins-Tuválkin and Jòan-Francés Blanc, 18 February 2007

Post card collection shows a red triangular flag with a white vertically-stretched lozenge offset to the hoist containing a red hand (Ulster connection) with thumb to the hoist.
António Martins-Tuválkin, 18 February 2007

I presume this company had services between Larne (County Antrim), served by the Belfast and Northern Counties Railway (1860-1903), and Stranraer (then in Wigtownshire), served by the Portpatrick and Wigtownshire Joint Committee Railway (1885-1903). The Ships List has the statement "The Larne and Stranraer Steamboat Company operated sailings from 1872 and became the Portpatrick & Wigtownshire Joint Committee in 1890." with no mention of the B&NC railway. Both the P&W railway and the successor of the B&NC railway were grouped into the London, Midlands and Scottish railway in 1923.
Jonathan Dixon, 21 February 2007

Larrinaga Steamship Co. Ltd.

by Jarig Bakker, based on the website of the National Maritime Museum.

From the website of the National Maritime Museum, "the house flag of the Larrinaga Steamship Co. Ltd., Liverpool. A rectangular white flag with three clasped hands in red in the centre. The flag is made of a wool and synthetic fibre bunting. It has a cotton hoist and is machine sewn. The hands motif is printed. A rope and toggle is attached. The flag is said to represent a hand shake between the three partners confirming the decision to run steam services through the Suez Canal. The design was in use from the 1860s until 1974."

Loughran (1979) writes: "Throughout its life, the company was owned by descendants of its founder, whose sailing ships were registered in Bilbao as far back as 1773. At first, their vessels sailed under the Spanish flag, but the company was Liverpool based from the 1860s. When the Suez Canal was opened, the three partners were uncertain whether to gamble on steam, using the shorter routes through the canal, or play safe and continue in sail. They decided to let the toss of a coin settle the matter, and it came down in favour of building their first steamer, the "Buena Ventura". The partners shook hands on it, and they were shown thus on
their first flag: hands clasped in agreement on the founding of what was one of the longest-lived deepsea tramp shipping companies in steam. For a century, Larrinaga ships wore the houseflag and the banded funnel whose colours were an allusion to their Spanish origins. In 1974, their last vessels were sold, and they were absorbed by the Valiant S.S. Co. Ltd., of the Vergottis Group.
Jarig Bakker, 19 August 2004

John Latsis (London) Ltd.

image by Jarig Bakker, 25 December 2005

John Latsis (London) Ltd., London - blue burgee, white cross bordered yellow; red "JL".
Source: Loughran (1995)
Jarig Bakker, 25 December 2005

La Tunisienne

image provided by Jan Mertens

From http://www.merchantnavyofficers.com/indexframe.html:

“In association with Jules Mesnier, Frank Strick formed another new company La Tunisienne Steam Navigation Co. Ltd. in 1909. The trade was coal out and iron ore back and the ships were named after places in Africa ending in 'A'. The Mokta Company of Paris was involved in the financing of some of the Fleet hence the funnel carried an 'M' over Stricks red, white and blue.” The website mentions that as La Tunisienne was only involved in the (Persian) Gulf trade by 1912, the name no longer fit “and so it merged with La Commerciale Steam Navigation Co Ltd on the 1st of January 1913 becoming Strick Line Ltd”.

The funnel and house flag are shown by the MNO site but a better picture seems to be the one offered by the on-line 1912 Lloyds Flags & Funnels. See No. 1032 ‘La Tunisienne S.S. Co. Ltd. (F.G. Strick & Co., Ltd.), London’ on this page. The flag has a white diamond touching the flag’s edges and defined by four triangles: the upper ones red (hoist) and blue (fly), the lower ones counterchanged. A large red initial ‘M’ (without serifs) appears in the diamond. The use of French (and British) colours and also the ‘M’ are no surprise given the firm’s origin.
Jan Mertens, 23 January 2007

Lawson-Batey Tugs Ltd.

image by Jarig Bakker, 10 January 2006

Lawson-Batey Tugs Ltd., South Shields - yellow flag, blue cross formy.
Source: Loughran (1995)
Jarig Bakker, 10 January 2006

Richard W. Lewis

image by Ivan Sache, 12 March 2008

Lloyds Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows the house flag of "Richard W. Lewis" (#67, p. 40), a company based in Aberdeen (Scotland), as red with a white letter "L".
Ivan Sache, 12 March 2008

Leith, Hull & Hamburg Steam Packet Co. Ltd.

by Jarig Bakker, based on the website of the National Maritime Museum.

From the website of the National Maritime Museum, "the house flag of Leith, Hull & Hamburg Steam Packet Co. Ltd. A blue swallow-tailed burgee with red borders at the upper and lower edge. At the hoist end there is a white saltire above a white cross. The flag is made of a wool and synthetic fibre bunting. It has a cotton hoist and is machine sewn. A rope and toggle is attached."

Brown (1951) lists this as "Currie Line, Ltd., London". The Observer Book of Ships (1973) has: "Currie Line Ltd. (Walter Runciman & Co. Ltd), Leith - ships ending with -land. Associated with a German company, also Currie Line painted on hull. Black/Red".
Jarig Bakker, 19 August 2004

Lewis, Heron & Co. (William Lewis & Co.)

by Ivan Sache

Lewis, Heron and Co., also William Lewis and Co., London. The flag is red with a blue square diamond charged with a L (white).
Based on The Mystic Seaport Foundation
Ivan Sache, 1 February 2004

Leyland Line

by Jarig Bakker

The Leyland Line (Frederick Leyland & Co., Limited), founded 1900, belonged to the Morgan-trust, trafficking from London, Liverpool to Boston, New York, New Orleans, West Indies, Mexico and Central America. The lines Liverpool-Lisbon, Oporto, Liverpool-Mediterranean and Antwerpen-Portland (Maine) belonged formerly to the Leyland Line, but was transferred to the Ellerman Line in Liverpool.
Source: Brockhaus' Konversations-Lexikon, 14th ed (c. 1907)
Jarig Bakker, 11 October 2003

by Ivan Sache, 7 January 2005

Larousse Commercial Illustré (1930) shows Leyland Line, Liverpool: red, a green cross throughout and a little white disk neatly enclosed in the centre of the cross. The cross's arms are about one fifth of flag height. Both pictures at http://www.greatships.net/leylandline.html have a plain red flag only. The on-line 1912 Lloyd's Flags & Funnels has a completely red flag for 'Frederick Leyland & Co., Ltd. (Leyland Line), Liverpool' under No. 1886: http://www.mysticseaport.org/library/initiative/ImPage.cfm?PageNum=91&BibId=11061&ChapterId=8 and a completely different one for 'J.H. Welford & Co., Ltd (Gulf Transport Line and Leyland Shipping Co., Ltd.), Liverpool', No. 211. Here, some correspondence pointing to the connection with the Bibby Line, another red house flag company (see particularly Note 2 of this letter): http://www.whistler.arts.gla.ac.uk/letters/02565.asp. So where does the green cross come from, I wonder?
Jan Mertens, 19 May 2004

Post card collection confirms the second design.
António Martins-Tuválkin, 18 February 2007