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British shipping companies (Q, R)

Queen Steam Fishing Co Ltd.
Queenship Navigation Ltd.
RACAL Energy Resources Ltd.
M.A. Ray & Sons
R. & J. H. Rea
G.T. Redhead & Co.
Red Funnel Line
Red 'R' Steamship Co. Ltd.
Regent Petroleum Tankship Co. Ltd.
Regents Line
Rhondda Merthyr Steamship Company
Richards, Mills & Co.
J.N.O. Ridley, Son & Tully
River Bulk Shipping Ltd.
Rivers Steam Navigation Co. Ltd.
J.R. Rix & Sons, Ltd.
R.Rix & Sons
RMC Group, p.l.c.
E.F. & W. Roberts
Hugh Roberts and Son
William Robertson, Shipowners, Ltd. (Gem Line)
Robertson, Mackie & Co.
Sir Robert Ropner & Co.
Ross Group
C. Rowbotham & Sons
Rowland & Marwoods Steam Ship Co.
Royal Mail Lines
Royal Mail Steam Packet Co.
Thomas Royden & Sons
Walter Runciman & Co.
Runwave Ltd.

See also:

Queen Steam Fishing Co Ltd.

image 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 Queen Steam Fishing Co Ltd., Grimsby. A white flag with a blue saltire and a red letter 'Q' in the centre. The flag is made of a wool and synthetic fibre bunting. It has a linen hoist and is machine sewn.
Jarig Bakker, 24 August 2004

Queenship Navigation Ltd.

image by Jarig Bakker

Brown (1951) shows exactly the same flag as the Queen Steam Fishing Co. flag (but proportioned 2:3) for the Queenship Navigation Ltd., London.
Jarig Bakker, 24 August 2004

RACAL Energy Resources Ltd.

image by Jarig Bakker, 11 November 2005

RACAL Energy Resources Ltd., London - yellow flag, red rounded rectangle, white "RACAL".
Source: Loughran (1995)
Jarig Bakker, 11 November 2005

The company started off in the late1950s in electronics, manufacturing communications equipment based on a method for generating High Frequencies for long range communication invented by a South African electronics engineer. Their customers were mainly the navies of the West. The advent of satellite communications probably forced them to diversify.
Andries Burgers, 12 November 2005

M.A. Ray & Sons

image by Ivan Sache, 24 April 2008

Lloyds Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows the house flag of "M.A. Ray & Sons" (#306, p. 51), a company based in London, as white with the red letters "M.", "A.", "R." and "S." in the respective corners and "&" in the middle.
Ivan Sache, 24 April 2008

R. & J. H. Rea

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

From the website of the National Maritime Museum, the house flag of R. & J. H. Rea, Liverpool. A red flag with a white-bordered black diamond in the centre bearing a white 'R'. The flag is made of a wool and synthetic fibre bunting. It has a cotton hoist and is machine sewn. The design is printed.
Jarig Bakker, 24 August 2004

G.T. Redhead & Co.

image by Ivan Sache, 31 May 2006

Lloyds (1912) shows the house flag of G.T. Redhead & Co., Newcastle-on-Tyne, as blue with a white diamond charged with a red R. Also displayed at http://library.mysticseaport.org/initiative/ImPage.cfm?PageNum=30&BibId=11061&ChapterId=8 .
Ivan Sache, 31 May 2006

Red Funnel Line

a.k.a. Southampton, Isle of Wight and South of England Royal Mail Steam Packet Public Limited Company

image by Ivan Sache, 8 March 2004

Quartered per saltire in white, green, red and blue.
Jorge Candeias, 23 Feb 1999

The Southampton Isle of Wight and South of England Royal Mail Steam Packet Public Limited Company. Universally known as Red Funnel for short.
Roy Stilling

The Southampton and Isle of Wight RMSP Co Ltd used a diagonally divided flag that was - clockwise from the top - white, green, red and blue.
James Dignan

The funnel livery has changed through time, see here: http://www.redfunnel.co.uk/redfunnel. This page of the same website gives the origin of the flag colours: "The Company's famous house flag was derived from the names of four steamers that were in the newly merged fleet in 1861- Sapphire, Emerald, Ruby and Pearl. Blue to mast, green to fly, red on deck, white on high."
Jan Mertens, 28 January 2007

Red 'R' Steamship Co. Ltd.

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

From the website of the National Maritime Museum, the house flag of Red 'R' Steamship Co. Ltd. A white rectangular flag with a red 'R' in the centre. The flag is made of a wool and synthetic fibre bunting. It has a cotton hoist and is machine sewn."

[The only match I found was in Brown (1951) for Stephens Sutton Ltd., Newcastle-on-Tyne (GB)]
Jarig Bakker, 24 August 2004

Regent Petroleum Tankship Co. Ltd.

image 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 Regent Petroleum Tankship Co. Ltd., London. A white flag, in the centre with a disc divided into red over blue and a blue-edged white border. The name 'REGENT' is in blue letters on a white background across the centre. The flag is made of a wool and synthetic fibre bunting. It has a cotton hoist and is machine sewn. The design is printed. A rope and two Inglefield clips is attached. The company ships were absorbed into the Texaco fleet by 1968 and their own livery was abandoned."
Jarig Bakker, 25 August 2004

Regents Line

image by Jarig Bakker

Brown's Flags and Funnels (1951) lists for Regents Line (Grand Union (Shipping) Ltd.), London, a yellow flag with over all a blue Y; in top a white disk with three blue horizontal stripes; at the hoist a black capital R; at the fly a black capital L.
Jarig Bakker, 25 August 2004

Rhondda Merthyr Steamship Company

image by Jarig Bakker

Source: Brown's Flags and Funnels [Wedge 1926]

Rhondda Merthyr Steamship Company, Cardiff - white flag, red cross, in the center red disk; "RMSC" in blue in all quarters.
Jarig Bakker, 15 January 2005

Richards, Mills & Co.

image by Eugene Ipavec, 19 April 2008

The tenth photo on this page, showing details of plates and other things recovered from shipwrecks (and showing a flag): http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~indigo/flags.htm. The house flag’s colours are not shown. The firm’s initials are put in the corners (R, M, &, C with raised 'o' arranged in the usual fashion) and in the centre are the Prince of Wales’s feathers and coronet.

I haven’t been able to find out much about this firm, other than that they were managing the Dominion Line of Liverpool (in other places called ‘Mississippi & Dominion Line’), the British & North Atlantic Steam Navigation Co. Ltd. and the Welsh Castle Line. Traces found date from the 1890’ies. On this page (Aberystwyth Castle, first ship’s file) it is said that the firm had a "reputation for closeness”. I like more the sound of ‘Welsh Castle Line’ which at least has the merit of suggesting the feathers and coronet. But that too, proved a dead end.
Jan Mertens, 26 November 2005

Found the house flag illustrated on the Liverpool Journal of Commerce chart for 1885. It is white, the letters are black, and the Prince of Wales's feathers (depicted on the chart as an ornate fleur-de-lis) are red.
Ian Sumner, 9 December 2005

Griffin’s ‘Flags national and mercantile’ (1891), no. 161 (plate 12, steam vessels). As a matter of interest, the same flag – smaller feathers, however: different drawing – is shown in Griffin as no. 625 (plate 23, sailing vessels) representing the same firm.
Jan Mertens, 16 April 2008

J.N.O. Ridley, Son & Tully

image by Ivan Sache, 3 April 2008

Lloyds Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows the house flag of "J.N.O. Ridley, Son & Tully" (#166, p. 44), a company based in Newcastle-on-Tyne, as horizontally divided white-black-white.

SS "Newton Beech", built in 1925 in Sunderland, operated the Tyneside Line for "John Ridley, Son & Tully" when she unfortunately met the German "Admiral Graf Spee" on 5 October 1939, south-east of Ascension Island. On 7 October, SS "Ashlea" was captured and the crew placed on the "Newton Beech". After the combined crews were again transferred to the "Graf Spee", "Newton Beech" was sunk by "Graf Spee" on 8 October off the coast of Angola.
http://freepages.family.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~treevecwll/spees.htm
Ivan Sache, 3 April 2008

River Bulk Shipping Ltd.

image by Eugene Ipavec, 6 March 2009

River Bulk Shipping Ltd. is a British firm established at Rochester (Kent) on the River Medway, operating two small self load & discharging vessels able to transport all kinds of commodities including projects or special loads. RiverBulk (Truro) Ltd is a subsidiary engaged in warehousing whereas Coastal Bulk Shipping – same address – is an associated company. In addition to that, a specialized barge is mentioned “suitable for the storage of up to 1400 tonnes of water sensitive and other high grade cargoes”.

The photo gallery offers clickable pictures often showing the attractive livery of a yellow star – on vessels’ bows and cranes – on a green background. The house flag proper appears as a drawing and is also visible in the cloth, on the starting page. Horizontally divided green-white-green, a yellow five-pointed star in the centre of the white stripe (no high visibility I am afraid): see attachments.
Jan Mertens, 5 March 2009

Rivers Steam Navigation Co. Ltd.

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

From the website of the National Maritime Museum, the house flag of Rivers Steam Navigation Co. Ltd., London. A white, swallow-tailed burgee with a blue saltire. A red disc is placed in the centre. The flag is made of a wool and synthetic fibre bunting. It has a cotton hoist and is machine sewn."

It is similar to the flag of the Anglo Saxon Petroleum Co., London, with white field, blue saltire with red disk, according to Loughran (1979).
Jarig Bakker, 26 August 2004

J.R. Rix & Sons, Ltd.

image by Jarig Bakker, 10 November 2005

J.R. Rix & Sons, Ltd., Hull - blue flag, red diamond, intertwined white "JR".
Source: Loughran (1995)
Jarig Bakker, 10 November 2005

R.Rix & Sons

image located by David Prothero, 9 February 2008

House flag of R.Rix & Sons in Ships and the Sea by Talbot-Booth (1937)
David Prothero, 9 February 2008

RMC Group, p.l.c.

image by Jarig Bakker, 9 September 2005

RMC Group, p.l.c., Feltham - orange flag, black outlined diamond, black "RMC".
Source: Loughran (1995)
Jarig Bakker, 9 September 2005

E.F. & W. Roberts

image by Ivan Sache, 30 April 2008

Lloyds Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows the house flag of "E. F. & W. Roberts" (#344, p. 53), a company based in Liverpool, as blue with a red border and a white star in the middle.

On 24 October 1898, the "Andorinha", a four-masted sailing ship owned by E. F. and W. Roberts, was involved in a big blaze that caused a loss of $300,000 in Brooklyn. A fire seems to have started on the ship and to have swiftly spread to the pier belonging to the German-American Stores. Then the blaze extended to the naval storeyard of George L. Hammond & Co. and to the three-masted schooner "Wacamaw". The whole story was reported in "The New York Times", 25 October 1898.
Ivan Sache, 30 April 2008

Hugh Roberts and Son

image by Phil Nelson, 11 April 2000

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

William Robertson, Shipowners, Ltd. (Gem Line)

[William Robertson, Shipowners, Ltd. houseflag]

image by Phil Nelson, 6 April 2000

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

William Robertson, Shipowners, Ltd. Griffin 1895, Lloyds 1904 and the Liverpool Journal of Commerce all show the white band being very broad with equal bands then shown by all sources from 1912 onwards, suggesting that there was a change in the basic design. Robertsons had their fleet under the name Gem Line Ltd. from the late 1950s to the early 1970s, the ship names being after minerals or semi-precious stones, then around the mid 1970s seem to have been absorbed by Stephenson Clarke Shipping Ltd.
Neale Rosanoski, 16 February 2004

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

From the website of the National Maritime Museum, "the house flag of Gem Line. A white, rectangular flag with the top and bottom edges in dark blue. In the centre is a red 'R'. 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."
Jarig Bakker, 13 August 2004

Robertson, Mackie & Co.

image by Ivan Sache, 3 April 2008

Lloyds Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows the house flag of "Robertson, Mackie & Co." (#185, p. 45), a company based in Glasgow (Scotland), as white with a blue border and a red star in the middle.
Ivan Sache, 3 April 2008

Sir Robert Ropner & Co.

image by James Dignan

Based on Sampson (1957).
James Dignan, 19 October 2003

Sir R. Ropner Co. Ltd., West Hartlepool: Larousse Commercial Illustré (1930) shows quarterly red and white, characters counterchanged in each canton i.e. upper hoist, white `R.', upper fly, red `R.', lower hoist, red `&', lower fly, `Co' (`o' raised, no dot). No serifs. Robert Ropner's remarkable career is described on this site (click on the flag). The firm is still active in shipping but no longer independent: see its home page, then click `Company History'.
Jan Mertens, 4 June 2004

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

From the website of the National Maritime Museum, "the house flag of Sir R. Ropner & Co. (Management) Ltd., Darlington. A rectangular flag quartered into red and white with a black and gold shield of arms in the centre. The flag is made of a wool and synthetic fibre bunting. It has a cotton hoist and is machine sewn. The shield is printed onto cotton."
Jarig Bakker, 29 August 2004

Sir Robert Ropner & Co. The flag apparently changed post WW2, being shown from Stewart 1951 onwards, the letters being deleted and a shield added overall. I am not sure of the charges on the shield but at some point I have noted that they included stag heads.
Neale Rosanoski, 24 May 2004

Ross Group

image 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 Ross Group, Grimsby. A rectangular green flag with a five-pointed white star. The flag is made of a wool and synthetic fibre bunting. It has a cotton hoist and is machine sewn."
Jarig Bakker, 26 August 2004

C. Rowbotham & Sons

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

From the website of the National Maritime Museum, "the house flag of C. Rowbotham & Sons, London. A blue rectangular flag with a white diamond in the centre bearing the letter 'R' in red. 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.
Jarig Bakker, 8 August 2004

Rowland & Marwoods Steam Ship Co.

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

From the website of the National Maritime Museum, the house flag of Rowland & Marwoods Steam Ship Co., Whitby. A square white flag with a blue border bearing a red cross in the centre. The flag is made of wool bunting with a linen hoist and is machine sewn. A rope and toggle is attached. The design dates from before 1934 when the company were asked to alter their colours by the War Office and changed them to a blue cross with a red border.

Rowland and Marwood was created in 1890 by six steamship owners, each ship owned by shareholders, to form a larger and mutually beneficial concern. Rowland died in 1899, and Marwood in 1914, and from 1914 W. A. Headlam and his family became the driving force of the company. The tramp fleet carried mainly coal out, and then grain, timber, and many other cargoes back to the UK or European ports. They traded worldwide to ports in Australia, South America, Cuba, Canada and elsewhere on the globe. The company lost six ships in the First World War, but acquired 13 new ones in the period 1922 to 1940.

The depression in the 1930s caused great difficulties, but with government subsidies in both 1935 and 1936 the company managed to keep going. After the First World War the ships were always named after local Yorkshire villages. During the first two years of the Second World War the Battle of the Atlantic took almost all of the company's fleet. The company continued trading in the post-war period, but, despite new vessels of larger size being bought in 1956 and 1962, the 'Runswick' and the 'Egton', the world economic climate proved unfavourable to small-scale cargo enterprises and in 1985 the company went into voluntary liquidation."
Jarig Bakker, 26 August 2004

image by Jarig Bakker

According to Loughran (1979) the flag used after 1934 had proportions 2:3.
Jarig Bakker, 26 August 2004

Royal Mail Lines (Royal Mail Steam Packet Co.)

image by Ivan Sache, 8 March 2004

Based on Sampson (1957).
James Dignan, 15 October 2003

Houseflag: White, with red St. Andrew's Cross and Gold Crown in center.
Jarig Bakker. 15 October 2003

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

From the website of the National Maritime Museum, the house flag of Royal Mail Lines Ltd, London. A white swallow-tailed burgee with a red cross. There is a gold crown in the centre. 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."
Jarig Bakker, 27 August 2003

Founded as the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company in 1839 originally between the UK and the Caribbean and Central America and extending north to Halifax and New York. Purchased the White Star Line in 1927. In 1932, became the Royal Mail Line following significant losses by the company and conviction of the company chairman Lord Kylsant for larceny (specifically having falsified the company financial books). In 1965 RML was purchased by Furness, Withy & Co and in the 1970s sold successively to C Y Tung (HK) and Hamburg-Süd (DE). Currently operates a refrigerated cargo service between South America and Europe.
Phil Nelson, 16 October 2003

Royal Mail Steam Packet Co.

image 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 Royal Mail Steam Packet Co., London. A white flag with a red saltire in the centre of which is a gold cross. The flag is made of a wool and synthetic fibre bunting. It has a linen hoist and is machine sewn. The crown is printed."
Jarig Bakker, 27 August 2004

Thomas Royden & Sons

image by Ivan Sache

The flag is forked, horizontally divided blue-red with a white diamond in the middle.
Ivan Sache, 28 February 2004

Walter Runciman & Co.

image by James Dignan

Based on Sampson (1957).
James Dignan, 11 October 2003

Based in Newcastle-on-Tyne, UK
Phil Nelson, 11 October 2003

Runwave Ltd.

image by Jarig Bakker, 29 August 2005

Runwave Ltd., Bristol - black flag bordered red, white "R".
Source: Loughran (1995)
Jarig Bakker, 29 August 2005