Last modified: 2009-10-17 by bruce berry
Keywords: south africa | houseflags | african coasters | aliwal | celphalonia | durban coasters | grincor | irvin & johnson | point shipping | safmarine | sal | smith's coasters | thesen's steamship | tristan development corp | unicorn li |
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From Scott, R.M., The Caltex Book of Flags and Funnels, Cape Town,
Caltex Africa Ltd. (1959).
#136 African Coasters (Pty.) Ltd., Durban - quartered per saltire orange - white
- blue - white; on white red "AC".
Jarig Bakker, 05 Jan 2005
This version is also shown by US Navy 1961 and Stewart 1963 whereas Brown
1951 changed the orange quarter to yellow and had black letters.
Neale Rosanoski, 28 Feb 2005
image by Jarig Bakker, 29 Dec 2004
From Scott, R.M., The Caltex Book of Flags and Funnels, Cape Town, Caltex Africa Ltd. (1959).
#37 Aliwal Steamship Co., Cape Town (Panama flag) - red flag, blue "A" contoured white
Aliwal is a town in the Punjab, India. Aliwal North is a town in the Free State
province of South Africa, southwest of Lesotho.
Jarig Bakker, 29 Dec 2004
Cephalonia Shipping (Pty) Ltd registered a flag with the South African Bureau of
Heraldry on 18 April 1975 with the description: On a rectangular flag Azure, a sun in
splendor
Or.
Source: Data
of the Bureau of Heraldry on registered heraldic representations.
Mark Sensen, 19 May 2002
image by Jarig Bakker, 02 Jan 2005
From Scott, R.M., The Caltex Book of Flags and Funnels, Cape Town, Caltex
Africa Ltd. (1959).
#60 Durban Coasters Ltd., Durban - yellow swallow tail background with blue
Scandinavian-style cross.
Jarig Bakker, 02 Jan 2005
A triangular red flag with a bold italic "G" in white.
Jorge Candeias, 12 Feb 1999
image by Jarig Bakker, 30 Dec 2004
From Scott, R.M., The Caltex Book of Flags and Funnels, Cape Town, Caltex Africa Ltd. (1959).
#48 Irvin & Johnson, Cape Town - horizontal triband of Red, White and Red.
Jarig Bakker, 30 Dec 2004
Andr� Burgers of Cape Town writes:
I&J is a deep sea fishing company and I am not sure it belongs here. At the start of
World War 2, South Africa had no navy and a sea service called the Seaward Defence Force (SDF) was hurriedly created from which the modern
SA Navy traces its origins. This force's primary purpose was
minesweeping and anti-submarine work around the South African coast (although they
later also served in the Mediterranean). Most of the vessels came from requisioned
trawlers from the local fishing (and whaling) companies of which Irvin and Johnson was one of the biggest and contributed the most vessels.
The Nazi propaganda radio station operating from the occupied Netherlands (Radio Hilversum) aimed directly at South Africa and
broadcasting in Afrikaans, dubbed the SDF derogatively the Irvin & Johnson Navy! Those little ships, however, did sterling work throughout
the war and four of them were lost in the Med by mines or through direct enemy action. Most were returned to their original owners after the war.
Irvin & Johnson is still the biggest deep sea fishing company operating in the Southern Oceans from Cape Town but their ships are now
very much bigger than those used in World War 2.
Jarig Bakker, 30 Dec 2004
image by Eugene Ipavec, 13 Nov 2007
On the pages of the Dutch Kombuispraat ("galley talk") discussion site (http://www.kombuispraat.com/viewtopic.dnv?t=911&highlight=maatschappijvlaggen)
there is information about the house flag of a short-lived South African
shipping company:
See the 15 Oct 2005 and a contribution by "Akwanaut", source unknown (extract
titled 'Bijlage 2: De rederijvlag' i.e. "Annex 2: The house flag), concerning
the various house flags belonging to, or related to, the Java China Japan Line
(NL) :
The right flag of the second row is � blue with large white initial 'J'
connected to a white stylized wave above it (or, Jupiter-like, descending from a
cloud formation?) with the caption: "Jupiter Lines (Pty) Ltd., Durban
1974-1976".
More is gained from the Ships List site (http://www.theshipslist.com/ships/lines/java.htm)
as follows:
"Also a joint venture was started with the South African Marine Corporation
named Safocean Pty and in 1974 to avoid flag discrimination, the Jupiter Lines
Pty, a daughter company was started in Durban. The New Holland (ex Randfontein)
was taken over from Nedlloyd but the Australian passengers or tourist market was
too small and the ship was sold to China.
In 1975 all the shipping lines were re-grouped and brought under the Nedlloyd
banner and on 01 May 1977 the Nederlandsche Scheepvaart Unie was restyled
as the Koninklijke Nedlloyd Groep and the KJCPL or RIL lost its name and
disappeared into history."
Eugene Ipavec, 13 Nov 2007
image by Jarig Bakker, 02 Jan 2005
From Scott, R.M., The Caltex Book of Flags and Funnels, Cape Town, Caltex
Africa Ltd. (1959).
#54 Point Shipping Co., Durban - per fly diagonal green - yellow; black "PSC".
Jarig Bakker, 02 Jan 2005
The Safmarine flag is an orange Scandinavian cross, fimbriated in blue � since the company was largely Government-owned, it was expected to reflect the orange, white and blue so beloved of the former National Party government.
The company has largely been sold off, and I'm not sure how the
ownership is currently structured.
Mike Oettle, 3 Feb 2002
Safmarine Agencies registered a flag on 3 September 1969 with the South
African Bureau of Heraldry with the description: Argent a cross Tenne bordered Azure.
Source: Data
of the Bureau of Heraldry on registered heraldic representations.
Mark Sensen, 19 May 2002
From Scott, R.M., The Caltex Book of Flags and Funnels, Capetown,
Caltex Africa Ltd. (1959).
#163 Smith's Coasters (Pty.) Ltd., Durban - red flag, white hoist diagonal
charged with red "C.G.S".
Jarig Bakker, 07 Jan 2005
The letters stand for the original owners, C.G. Smith & Co. Ltd.
Neale Rosanoski, 28 Feb 2005
From Scott, R.M., The Caltex Book of Flags and Funnels, CapeTown,
Caltex Africa Ltd. (1959).
#77 South African Lines, Cape Town - seven horizontal stripes of blue and
yellow; in center white "SAL".
Jarig Bakker, 02 Jan 2005
image by Jarig Bakker, 01 Sept 2004
From the link provided by Barbara Tomlinson of
The National Maritime Museum: "The house flag of Thesen's Steam Ship
Co. Ltd, Cape Town. The flag is a
red swallow-tailed burgee with a five-pointed white star. The flag is made of a
wool and synthetic fibre bunting. It has a cotton hoist."
Jarig Bakker, 01 Sept 2004
From Scott, R.M., The Caltex Book of Flags and Funnels, Cape Town,
Caltex Africa Ltd. (1959).
#94 Thesen's Steamship Co. Ltd, Cape Town - red swallow tail, white 5-pointed star.
Jarig Bakker, 04 Jan 2005
From Scott, R.M., The Caltex Book of Flags and Funnels, Cape Town,
Caltex Africa Ltd. (1959).
#165 Tristan Development Corporation, Cape Town - red flag, white diamond, black
"T".
Jarig Bakker, 07 Jan 2005
image by Martin Grieve, 27 Sept 2009
I have noted with interest the flag shown on your website as that of Unicorn
Lines. I can say with some authority as a staff member involved with the
revision of the company logo, and subsequently as a Director of Unicorn Lines,
that the flag you show is incorrect.
image by Martin Grieve, 27 Sept 2009
The logo which was initially adopted by Unicorn Lines in the mid-1960s was a
rampant red unicorn, in profile, facing right. The entire "animal" was depicted,
and not merely the head. This logo was based on the logo of Union Corporation, a
Johannesburg Sock Exchange mining and industrial conglomerate which had a
substantial interest in Unicorn Lines.
image by Martin Grieve, 27 Sept 2009
In the early 1970s the logo was revised. I attach a JPEG file containing a scan
of a Unicorn Lines desk-top flag which Unicorn distributed to its Clients for
many years. As you can see the logo consists only of the stylized head, which
itself it is substantially different from that reflected in your website (see
original article below).
The new logo was incorporated into company letterheads and other documentation
and also appeared on ship's funnels, containers, buildings, vehicles, etc.
image by Martin Grieve, 27 Sept 2009
Unicorn Lines ceased trading under that name several
years ago. However the format of the logo/flag which I have attached continues
to be used in a somewhat modified form by certain Divisions or Departments of
Unicorn Shipping. This may be verified by looking up in the Grindrod Limited
website.
Syd Oram, 16 Sept 2009
Unicorn Lines (Pty), Ltd., Durban
has horizontal blue over
red flag; in center white outlined rounded square, charged with a white
unicorn's head in the centre.
Image after Brown's Flags and Funnels of Shipping Companies of the
World, compiled by J.L. Loughran, Glasgow, 1995.
Jarig Bakker, 29 Dec 2005