The Anchor line originates from the efforts of the Handyside Brothers and Thomas Henderson who began a steamship service between Glasgow and New York in 1856. In 1872, the had Victoria built from the yard of Robert Duncan & Co. of Port Glasgow for the New York service. She was one of two built for the service that year, the other coming from Messrs Alexander Stephen & Sons, Linthouse, named California. They were designed to compete with the new vessels on the Liverpool route and at 360 ft long with accommodation for 170 saloon. 100 second and 700 third-class passengers, were well suited to the trade.

Victoria (Annan, Glasgow)

Victoria

California

Handyside retired in 1873 and the Hendersons took over Tod & MacGregor’s shipyard as D & W Henderson and formed a strong association with the Barrow Steam Ship Co., expanding their routes and their interests.  One of the new steamers sold by the Anchor Line to the Barrow Steam Ship Co. in 1874 for its service between Barrow and New York was the Ethiopia.  She was built by Alexander Stephen & Sons on the Clyde in 1873.

Anchor Line’s Ethiopia (Hall, Broadway)

The Barrow Steam Ship Co. had been founded to encourage the development of Barrow as a port and the steamships of the company were mainly constructed by the Barrow Shipbuilding Co. Between 1875 and 1878, they built three large steamers of around 4,200 gross tons, Anchoria, Devonia, and Circassia.  The Barrow experiment was short-lived and these ships, under the management of the Anchor Line, were used on Anchor Line services on the North Atlantic between Glasgow and New York with a stop at Moville. More vessels for the Atlantic trade were built at Barrow, including Furnessia in 1880. Over the next few years, a number of smaller vessels, Britannia in 1879, Karamania in 1883, Persia in 1883, and Arabia in 1884 were built by D & W Henderson for the Anchor Line’s India and Mediterranean service.

Map of Anchor Line Services in 1872

Devonia and the tug Flying Arrow off Gourock (Robertson, Gourock)

Devonia off the Tail of the Bank from Helensburgh (Stuart, Helensburgh)

Anchor Liner with H.M.S Warrior off the Tail of the Bank (Robertson, Gourock)

New York bound Ethiopia passing Renfrew after 1884 when her engines were compounded

Persia passing Scotstoun (Robertson, Glasgow)

Furnessia at Stobcross (Robertson, Glasgow)

Furnessia at New York around 1905

Furnessia

Britannia at Stobcross with tugs Flying Spindrift and Rover and other Anchor Liners

In 1881, the Barrow Shipbuilding built City of Rome for the Inman Line. The ship was rejected by Inman as not meeting performance and in the following year she reappeared, much improved, sailing under the management of the Anchor Line, first of all on the Liverpool to New York service, and later from Greenock to New York. With her clipper bow, she was a most imposing vessel, and by far the largest in the fleet. Towards the end of her life with the company, the City of Rome was involved with the emigrant trade from the Clyde. She was sold in 1903 after her replacement by the Columbia.

City of Rome at Liverpool (Valentine, Dundee)

City of Rome (George Washington Wilson)

City of Rome off Gourock (Robertson, Gourock)

City of Rome off Greenock

The Anchor Line had its own tug and tender, Express, built by D & W Henderson in 1880 to serve its ships on the Clyde and when required on Lough Foyle. She was equipped with a crane that was used for hoisting baggage on board. She was replaced by Paladin in 1913.

Express

City of Rome with Express off Greenock (Washington Wilson)

Anchor Line’s Express at Yorkhill

Advert from Glasgow Herald in 1885

In 1889, a ship named Tainui was purchased from the Shaw, Savill and Albion Line and renamed Astoria. The Astoria had been build at Dumbarton by Denny in 1884 and was employed in the Glasgow to New York service until laid up in 1908.

Astoria at Stobcross

In 1901 the Anchor Line ordered Columbia to replace their ageing and uneconomic City of Rome on the Glasgow to New York route. She was built by D & W Henderson at Partick and while more modern in design was similar in size and speed to the ship she replaced.

She was launched on 22nd of February 1902 and was an immediate success when she sailed to New York on her maiden voyage in May of that year. Unlike her predecessor, Columbia maintained the service from the Anchor Line berth at Stobcross Quay until a serious fire in 1903 resulted in a removal to Yorkhill Quay. Yorkhill was a more convenient berth and facilitated the larger vessels that would be employed on subsequent Anchor Line services. The Columbia received a mention in the “Para Handy” stories by Neil Munro, reflecting her iconic status on the Clyde.

An Album of the Columbia

Columbia passing Scotstoun (Robertson, Glasgow)

Columbia at Gourock

Columbia off Greenock (Robertson, Glasgow)

Columbia off New York

Columbia off New York

Columbia off Greenock with H.M.S. Colossus

Columbia off Gourock after 1911 (Robertson, Gourock)

H.M.S Columbella in dazzle as an armed merchant cruiser in World War I (Robertson, Gourock)

Columbia canting at Yorkhill with Cameronia and Paladin

Columbia at Stobcross at the end of her career 

During World War I, Columbia was fitted out as an armed merchant cruiser, H.M.S. Columbella, and was the only member of the Anchor line’s North Atlantic service fleet to survive hostilities. In 1921, she was converted to oil-firing and was laid-up in Glasgow in 1925 awaiting a disposal that happened in March the following year.

The retirement of the steamships built in the 1870s and 1880s resulted in a spate of new construction for the North Atlantic service in the early years of the new century. Three were products of D & W Henderson’s Partick yard.   The first of these was Caledonia in 1904. She was larger and longer than Columbia. She was requisition for trooping during World War I and torpedoed in the Mediterranean in 1916.

Caledonia on the Clyde (Robertson, Gourock)

Caledonia outbound at Scotstoun (Robertson, Glasgow)

Caledonia off Greenock

Slightly smaller than Caledonia, California followed in 1907. She was not requisitioned during the war but was also torpedoed, off Fastnet early in 1917. Cameronia, followed in 1911. She was requisitioned in January 1917 and torpedoed in the Mediterranean just three months later.

California on the Clyde off Gourock (Robertson, Gourock)

California at Scotstoun (Robertson, Glasgow)

Cameronia off Gourock (Robertson, Gourock)

In 1911, the Cunard Steamship Co. Ltd. took over the Anchor Line and the livery was changed to include a white line between the black hull colour and the red boot topping. In 1912, some of the Indian routes were transferred to Brocklebanks, and in 1916, the North Atlantic service was augmented by the transfer of four Donaldson Line steamers, forming Anchor-Donaldson.

The tender Paladin was built in 1913 and came from the yard of Murdoch & Murray Ltd. of Port Glasgow. She would assist with the sailing of the Anchor steamships from Yorkhill Quay and accompany them downriver to the Tail of the Bank where many of the passengers would join the ship after travelling by train to Greenock.

Paladin off Gourock (Robertson, Gourock)

A fourth new steamship, Transylvania, was the product of Scott’s of Greenock in 1914 and originally destined for the Mediterranean service by that time shared with Cunard. She was larger than the others. The beginning of World War I diverted her to the North Atlantic service for Cunard and later for the Anchor line service but she was requisitioned in 1915 and torpedoed in 1917 in the Mediterranean while engaged in trooping.

Transylvania (Robertson, Gourock)

In the aftermath of World War I, replacement of the tonnage lost during hostilities was a priority. A new Cameronia was first to be built in 1920 by William Beardmore & Co. Ltd. of Dalmuir, and was larger than her pre-war counterparts. Sailing mainly on the Glasgow, Liverpool to New York service she was laid up in 1934 and rebuilt in 1936, resuming the service from Glasgow to New York until requisitioned for trooping in 1940.

Cameronia with Paladin off Gourock (Robertson, Gourock)

Cameronia

Cameronia off Greenock (Robertson, Gourock)

Replacement tonnage in the form of surrendered German vessels was also added to the fleet. Assyria was the former HAPAG ship Ypiranga, built in 1908 and taken over in 1921. She is seen here at Stobcross before she was sold in 1929 and renamed Colonial.

Assyria at Stobcross

The Tuscania, was a Fairfield product of 1922, sailing on the North Atlantic service with a call at Moville. She was intended for the service from Italy and the Mediterranean to New York but US immigration restrictions changed her role and she was chartered to Cunard for their North Atlantic services from London. She was laid up briefly in 1930 but re-entered service until 1939 when she was sold to the General Steam Navigation Co. of Greece and renamed Nea Hellas. When Greece fell, she reverted to Anchor Line control as a troopship and survived the war. After a refit she sailed on the Mediterranean to New York service until the mid 1950s when she returned to the Clyde for a refit, sitting at Yorkhill Quay before being sold and renamed New York.

Tuscania heading up the Clyde (Robertson, Gourock)

Tuscania in Cunard Colours (Robertson, Gourock)

From Alexander Steven’s Yard at Linthouse in 1923 came California. She was similar in size to Tuscania and had a relatively uneventful service from Glasgow to New York until requisitioned in 1937 as a troopship. She did not survive the war and was lost off Portugal in 1943.

California off Gourock (Robertson, Gourock)

California and Chieftain heading upriver at Scotstoun 

California heading out into the Atlantic

Two imposing sisters joined the fleet in 1925. Both Transylvania and Caledonia were Fairfield products. And became the mainstay of the Glasgow to New York service until the beginning of the war when both were requisitioned. Neither survived; both became victims of U-boats in 1940.

Transylvania off Gourock (Robertson, Gourock)

Family members at the departure of Transylvania at Yorkhill Quay

Transylvania (Anchor Line)

Transylvania off New York

Transylvania and Tuscania at Yorkhill

Transylvania at the Tail of the Bank

Caledonia at Yorkhill

Caledonia leaving Yorkhill with Paladin

Caledonia off Gourock (Robertson, Gourock)

Caledonia off Gourock (Robertson, Gourock)

Caledonia at Liverpool

Caledonia at New York

The Britannia, built by Alexander Stevens and Sons in 1926, was used on the far-east services and was also lost during the war when she encountered a surface raider off Freetown in 1941.

Britannia on the Clyde

The introduction of motor vessels into the fleet began with Circassia and Cilicia, launched from the Fairfield yard in 1937 and 1938 respectively.  Both survived the war and were joined by a new Fairfield product, Caledonia, in 1948.

Circassia

Cilicia

Caledonia

History of the Anchor Line, Anchor Line, Glasgow 1911.

The Book of the Anchor Line, Anchor Line, London, 1932

Anchor Line, R. S. McLellan, Anchor Line, 1956