Allan Line

The Allan Shipping Line was founded in 1819, by Captain Alexander Allan of Saltcoats, Ayrshire, trading and transporting between Scotland and Montreal, a route which quickly became synonymous with the Allan Line. By the 1830s the company had offices in Glasgow, Liverpool and Montreal. All five of Captain Allan's sons were actively involved with the business, but it was his second son, Sir Hugh Allan, who spearheaded the second generation. In 1854, Hugh launched the Montreal Ocean Steamship Company as part of the Allan Line, and two years later ousted Samuel Cunard to take control of the Royal Mail contract between Britain and North America. By the 1880s, the Allan Line was the world's largest privately owned shipping concern.

House flag of the Allan Line

House flag in use around 1905

A poster showing fares and schedule for Allan Line ships across the Atlantic towards the end of the 19th century

In 1891, the company took over the State Line (founded 1872) and was often referred to as the Allan & State Line. In 1897, Andrew Allan amalgamated the various branches of the Allan shipping empire under one company, Allan Line Steamship Company Ltd., of Glasgow. The company by then had added offices in Boston and London. In 1917, under Sir Montagu Allan, who represented the third generation of the Allan family, the company was purchased by Canadian Pacific Steamships, and by the following year the Allan name had disappeared from commercial shipping.

Notable collisions

In 1891, the Allan Line steamship Carthaginian collided with the York River Line steamship Charlotte in the shipping channel at Baltimore, Maryland. Among those aboard Carthaginian was the Danish-American composer Asger Hamerik. Both ships were damaged, but neither sank.^{[ProQuest Historical Newspapers 1]}

In 1905, the Allan Line ship Parisian was involved in a collision with the Hamburg America Line ship Albano off of Halifax, Nova Scotia. The Exchequer Court of Canada found Albano to be fully at fault, according to Reports of Cases Relating to Maritime Law.^[1] The case was later appealed to Canada's supreme court.^{[citation needed]}

List of steamships

The Allan Line fleet evolved over the course of decades, changing as new ships were added, lost at sea, sold, or scrapped:

• 
  SS Sardinian
• 
  SS Scotian
• 
  RMS Virginian

RMS Alsatian[2] SS America[2] SS Anglo Saxon[3] SS Assyrian[3] SS Austrian[3] SS Australasian (1857)[3] SS Australasian (1901)[3] SS Bavarian (1899) SS Belgian (1855) SS Bohemian[3] SS Brazilian[3] SS Buenos Ayrean[4] HMS Calgarian[3] SS Californian[3] SS Canadian (1854)[3] SS Canadian (1859)[3] SS Canadian (1872)[3] SS Carthaginian[4] SS Caspian[3] SS Castilian[3] SS Circassian[3] SS City of Vienna[2] SS City of Bombay[2] SS Corean[4] SS Corinthian[4] SS Corsican[4] SS Damascus[2] SS Diamant[3] SS European[3] SS Gallia[3] SS Germany[3] SS Grampian[4] SS Grecian[4] SS Hanoverian[3] SS Hesperian[3]

RMS Hesperian[4] SS Hibernian (1861)[2] SS Hibernian (1888) SS Hibernian (1902)[2] SS Hungarian (1859)[2] SS Hungarian (1902)[2] SS Huronian[3] SS Indian[3] SS Ionian[4] SS John Bell[3] SS Jura[3] SS Lake Erie[2] SS Laurentian[4] SS Livonian[3] SS Lucerne[3] SS Manitoban[3] SS Melita[2] SS Mersey[2] SS Mongolian[3] SS Monte Videan[4] SS Moravian[3] SS Nestorian (1866)[3] SS North American[3] SS North Briton[3] SS Norway[3] SS Norwegian (1861)[3] SS Norwegian (1865)[3] SS Nova Scotian[3] SS Numidian[4] SS Ontarian[4] SS Orcardian[4] SS Ottawa[3] SS Palestine[2] SS Parisian[4]

SS Pretorian[4] SS Prussian[3] SS Peruvian[3] SS Phoenician[3] SS Polynesian[3] SS Pomeranian[4] SS Roacian[4] SS Roumanian[3] SS Saint Andrew[3] SS Saint David[3] SS Saint George[3] SS Saint Patrick[3] SS Samaritan[3] SS Sardinian[5] SS Scandinavian (1869)[3] SS Scandinavian (1898)[3] SS Scotian[3] SS Siberian (1946) [4] SS Sicilian[4] SS Southwark[2] SS State of California[3] SS State of Georgia[3] SS State of Indiana[3] SS State of Nebraska[3] SS State of Nevada[3] SS State of Pennsylvania[3] SS Sweden[3] SS Tainui[3] SS Tower Hill[3] SS Tunisian[4] SS Turanian[3] RMS Victorian[4] RMS Virginian[3] SS Waldensian[3]