The Wilson Line (2000) by Arthur G. Credland

Author: Arthur G. Credland
Title: The Wilson Line
Format: Paperback
Pages: 128
ISBN: 0-7524-1728-2
Publisher: Tempus Publishing, Limited
Location: Stroud, Gloucestershire, United Kingdom
Pub. Date: February 2000
Language: English UK
Size: 6 1/2" x 9 1/8"
Dust Jacket: No
List Price: US$18.99

Synopsis: Founded in the early years of the nineteenth century, the Wilson Line became the largest privately owned steamship fleet in the world. Based in Hull, its main trade was carrying passengers and cargo to and from Scandinavia and the Baltic States although the Wilson Line also carried cargoes to the USA, the Mediterranean and India.

Contents:

• Thomas Wilson & Sons - The Early Years
• The Second Generation - Expansion
• The Baccarat Scandal and a Dock Strike
• Acquisitions - A Shipyard and a Hull Rival
• Death and War
• A New Era
• Rebuilding the Fleet
• S-Ships, Spero and Farewell to the Wilson Line.

From the Back Cover

Founded in the early years of the nineteenth century, the Wilson Line became the largest privately owned steamship fleet in the world. Based in Hull, its main trade was to and from Scandinavia and the Baltic States although the Wilson Line also carried cargoes to the USA, the Mediterranean and India.

Emigrants were an important part of the company's business. Large numbers of Norwegians, Swedes and Jewish refugees of the Tsarist pogroms were brought into Hull, transported overland to Liverpool and shipped to America. In the 1890s Wilson Line ships carried more cargo to the USA than the ships of any other line.

By 1919, losses from the fleet were such that the line was put up for sale. Bought by Ellerman, the name changed slightly but the old ways continued. Ellerman's Wilson Line remained independent of the rest of the Ellerman empire.

Rebuilding the fleet was a priority but trading conditions were difficult - with too many ships chasing the available cargo. The Second World War saw a reduction in fleet size from thirty-five to just nine and another rebuilding programme got under way in 1945. The once-lucrative American trade ceased in 1961 and the Wilson Line began the use of roll-on, roll-off ferries for its Gothenburg service in 1966.

In 1983, then entire Ellerman Group was put up for sale. By 1987, the company was in the hands of Trafalgar House and called Cunard-Ellerman. In 1991 P&O purchased the Ellerman Group container business and sold the remaining four ships. Every trace of Wilsons, once the largest independent steamship company in the world, had now vanished.

Library of Congress Catalog Listing

Personal name	Credland, Arthur G.
Main title	The Wilson Line of Hull, 1831 to 1981 : the rise and fall of an empire / by Arthur G. Credland and Michael Thompson.
Published/Created	Beverley, East Yorkshire : Hutton Press, 1994.

Description

• 143 p. : ill. (some col.); 23 cm.

ISBN

• 1872167586

LC classification (full)

• HE945.E54 C74 1994

LC classification (partial)

• HE945.E54

Related names

• Thompson, Michael, 1944-

Subjects

• Ellerman's Wilson Line Ltd.--History.
• Steamboats--Great Britain--Hull--History.

Notes

• Includes bibliographical references and index.

LCCN

• 96204323

Geographic area code

• e-uk---

Type of material

• Book