Blue Funnel Line Archival Collection

The Blue Funnel Line offered regular First-Class Passenger and Cargo Services From the UK to South Africa, Malaya, China, Japan, Australia, Java, and America. They also provided regular service of fast cargo vessels, with limited accommodation for first-class passengers at significantly reduced rates between several ports served including Glasgow, Hamburg, Bremen, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Antwerp, and New York. Blue Funnel Line was Owned and Operated by Alfred Holt & Co., Liverpool.

The Blue Funnel Line, so-called because its ships have a blue funnel with a black top, is more appropriately known as the Ocean Steamship Company, and maintains a cargo service between Great Britain and the East, while a further series of steamers extend the service to British Columbia, to the Dutch East Indies, and Australia. Many of the vessels are fitted for accommodation of saloon passengers, and among the largest of these are the Aeneas, Ascanius, each over 10,000 tons. The Suez Canal is used for the passage to the East.