British and Irish Steam Packet Co
of North Wall, Dublin
1836 The company was established.
1879 On 1 July, the company was registered with the present title. [1]
1940 Tom Fielden Wrigley, Chief Officer of MV Munster (of British and Irish Steam Packet Company, Ltd., Coast Lines, Ltd., Liverpool) was awarded OBE for his actions after the vessel hit a mine[2]
‘Cross-Channel and Coastal Paddle Steamers’ by George Frank Burtt
The British and Irish Steam Packet Company was formed in Dublin in 1836 for the purpose of working a line of steam packets between Dublin and London. The company started operating with two paddle steamers named CITY OF LIMERICK and SHANNON, both of which had been built on the Thames in 1826. In the following year - 1837 - a Clyde-built boat named DEVONSHIRE was purchased.
The CITY OF LIMERICK obtained considerable notoriety in April, 1839, owing to the mysterious disappearance whilst she was in St. Katharine Docks, London, of two boxes of gold dust valued at £5,245, which in transit from Brazil to London had been transhipped at Falmouth. 212
In 1842, a fourth vessel was added to the fleet. This was the DUKE OF CORNWALL, of 425 tons. Built at Liverpool, like her three predecessors she was of wood, and was the last paddle steamer to be purchased by this company as, although the screw-propelled vessel was not generally favoured in many quarters at that time, when the B. & I.S.P. Co. decided to order two more vessels in 1845, the new steamers, named ROSE and SHAMROCK, were screw-driven and all subsequent boats have been similarly built.
To-day, this company holds a foremost place in the Irish trade and their modern luxurious boats are conspicuous with their green and black top funnels.
Ships