Donald Currie & Co
Castle Mail Packet Co Ltd
Formed in 1862 by Donald Currie as Donald Currie & Co. to run a regular sailing ship service to India and familiarly known as "Currie's Calcutta Castles".
The first steamships entered service on the India route in 1872 and the same year, a passenger and private mail service from the UK to South Africa was inaugurated.
In 1876 the company became Castle Mail Packet Co. Ltd. and a joint mail contract was awarded together with the Union SS Co.
Calls at Flushing began in 1889 resulting in the grant of a contract to carry Dutch mails to South Africa and in 1900 Castle Line merged with the Union SS Co. to form Union-Castle Mail SS Co.
Routes:
1863-1865 Sail,
Liverpool - Calcutta.
1865-1889
London - Cape Town - Calcutta.
1873-1891
London - Dartmouth - Bordeaux / Lisbon or Madeira / Las Palmas / Tenerife - Cape Town.
1873-1898
Cargo South African coastal services.
1879-1881
Cape Town - Durban - Mauritius - Galle, Ceylon(occasional)
1890-1900
Southampton - Antwerp - Bremen - Hamburg (cargo feeder service)
1891-1900
Southampton - Madeira - Cape Town - Port Elizabeth - Durban - Port Elizabeth - Cape Town - St.Helena (occasional) - Ascension (occasional) - Las Palmas (occasional) - Southampton.
1891-1900
Southampton - Cape Town - Port Elizabeth - East London - Durban.
1893-1900
Cargo service South Africa - USA (usually New York)
Funnel:
Red, black top.
