Crawford and Medomsley houseflags
The following might be of interest.
MEDOMSLEY STEAMSHIP CO LTD (formed 1906)
Managed until 1942 by F Carrick & Co Ltd, Newcastle
Carrick was voluntarily liquidated and re-constituted in 1942.
CRAWFORD SHIPPING CO LTD (formed 1927)
Managed and beneficially owned until 1942 by Andrew Crawford & Co Ltd, Glasgow
Andrew Crawford & Co Ltd was temporarily out of shipowning/management after losing its then last remaining vessel in 1941, but it returned to shipowning in 1945-46. It was not involved with Crawford Shipping Co Ltd after 1942.
The common link with these two companies came about in 1942 when management was taken over by HG Mann, who was the boss of Buries Markes Ltd, both with offices at 2-3 Crosby Square, Bishopsgate, London EC3.
In 1945, Crawford Shipping Co Ltd bought the steamer EMPIRE FLAME, which was renamed DUNKERY BEACON, and in 1946 Medomsley Steamship Co Ltd bought EMPIRE GALE, renamed LANGLEEGALE. The latter carried on the Medomsley naming style of Langlee----. The two 1929-built Medomsley steamers LANGLEECRAG and LANGLEETARN were taken over with the company for management by Mann in 1942.
Things get a bit complicated after the war, but it is reasonable to assume that Crawford Shipping and Medomsley were under the wing of Buries Markes, and if not subsidiaries, almost certainly “associated companies”. These all had the same address and telephone number. HG Mann and AF Blair were directors of all three companies, and those two gentlemen together with FA Bell, were directors of Crawford and Medomsley. That was how things stood in 1946. In 1947 they were joined by Mr Phs van Ommeren, a managing director of Van Ommeren Shipping NV, Rotterdam, and also a director of Phs Van Ommeren (London) Ltd, who became a director of both Crawford and Medomsley, but not of Buries Markes.
In autumn 1947, Crawford and Medomsley were bought by Van Ommeren (London) Ltd, and several new directors appeared on the scene. Blair and Bell, mentioned above, disappeared off the listings. HG Mann remained, however, as a Buries Markes director and joined the Van Ommeren London board. He retired in the earlier 1950s.
The funnel and flag colours as shown in the posting above are correct as of 1939 and might well have been revived in 1945, but I can find no evidence of this. Van Ommeren livery was on all of the vessels by 1948 (the new LANGLEESCOT of 1947 entered service with Van Ommeren livery) …. Funnel: “black with white V inside white ring”; houseflag: “horizontal bands of green, white, green, white, green, with black V inside black ring on white diamond superimposed over the bands”.
I have compiled the above thanks to Lloyd’s Register, the Directory of Shipowners, Shipbuilders and Marine Engineers, Talbot-Booth various issues, and Lloyd’s Confidential Index.
