Shaw Savill Line of

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

was a shipping company set up to transport both produce and passengers between Great Britain and New Zealand.Prospectus ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' 11 November 1882 Robert Edward Shaw and Walter Savill (employees of Willis, Gann and Company, a London ship-broking and chartering firm) set up on their own account in 1858 and began chartering ships. They bought their first ship in 1865. While the trading name, Shaw Savill, remained the same, the partners who owned it changed a number of times.

The burning of the Cospatrick

On 17 November 1874 the wooden Shaw Savill emigrant ship '' Cospatrick'' bound for New Zealand burnt at sea south of the

Cape of Good Hope The Cape of Good Hope ( ) is a rocky headland on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa. A List of common misconceptions#Geography, common misconception is that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Afri ...

with 476 lives lost, with only three survivors . There were lifeboats for only a third of those on board, the fire was believed to have been started by crewmen while plundering cargo.

The sinking of the Avalanche

''Avalanche'' en route London to

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

built of iron not wood was struck twice or more amidships after dark near Portland, Dorset by an American ship, ''Forest'', in ballast, on 11 September 1877 with the loss of more than 100 lives. Witnesses reported the Avalanche foundered within four minutes and there was no time to launch boats. The

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bought land nearby and it was planned to erect a small church in memory of the passengers and crew. Most passengers were returning residents of Wellington and

Wanganui Whanganui, also spelt Wanganui, is a list of cities in New Zealand, city in the Manawatū-Whanganui region of New Zealand. The city is located on the west coast of the North Island at the mouth of the Whanganui River, New Zealand's longest nav ...

.Collision at Sea ''The Times'' 13 September 1877 From the ''Avalanche'' 63 passengers and 34 seamen of which three seamen were saved, from the ''Forest'' no passengers but a crew of 21 of which nine were saved.

Albion line

The company, by then a partnership of Walter Savill and James William Temple, agreed in November 1882 to join the Albion line as of 1 January 1883 to form Shaw, Savill & Albion Line.

References

Defunct shipping companies of the United Kingdom Transport companies established in 1858 Transport companies disestablished in 1882 1858 establishments in England 1882 disestablishments in England {{UK-shipping-company-stub