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British shipping companies (E)

Last modified: 2005-09-02 by rob raeside
Keywords: eagle oil | eastern telegraph | elders & fyffes | elder dempster | ellerman | esso | everard | ellerman | jre | eastern and australian steam ship |
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Eagle Oil and Shipping Co.

[Eagle Oil and Shipping Co. houseflag] by Jarig Bakker, based on the website of the National Maritime Museum.

From the website of the National Maritime Museum, "the house flag of Eagle Oil Shipping Co. Ltd, London. A yellow rectangular flag with a black stripe across the top and bottom edges. In the centre is a black eagle is displayed. The flag is made of wool bunting with a cotton hoist. It is machine sewn and the eagle motif is made of cotton. A rope and toggle is attached.

The shipping company was set up to ship oil from the Mexican oil fields to Europe. Their ships were involved in merchant convoys during both world wars. They were the owners of the 'San Demetrio' reboarded by her crew and saved after being set on fire by the 'Admiral Scheer' in 1940. The company were also managers of the 'Ohio' (owned by the Texas Oil Company) at the time of the Malta convoy of 1942. The firm was merged with the Shell International Petroleum Company in 1959 and their livery disappeared."
Jarig Bakker, 12 August 2004

Larousse Commercial Illustré (1930) shows Eagle Oil Transport Co. Ltd., London: yellow, thin black horizontal edges and a standing black eagle with outstretched wings in the centre. Both edges seem to be one fifth of flag height and the eagle, one half of flag height besides two thirds of flag width. It is difficult to make out if the eagle stands on something but I think not.
Jan Mertens, 19 May 2004

[Eagle Oil and Shipping Co. houseflag] by Neale Rosanoski

Eagle Oil & Shipping Co. After WW2 they also operated as Eagle Tanker Co. Ltd. out of the Bahamas. Although the NMM dates the flag as 1935-1950 all the sources up until towards the end show an eagle with wings displayed and inverted with the eagle generally looking in line with the attached . This however differs in the leg area from the design appearing on the funnel whereas one would expect them to be the same although the fact that the funnels had a letter "O" underneath,  or "T" later as was suitable, may have made it appropriate to shorten the legs thereon. The change to the design from the NMM flag is shown by Talbot-Booth for the funnels in his Merchant Flags 1959 and it appears that there was a change to the eagle design in 1957 according to a letter from John S. Styring to the publishers of "All About Ships & Shipping" (Harnack) dated 29.12.1959 in which he states "the actual 'design' of the eagle was altered materially early 1957". These comments would explain the eagle with wings displayed and elevated as per NMM which appears in the US Navy 1961 publication (though the black top and bottom edgings are omitted) in which he had considerable input. Any alteration was of course short lived with the integration with Shell taking effect 1.1.1960 after which the Shell flag was flown.
Neale Rosanoski, 31 May 2005

Eastern and Australian Steam Ship Co. Ltd.

[Eastern and Australian Steam Ship Co. Ltd. houseflag]</