HERALDRY OF THE SEA

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIII, 18 July 1929, Page 5

HERALDRY OF THE SEA

A grant of arms lias been made to the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company, which received its first Royal Charter from Queen V ictoria in 1839 and five supplementary charters from Her Majesty and her successors, and now owns o 3 steamers and seven motor-ships, of more than 370.000 tons in all. and controls nearly 2,000,000 tons of other shipping besides, including the fleets of the Pacific Steam Navigation Company, and of the famous White Star Line. Both the shield and crest contain “a ship .in full sail," the supporters of the former being two seahorses. Among other tevont grants to such maritime bodies as the Port, of London Authority, Lloyd’s, the Free Shipwrights of London, the Blythe Harbour Commission, the Chamber of Shipping, and the Company of Master Mariners, the last-named also has sea burses its the supporters of its arms, which contain a representation of ti e Gulden Hind, the famour ship in which first an English master mariner— Sir Francis Drake—circumnavigated the globe. Lloyd's, on the other hand, has sea lions to support its shield, which contains ait heraldic reference to the City of London, and is surmounted by.a crest showing “H.M.S. La Lutine. 32gun frigate." from which came the bell which to this day toils ominously in proclaiming a total loss at sea.