I'm wondering which were the earliest ships to feature their company's name in their own name. I know Princess Cruises started with the old PRINCESS PATRICIA--in that case, the cruise line took it's name from the ship. They then followed with PRINCESS CARLA, etc.

In the early '70s, we had the CUNARD ADVENTURER and CUNARD AMBASSADOR. Can anyone think of any earlier examples where the Line name was reflected in the ship's name?

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Originally posted by Linerrich:
In another thread we touched upon the modern trend of cruise lines placing their names as part of the ship names in their fleets, ie. CARNIVAL SPIRIT, MSC LIRICA, etc.

I'm wondering which were the earliest ships to feature their company's name in their own name. I know Princess Cruises started with the old PRINCESS PATRICIA--in that case, the cruise line took it's name from the ship. They then followed with PRINCESS CARLA, etc.

In the early '70s, we had the CUNARD ADVENTURER and CUNARD AMBASSADOR. Can anyone think of any earlier examples where the Line name was reflected in the ship's name?

Rich

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The Union Castle Line whitte there castle ships.

In a lesser extend, all the ..."C" names of Costa but this is not exactly the same thing since they were all actual firstnames of the Costa family members followed by the"C" standing for Costa of course.
Union Castle ships names cited above is a bit a similar case since they were mostly named after actual castles.

[ 10-17-2006: Message edited by: Vaccaro ]

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Originally posted by Maasdam:

The Union Castle Line whitte there castle ships.

Greetings Ben.

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It was actually the Castle Line that first named their ships after castles. The Union Line was its main rival in the UK to South Africa service. After the two companies merged the new Union Castle Line continued the Castle Line's ship naming tradition. When they ran out of real castles they invented a few.

One exception in the UC's latter days occured when they did not rename Reina Del Mar after acquiring her.

Brian

[ 10-17-2006: Message edited by: Brian_O ]

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Originally posted by NAL:
Brian_O
How did the Union Line name its ships? I don't recall
ever reading or hearing about Union Line ships. I
remember reading that there was a Union Line, just not the ships' names.

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The Union Line (Union Steam Ship Company, Ltd.) named their ships after nationalities. For example, the AFRICAN, AMERICAN, GERMAN, NORSEMAN, GREEK, NUBIAN, SAXON, TARTAR, etc. They operated about 40 liners from the late 1860s until about 1900.

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Originally posted by Tom Burke:
You could also argue that the endings of ships' names used by some of the traditional companies filled the same role. For example, Cunard's "-ia" ending, or White Star's "-ic".

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* Holland America Line: -dam passenger liners. -dijk/-dyk freighters.
* Red Star Line: -land.
* Inman Line: City off- liners.
* Norwegian America Line: -fjord
* Swedes America Line: -holm

Greetings Ben.

[ 10-18-2006: Message edited by: Maasdam ]

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Originally posted by Tom Burke:
You could also argue that the endings of ships' names used by some of the traditional companies filled the same role. For example, Cunard's "-ia" ending, or White Star's "-ic".

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Right--most steamship lines and even modern cruise lines have some consistent naming system. We're just looking in this thread for instances where the name of the Company is part of the ships' names.

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Originally posted by NAL:
Thanks, Rich, for the Union Line info. That's all new to me. BTW, do you or anyone else know when and for what reason Canadian-Pacific changed its names from Duchess of...to Empress of....???

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Canadian Pacific's ocean liners were always Empresses, from their earliest days in the 19th Century, while the coastal vessels in the Pacific Northwest were Princesses. When CPR built four cabin-class liners (one class) in the late 1920s, they were named Duchesses to distinguish them from the multi-class liners in the fleet.

After WWII, the 2 surviving Duchesses were revamped into multi-class ships, and renamed Empresses.

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Originally posted by CGT:
I don't think MSC's ships are actually named "MSC Lirica" or "MSC Musica" are they? I could be wrong, but I believe that they are merely named LIRICA and MUSICA?

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It's possible that on official paperwork, the ships are known by the singular names. But the 'MSC' is painted right on the ships' bows and sterns as part of the name; MSC OPERA, MSC MUSICA, etc. That's how they are marketed in adverts, too.

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Originally posted by Linerrich: It's possible that on official paperwork, the ships are known by the singular names. But the 'MSC' is painted right on the ships' bows and sterns as part of the name; MSC OPERA, MSC MUSICA, etc. That's how they are marketed in adverts, too. Rich

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[ 10-20-2006: Message edited by: CGT ]

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Originally posted by CGT:
That's too bad. It's such a lame naming practice.

[ 10-20-2006: Message edited by: CGT ]

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Ergo, the name of just about every ship out there is "lame".

CGT, I suggest you set up a consultancy and peddle your expertise to the cruise lines and show them the error of their ways. And every time a ship needs to be named, you'll collect a big fat check.

Holland America's "-dam" ships
P&O's "-a" ships
Sitmar's "Fair-" ships
NCL's old "-ward" ships

I think Carnival began adding their name to their ships for two reasons. First, it builds brand identity. People focus less on the name of their ship and more upon the brand "Carnival." Secondly, they were simply running out of good stand-alone names. Now they can name their ships Carvnial Anything and leave it at that.

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Originally posted by Tim in 'Lauderdale: Ergo, the name of just about every ship out there is "lame". CGT, I suggest you set up a consultancy and peddle your expertise to the cruise lines and show them the error of their ways. And every time a ship needs to be named, you'll collect a big fat check. Tim

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[ 10-20-2006: Message edited by: CGT ]

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Originally posted by Fairsky: I really like when ships share a common naming system without using the company's name--that is so unoriginal and boring. For example: Holland America's "-dam" ships P&O's "-a" ships Sitmar's "Fair-" ships NCL's old "-ward" ships I think Carnival began adding their name to their ships for two reasons. First, it builds brand identity. People focus less on the name of their ship and more upon the brand "Carnival." Secondly, they were simply running out of good stand-alone names. Now they can name their ships Carvnial Anything and leave it at that. I like that Celebrity hasn't added their name to the ships yet. Their names are original because they follow a theme without being predictably the same. That is rare in today's cruise industry. (However, I've never understood "Summit". That's just dumb.)

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Originally posted by Robertdam: Well, we do have Celebrity Xpedition of course and we will get Celebrity Equinox and Celebrity Solstice also, so I think they will also add their brandname from now on. And what about earlier companies, The Great Eastern was built for the Great Ship company, although I think at that moment the company was named after the ships name.

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If the theme is ship names adhering to the brand name there is NYK's Europe route trio Nitta, Yawata and Kasuga Marus, and the early Australia route trio Nikko, Yawata and Kasuga Marus.

On the Australia-Japan route the rival E&A line ran the Eastern and the Australian 1899-1906 although they had other ships as well...

[ 10-23-2006: Message edited by: Indarra ]

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Originally posted by Robertdam:
(...)
And what about earlier companies, The Great Eastern was built for the Great Ship company, although I think at that moment the company was named after the ships name.

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Indeed, the very first steamship purposebuilt for regular north transatlantic passenger shipping, had a branded name : "Great Western"

Whatever the age or circumstances, people are the same

Still, I prefer the more subtle brand positionings, like the -ia, -dam, etc names.

Weren't there cargo lines with brand names more present earlier,like "Port" or "Bank" lines ?