The Orient Line.
Of the firms which were chiefly instrumental in exploiting the South Australian trade first mention should perhaps be made of the Orient Line of clippers, the forerunners of the present Orient Line of steamers.
The Orient Line was originally started by James Thompson & Co., who had a number of small ships and barques trading to the West Indies, then Mr. James Anderson joined the firm and eventually became head partner, upon which the name was changed to Anderson, Anderson & Co.
The first of the firm’s Australian ships was the Orient and this vessel gave her name to the line.
The Orient Line were nothing if not enterprising. Most of their vessels were built in the Nelson Docks, Rotherhithe, to the designs of Mr. Bilbe. Mr. Bilbe was a designer of great ability and he and Mr. Perry, an old shipmaster, were the working partners of the Nelson Dock, which consisted of a dry dock and a building yard, owned by Anderson, Anderson & Co. Mr. James Anderson had a wonderful knowledge of everything pertaining to ships and their business, and like many an old-fashioned shipowner took a practical interest in his ships, and nothing either in their design, construction or management was undertaken without his approval.
Messrs. Bilbe & Perry built one of the earliest composite clippers, the Red Riding Hood. She was launched in 1857 some six years before the first of the composite tea clippers. They also went in for iron ships at an early date, their first iron ship, the White Eagle, being built as far back as 1855. But owing chiefly to a very ill-advised strike of shipwrights, the Thames builders found themselves unable to compete with the North in iron shipbuilding and the Clyde took the trade which should have belonged to the Thames. Thus 1866 saw the last of the Thames composites to be built in the Nelson Dock when Argonaut was launched for the Adelaide trade.
However, Messrs. Anderson, Anderson & Co. meant to have the fastest ships procurable, and gave Hall, of Aberdeen, Steele, of Greenock and the Sunderland shipyards each a chance to turn them out a flyer.