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P&O was founded in 1822 by a partnership between ‘Brodie Mc
Ghie Willcox’ a London shipbroker and a Shetland born former navy
clerk ‘Arthur Anderson’ who had worked in Willcox's office
from 1815. They built up their business by linking Britain and the Iberian
Peninsular with sailing ships owned by themselves and steamers they managed
for other companies. During the Spanish civil war 1833 - 1839, Willcox
and Anderson ran guns and chartered steamers as warships to both sides
in the conflict. Their merger with a Dublin ship owner ‘Captain
Richard Bourne’ in 1935 led to them running a regular service between
London, Portugal and Spain under the name Peninsular Steam Navigation
Company. After signing a contract for carrying mail by sea August 22nd
1837, they began investing in new ships to expand their fleet. This lines
name was changed to Peninsular & Orient Steam Navigation Company (P&O)
after they began running a regular service to Singapore and Hong Kong
in 1845. By 1852, they had expanded that service to Sydney/Australia,
this establishing their three great imperial routes to India, the Far
East and Australia.
Before the Suez Canal had been completed in 1869,
P&O passengers and cargo had to cross Egypt in horse
drawn carriages or camels. This crossing was made more
comfortable and faster in the 1850s after P&O built a
railway across Egypt. Although P&O had grown steadily
throughout the 1800s, they expanded more rapidly in the
early 1900s by taking over other companies. This led to
them acquiring a fleet of almost 500 ships by the mid
1920s. P&O played a vital role in the two world wars by
using their ships to supply Britain with ammunition and
food. They lost 85 ships during the First World War and 182
ships in World War Two.
P&O has invested heavily in cargo ships since World War Two building
up one of the largest fleets in the world. They now have a fleet that
consists of almost every type of cargo ship ever built. P&O expanded
their passenger ship services in the 1950s after the Australian Government
began encouraging European citizens to immigrate to Australia. With the
emergence of Jet aircraft and the falling numbers of immigrants bringing
that service to an end in the early 1970s, P&O began investing heavily
in their cruise fleet.
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