The following brief histories are intended to give some guidance to those seeking background information on Cardiff shipping companies and companies which used Cardiff on a regular basis, mainly in the 19^th and early 20^th centuries, but including, where known, early companies from the 18^th century, and some modern companies which have developed from earlier ones. It is not exhaustive and will be added to as additional information becomes available.

Used in conjunction with my index to Cardiff shipping, my index to Cardiff Port Registers and Transactions and index to Cardiff Crew Agreements, I hope it will prove useful to family historians.

Hilary Blondel Marquand left his home in Guernsey in the 1870s to come to Cardiff to work for his uncle, a coal exporter who had already moved to Cardiff. After a short period working for his uncle he went into partnership with W.H.Martin who owned a tug boat named Princess. The new company was known as Martin and Marquand, and it developed into a successful business, owning three tramp steamers and three steam paddle tugs by 1894.Over subsequent years the company continued to thrive, investing in larger ships until the 1920s.

[Personal note: my first cousin married Eric Blondel Thomas, a close relative of Hilary Blondel Marquand ]

John Mathias was born at Llanbadarn Fawr, near Aberystwyth, in 1837. His early business venture was a grocery shop at 7, Bridge Street, Aberystwyth, but he later entered ship owning with a couple of small sailing ships which he used to transport his goods. In 1883 he obtained his first steam ship, the Glanrheidol, and set up the Glanrheidol Steamship Co. to operate her in the coal trade out of Cardiff. A further five steamers followed in subsequent years, all named with the prefix Glan... and all operated by separate companies of which John Mathias was the principal shareholder. The registered office of the companies was at Aberystwyth but the ships operated from Cardiff. By 1905 all the Mathias owned companies had been subsumed within the Cambrian Steam Navigation Co. formed by him originally in 1896. The company now had an office in Cardiff run by John Mathias' son Richard. The new company named its ships after public schools (eg Etonian). When John died in 1912 the company was taken over by his son, Richard, who was a Barrister, knighted in 1913 and created a Baronet in 1917. The company was, like many, hit by the slump in the 1920s and was wound up in 1924.

William Hinde, born in Portland, Dorset i 1877, moved to Cardiff in 1893 to take up a job with Chellew & Co., shipowners from Truro, Cornwall, who had an office in Cardiff. In 1903 he left Chellew & Co. to form McNeil, Hinde & Co., shipowners, with Robert McNeil. The new company bought the ship Portland and in 1906 the Portsmouth, followed in 1907 by the Portreath. In 1912 the Portloe was added but in 1913 the Portland and Portsmouth were sold and in 1914 the company was dissolved, Hinde setting up on his own.

Founded by Philip and Thomas Morel, brothers from Jersey who moved to Cardiff in the mid 19^th century after trading with Cardiff in the Channel Islands potato trade. Once settled in Cardiff their company was mainly involved in the shipment of iron ore from Bilbao to South Wales and of coal from South Wales to Northern France. To begin with they used sailing ships but in 1876 acquired their first steamship, the Colstrup. In subsequent years they built up a substantial fleet of tramp steamers and in 1882 they acquired the Bute Shipbuilding, Engineering and Dry Dock Co. in Cardiff, where three of their ships were built between 1886 and 1890. The shipbuilding venture was not a success, however, and thereafter the company continued only in the ship repair business. Thomas Morel died in 1903 , followed in 1908 by Philip. The shipping company, however, continued to operate under their descendants mainly in the export of coal and the import of grain to and from South America until after the First World War, when the fleet was sold as a result of a dispute between members of the family. In 1921 Thomas Morel jnr and his brother Ralph, sons of Thomas senr. commenced rebuilding the fleet and from 1936 were in the forefront of the move to motor vessels, adding a number to their fleet. During the Second World War they lost four ships due to enemy action, and after the war, with the decline in the South Wales Coal trade, the company moved to London. The poor outlook for tramp steamers caused the eventual closure of the company in 1960.

Many of the Morel ships were named after towns in the South Wales coalfield eg Pontypridd, Blaenavon, Dowlais, Ebbw Vale etc.

[Personal note: I believe that the Deslandes family, relatives of mine, originally came to Cardiff from the Channel Islands in the service of Morels in the shape of J.P.Deslandes, Master Mariner]

J. J. Neale (from Ireland) and Henry West (of Bristol) set up in business together as fish merchants in Cardiff in 1885. At the time there was no large scale fishing out of Cardiff but local tug boats started taking trawl nets out into the Bristol Channel and supplying their catch to the company. In 1888 the company decided to buy their own trawler, the Lark (of Hull). From this very small beginning the company built up a substantial fleet of trawlers based at Cardiff and at Milford Haven, Pembrokeshire.

When Henry West left the company in 1910 it retained its name and was operated by J.J.Neale and his sons. Through a friendship between Neale and a Japanese businessman the company became involved in training Japanese trawler men and as a result started naming their ships with Japanese names (eg Fuji, Oku etc). The whole of the Neale & West fleet was taken over for use as mine sweepers during the First World War and many were lost by enemy action. After the war the much reduced fleet was modernised by the purchase of new, bigger trawlers built in the North East of England, which continued to carry Japanese names, but by the start of the Second World War the depletion of the fish stocks off the South and West Coasts of Ireland where the company did most of its fishing, caused difficulties. Again the Neale & West fleet was reduced as a result of War action during World War II and the fleet had to be rebuilt by the purchase of second hand Hull and Grimsby trawlers, but by 1956 fishing out of Cardiff had ceased, although the company still operated from Milford Haven for some years afterward. In Cardiff the company's base had been at the West Bute Dock.

[Personal note: I worked in an office in the late 1950s and early 1960s on the West Bute Dock very near to the old Neale & West base, and a cousin had been a trawlerman with the company]

The Priest family of Cardiff were involved in shipping activities from the early 18^th century. The brothers Richard, Robert and John Priest all being described as mariners or boatmen in the parish registers. Robert Priest was married to a member of the Brewer family, also mariners since the latter part of the 17^th century, whilst Richard Priest was married to the daughter of Nicholas Price, owner of the Pentyrch furnace.

There are numerous references to the family as boat owners in the Diary of William Thomas of Michaelston-super-Ely. When Richard Priest died he left his wife "all his sloops, skiffs and boats" Richard's son, Nicholas, continued at sea in the 1770s but he died in 1786 and seems to have been the last of the family in the shipping business.

Charles Radcliffe was born in Merthyr Tydfil in 1862. His father was a stonemason who worked at the Penydarren Ironworks. He had two elder brothers, Henry and Daniel. Both his elder brothers had moved to Cardiff, where Henry worked for the shipowner, J.H.Annning, and Daniel for another shipping company, Turnbulls of Whitby (Yorkshire) in their Cardiff offices. Charles also moved to Cardiff but joined the Civil Service, working for the Board of Trade, Marine Division. In 1881 Henry Radcliffe had become a partner in the shipping company, Evan Thomas, Radcliffe, and had prospered, and when Evan Thomas died in 1891, both Charles and Daniel Radcliffe joined their brother for a short time, before setting up in business on their own in that same year, managing the Glamorgan Steamship Co, with one ship, the Lady Armstrong. In 1892 they also took on the management of the Peterston (built in Whitby). In 1901 Charles Radcliffe purchased the Craiglea (his brother Daniel also being a member of his company) and over the ensuing years the Radcliffes ran some five ships (Rochdale, Snowdon, Reresby, Atherstone and Penstone). The company lost some of its fleet as casualties of the First World War, but continued to be successful and in the early 1920s invested heavily in new ships (Amblestone, Coniston, Rochdale, Snowdon and Overstone). In 1926 with the death of Charles Radcliffe the company closed down.

Charles Racliffe had also founded the Tydfil Engineering and Ship Repairing Co at Cardiff around 1892, once one of the largest ship repairing companies in the town.

William Reardon Smith was one of several Cardiff ship owners who came from Appledore in North Devon. He was born there in 1856 and first went to sea from there. In 1878 he obtained his First Mate's Certificate and joined Hogarth's of Ardrossan, Scotland. In 1879 he obtained his Masters Certificate, continuing to work for Hogarth's. In 1896 he became Master of the Starcross, owned by J.H.Anning of Cardiff (ex Appledore) and in 1898 he was Master of the Lady Lewis, owned by yet another Appledore man, W.J.Tatem. This was followed by command of he handon, another of Tatem's ships, but in 1900 Reardon Smith retired from the sea and settled in Cardiff. In 1906 he obtained his first ship, the City of Cardiff, and gradually over the ensuing years built up a substantial fleet based at Cardiff (although registered at Bideford, Devon). The company suffered the inevitable war losses during the First World War, but continued to expand, buying eight ships from Pyman Bros of London in 1917 and a further 12 in 1919. By 1922 there were 39 ships in the fleet and. in 1928 the company commenced a cargo liner service to the USA which lasted until 1937. William Reardon Smith was created a Baronet in 1922 for his services to the War effort. He died in 1935 and the company was continued by his son Sir Willie Reardon Smith. Twenty of their ships were lost during the Second World War but following the end of the war the company continued trading world-wide with their fleet of 20 tramp steamers. In 1964 they obtained their first bulk carrier, the Australian City, starting the company's substantial fleet of this type which continued to operate until 1985 when they ceased trading. They had, however, for some years managed ships owned by foreign owners as well as their own, and the company still exists in this form, managing foreign ships.

Alternative name for the Barry Railway Company pleasure steamer fleet (see Barry Railway Company).