Arrival of the first P&O steamship

The Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company (P&O) was originally a partnership formed between two men –Arthur Anderson and Brodie McGhie Willcox – in London, England.^[1] Initially known as the Peninsular Steam Navigation Company, the company began their regular steamship service to Portugal and Spain after securing a British government contract to transport mail in 1837. Its name was changed to Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company when services were expanded to include Alexandria in the eastern Mediterranean in 1840. By 1842, the P&O had expanded their services to India.^[2]

In 1845, the company began monthly sailings to the Far East, including Singapore. The first Far East route by the P&O was from Ceylon (present-day Sri Lanka) or Calcutta (now known as Kolkata) through the Strait of Malacca to Penang and Singapore, and from there to Hong Kong via the South China Sea. On 4 August the same year, the first P&O steamer, Lady Mary Wood, was sighted from Singapore.^[3] Built in 1842, she was a paddle-wheel steamer with a gross tonnage of 556 and horsepower of 250.^[4] The steamship took 41 and eight days respectively to sail from London and Ceylon to Singapore.^[5] Not only did the arrival of the steamer signify the possibility of regular shipment of inbound and outgoing mail, it also brought transient visitors who stayed for about a month. Hence, the use of steamship completely transformed the meaning of travel and enabled information to be exchanged faster between Britain and its far-flung colonies.^[6]

On her return passage, Lady Mary Wood carried 4,757 mail packets – 3,989 bound for Europe and the rest for Penang, India as well as Aden in Yemen. By 1848, the following had become standard practice: hoisting a red flag on Government Hill (now known as Fort Canning Hill) during the day to signal the arrival of mail from Europe and a yellow flag for mail from China, while a gun was fired at night.^[7]

Apart from mail, passage could also be booked and cargo shipped on P&O steamships. In Singapore, passage bookings and registration for shipment of cargo were handled by an agent, Spottiswoode & Connolly. A notice published in The Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser newspaper in 1849 reported that the P&O handled cargo such as gold and silver bars, bullion, gold leaf or specie.^[8] By 1852, the company had established a wharf at New Harbour (now known as Keppel Harbour).^[9] In 1877, a trip from Southampton, England, to Singapore cost £25 for “native servants”, £47 for a second-class cabin and £83 for a berth in a general cabin.^[10]

In 1851, the P&O secured the British government contract to provide full fortnightly service to India and China as well as a branch line off the China service from Singapore to Australia. In May 1852, the company despatched their first mail steamship, Chusan, round the Cape of Australia on the new Singapore–Australia route, which ran once every two months.^[11] Hence, by 1852, there were two P&O services to Singapore: the Bombay (now Mumbai) or Calcutta–China route and the Singapore-Australia route.^[12]

In 1853, the P&O started shipping mail from London to Singapore on a fortnightly basis. It was also in this year that the company opened their office in Singapore, with Henry Thomas Marshall as the first agent, and John Say Sparkes as the clerk.^[13] By 1854, mail from London could arrive in Singapore in less than 34 days.^[14] In 1867, a new contract was signed, under which the P&O agreed to maintain a weekly schedule of sailings to Bombay, and to cut the transit time for mail to 26 days.^[15]

The P&O’s Far East shipping routes continued to change according to the political milieu and market conditions.^[16] The fortunes of the P&O were subsequently affected by events such as the opening of the Suez Canal, the two world wars, development of jet aviation and the changing nature of shipping. As a result, the company diversified into other industries such as container, cruise, property, and the offshore gas and oil market.^[17] The company’s last sailing voyage was by the passenger liner, Chusan, which sailed from Britain to Australia and Hong Kong in 1970.^[18] In 2005, a bidding war between Singapore’s PSA International and Dubai Ports World took place for the takeover of P&O, with the latter successfully winning the bid in 2006.^[19]

References
1. Howarth, D. A., & Howarth, S. (1994). The story of P&O: The Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company (p. 10). London: Weidenfield and Nicolson. Call no.: R 387.542 HOW.
2. To India by steam. (1925, September 26). The Singapore Free Press, p. 14. Retrieved from NewspaperSG; Howarth & Howarth, 1994, pp. 13, 19, 25; Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company. (1877). Handbook of information for passengers and shippers by the steamers of the Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Company. No. 3 (p. 1). London: Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Company. Call no.: RCLOS 383.142 PEN-[SEA]; Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company. (1900). The P. & O. pocket book: Illustrations and maps [Microfilm: NL 29010] (pp. 13–14). London: Head Office.
3. Howarth & Howarth, 1994, p. 78; Buckley, C. B. (2012). An anecdotal history of old times in Singapore: From the foundation of the settlement under the Honorable the East India Company on February 6th, 1819, to the transfer to the Colonial Office as part of the colonial possessions of the Crown on April 1st, 1867 (p. 425). Singapore: Oxford University Press. Call no.: RSING 959.57 BUC-[HIS].
4. Buckley, 2012, p. 426; Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company, 1900, p. 10.
5. Ewart, E. A. (1937). A hundred year history of the P. & O., Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company (p. 102). London: I. Nicholson. Call no.: RCLOS 357.243 EWA-[RFL]; Buckley, 2012, p. 425.
6. Howarth & Howarth, 1994, p. 78.
7. Buckley, 2012, pp. 425–426; Melville, T. A. (1991). The post office & its history. In W. Makepeace, G. E. Brooke & R. S. J. Braddell (Eds.), One hundred years of Singapore (Vol. 2, p. 114). Singapore: Oxford University Press. Call no.: RSING 959.57 ONE-[HIS].
8. Notice (1845, August 14). [Microfilm: NL 1587]. The Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser (1835–1869), p. 1; Page 1 Advertisements Column 1: Notice. (1849, January 4). The Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser (1835–1869), p. 1. Retrieved from NewspaperSG; Buckley, 2012, p. 426.
9. Page 3 Advertisements Column 2: To be sold or let on lease. (1852, September 7). The Straits Times, p. 3. Retrieved from NewspaperSG; Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company, 1900, p. 63; Buckley, 2012, p. 566.
10. Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company, 1877, p. 10.
11. Sail, steam, carriage and camel. (1936, April 22). The Straits Times, p. 10. Retrieved from NewspaperSG; Notice. (1845, August 12). [Microfilm: NL 478]. The Straits Times, p. 1; Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company, 1900, p. 15.
12. Ewart, 1937, p. 122.
13. Buckley, 2012, p. 568.
14. Untitled. (1854, September 19). The Straits Times, p. 4. Retrieved from NewspaperSG.
15. Makepeace, Brooke & Braddell, 1991, Vol. 2, p. 116.
16. Ewart, 1937, p. 147; Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company, 1877, pp. 6–7; Makepeace, Brooke & Braddell, 1991, Vol. 2, pp. 116–118.
17. Howarth & Howarth, 1994, pp. 98–101, 138–149, 156–162, 172, 180, 205.
18. Marshall, I. (1997). The passage east (p. 154). Charlottesville, VA: Howell Press. Call no.: RSING q623.824 MAR.
19. Urquhart, D. (2005, November 30). Is P&O really in the bag for Dubai Ports? The Business Times, p. 20; US ports deal given stringent check: govt. (2006, February 21). The Business Times, p. 21. Retrieved from NewspaperSG.