[ 126 ] THE SHIP OF THE FUTURE P&O Ferries is entering a new era in its 186-year evolution with the introduction of the Fusion-class pair — the world’s biggest doubleenders. The story of one of the most recognised shipping companies in maritime history is carefully conserved by P&O Heritage, as DP World takes great pride in its efforts to safeguard and share this legacy collection. As its name suggests, P&O Heritage exists to preserve and celebrate the collections and maritime history of a truly household name in shipping. The website, www.poheritage.com, makes that rich heritage more accessible to the public, thereby continuing to keep alive the memory of the enormous contribution made by P&O to people and countries around the world for over 180 years. The P&O Heritage Collection, whose vast and varied stores of archives and artefacts tell the story of the company and the numerous shipping lines it acquired, is a vital cultural and business asset of over 35,000 historical items, charting the innovations and developments of British shipping and global trade over two centuries. Behind the scenes, it is cared for by a small yet dedicated team of three: curator, digital curator and web editor and conservator, based in DP World’s European regional headquarters. 180 YEARS OF STERLING SERVICE P&O, the abbreviation for The Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company, is as old as seagoing steamships. 1837 is accepted as the year of birth, more precisely 22 August of that illustrious year. This is the very date when P&O’s founding fathers, Brodie McGhie Willcox, a London shipbroker, Arthur Anderson, a Shetland-born former Royal Navy clerk, and Captain Richard Bourne, a Dublin shipowner, in the name of their new company won the contract for carrying mail by sea, connecting Falmouth with the ports of Vigo, Oporto, Lisbon, Cadiz and Gibraltar on the Iberian peninsular. “ The new shipping company was initially known as The Peninsular Steam Navigation Company. It wasn’t until 1840 that Oriental was added to reflect the company’s expanding services eastwards beyond the Iberian peninsular to the eastern Mediterranean and the Orient” REMEMBERING P&O’S RICH HISTORY ON THE EVE OF A NEW ERA William Fawcett off the English Coast, painted by S. D. Skillett in 1836 P&O Heritage
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