The Journal of Commerce, 6 January 1953
Our trustee Sheila brought in a copy of the Journal of Commerce which came down from the estate of her late uncle, who had been in the merchant navy in the 1950s when he worked for the Ellerman Line. The copy we have – and we didn’t have any others – is the ‘Ellerman Lines number’, so this all makes sense.
It may be called a journal, but it’s really a magazine, and a thing of beauty too. Mostly in black in white, it is almost A3 sized, but with no price on the cover, suggesting it was subscription only (although no details could be found within). Our copy is essentially a puff piece for Ellerman’s, outlining the company’s bold plans and portfolio. The centre fold is a full-colour painting by Frank Henry Mason (1875–1965) of the MV City of Port Elizabeth, a brand-new passenger liner and pride of Ellerman’s fleet. This particular vessel survived until 1980.
Searching the internet, there is the Journal of Commerce, an American bi-weekly, now online, which started up in 1827. Yet, our title is clearly British and (doing the maths), being in its 128th year, started up in 1825, so I’m inclined to think the two are quite separate. Perhaps someone can advise here.
Ads are for the most part by those businesses who had supplied Ellerman’s. There are the shipbuilders Swan, Hunter and Wigham Richardson Ltd, and Barclay Curle. Others include Stephen of Linthouse and Henry Robb of Leith. Marconi Marine provided radio equipment for the City of Port Elizabeth, which was painted in Storrilux by Storry Smithson.
Even though the journal is outsize, it will be stored flat to help flatten out the folds. Ours is in fragile condition already so storing it this way will help to preserve it for future generations.
