Before regular long-haul commercial flights, Liners were used to carry the first regular postal services. In Southampton the Royal Mail had a dockside sorting office. Here the mail was sorted by final destination before being shipped around the world, as far as the Americas, New Zealand and Australia.

Unloading the mail train

A train would carry mail to Southampton and the Liners, directly onto the Quayside. Passenger Liners would regularly take cargo, the ‘Queen Elizabeth’ providing one of the fastest and most direct services over the Atlantic.

Thumbnail Cargo bound for South Africa [19008]

Cargo for Southa Africa

A vast amount of cargo left and arrived at Southampton docks. Regular trade around the world was well established; in the 1930s there were regular steamers from South Africa docking at the port. They would carry seasonal fruit to Southampton and then be loaded with goods from across Europe for export back to South Africa.

Thumbnail Queen Elizabeth 2: Passenger Liner [4181]

Supplying oil

Ships would have to carry fuel for their crossings. At first this was Steamers loaded with coal, then later ships needed stocks of oil. Southampton Docks had facilities to provide the Liners with their needs. Oil companies were able to bunker any of the large liners like ‘Berengaria’, ‘Aquitania’ or the ‘Olympic’ at a rate of over 1,500 tons per hour. Fuel would be pumped from barges direct to the ships.

Coaling

Before ships relied on oil, barges full of coal moored alongside to supply them. Men would lower buckets from the Liner to load the coal. Later the process was mechanised using conveyor belts.

Thumbnail Queen Elizabeth`s Passengers In Shed 46/7 [4865]

Embarkation shed

The other cargo regularly loaded onto the Liners were the passengers. People and their luggage had to be loaded as quickly as possible to fit with the ship’s tight schedule. Embarkation sheds would be used to organise and sort the passengers and their luggage. Later Ocean Terminal was built and the passengers were able to wait for departure in greater comfort before boarding via the ship’s gangways.

Supplying the liner

Preparation in port

Loading cargo

Preparing for a modern liner