^{This page is part of © FOTW Flags Of The World website}

House flags of Canadian Shipping Companies (M-R) (Canada)

MANZ Line
Misener Holdings Ltd.
Montship Lines Ltd.
N.M. Paterson & Sons
Nordic American Tanker Shipping Ltd.
Nordic Canadian Lines
Northumberland Ferries Limited
Northland Navigation Company
Pickford & Black
Pierson Steamships
Provmar Fuels Inc.
Purvis Marine Ltd
[Les] Remorqueurs du Quebec Ltee
Rigel Shipping Canada Inc.

See also:

Outside Links

Historic Flags of the West Coast (British Columbia, Canada) (museum exhibit book)

MANZ Line
Montreal, Australia and New Zealand Line

image by Jorge Candeias
based upon an image by Don Ramsey

image by Jorge Candeias
based upon an image in Brown (1951)

image by David J. Wiebe, 12 December 2005

The MANZ Line was a Canadian company which was first registered in August 1936 when it took over the existing services of the Canadian Government Line, and it ceased operations in July 1971.
Don Ramsey, 5 December 2001

The MANZ Line was first registered in August 1936 as a venture between Commonwealth and Dominion Line (later Port Line), the Ellerman and Bucknall Steamship Co., Ltd. and the New Zealand Shipping Company. The MANZ line took over operations of the Canadian government's commercial shipping company as well as 10 ships it had purchased. The company ran from Canada to New Zealand and Australia, first only from western ports and later from eastern Canadian ports.

The flag was presented to the company by Sir Thomas Royden, a director of Port Line who presented the company with the flag of the former Royden Line with a maple leaf in the center diamond.

Although service was interrupted during World War II, it resumed in 1945. In 1947, it purchased its only new vessel since formed in 1936. The company discontinued service in July, 1971.
Information abstracted from "End of the MANZ Line" by Ian Farquhar, published in Sea Breezes in March 1972 and forwarded to FOTW by Don Ramsey.

Misener Holdings Ltd.

image by Jarig Bakker, 13 December 2005
Source: Brown's Flags and Funnels of Shipping Companies of the World [lgr95]

St. Catherine's, Ont. - blue flag; at hoist three crowns, at fly italic "M", all yellow.
Jarig Bakker, 13 December 2005

Montship Lines Ltd.

image by Klaus-Michael Schneider, 5 January 2014

Montship Lines Ltd.
The company was located in Montreal. The houseflag was quaetered into red and blue. In the centre was a white disc contweining a blue initial “M”.
Source: US Navy Hydrographic Office: “Merchant Marine House Flags and Stack Insignia”, 1st edition 1961; p.3-8
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 5 January 2014

N.M. Paterson & Sons

First Version
contributed by Jan Mertens, 27 September 2005
Source: Boatnerd

Two house flags shown together at Boatnerd: see second row, third picture (earlier version) and same row, first picture (later version):

Both are attached, small and flipped, as and respectively.

The first version is a white triangular flag with a rounded end, near the hoist is a – rather small - red diamond bearing a white ‘P’. The second version replaces the red diamond by a larger black one, bordered red, and also bearing a white ‘P’. No serifs in both cases. (And no idea when the design was changed.)

Second Version
contributed by Jan Mertens, 27 September 2005
Source: Boatnerd

Photos showing second version:

A bit of history gleaned from these pages:

The grain-handling Paterson firm (N.M. Paterson & Sons, Ltd in full) was founded in 1908, growing into a business addressing all aspects of grain handling, storage, transport, etc. Although transportation on the Great Lakes had started already in 1915, 1926 saw the birth of Paterson Steamships Ltd when 11 steamers were bought from Interlake Steamship. The fleet continued to expand but suffered from war losses as several commissioned vessels were sunk during WWII. Eventually Paterson was to become the second largest fleet on the Great Lakes (1959). Finally in March, 2002 Canada Steamship bought the remaining Paterson ships.

The Paterson seat proper was – and is – Winnipeg while the fleet division was based in Thunder Bay.

The firm has diversified but is of course still food oriented (and family owned) only the fleet is a thing of the past.
Jan Mertens, 27 September 2005

images contributed by Neale Rosanoski, 25 November 2008

Two other versions have been shown. Stewart 1953 [ste53] & 1957 has the white pennant bearing a red diamond frame enclosing a red "P" (see p88a). This may have resulted from such a logo which used to appear on their old website. In much the same way the Know Your Ships 2000 edition has a very narrow white fimbriation between the black inner diamond and its red border as shown in the 2nd version shown by Jan (see p442a). In this case I suspect that a logo, which is displayed on the white superstructure, has been the source although another variety is displayed on the same source vessel Mantadoc where yet another logo on the black hull varies by having the addition of an extra white border outlining the red. With the ships all now gone it does not matter but I note from their current website that yet another version is now being used. Several ship photos appear at first glance appear to be flying rectangle versions of the flag but presumably these are weather worn and have lost their tails. All are too small to be sure of the diamond colour detail except that black and red do seem to be involved.
Neale Rosanoski, 25 November 2008

Nordic American Tanker Shipping Ltd.

image by Neale Rosanoski, 29 December 2011

Nordic American Tanker Shipping Ltd. in 1995 show a similar logo panel on the website http://www.nat.bm to Nordic Canadian (below) although substituting American colours in the hoist in lieu of Canadian. As the image does not move whether it represents a flag or not is debatable [the panel does appear on their funnels].
Neale Rosanoski, 29 December 2011

Nordic Canadian Lines

image by Jorge Candeias

Headquartered in: Nova Scotia .
Type of ships: Tanker

The source of the image above was http://www.ncship.com (between 2.12.1998 and 16.4.2000) and shows on site as a moving image without a flag pole. The correct name of the company is Nordic Canadian Shipping Ltd. and it appears to be still operating being involved in oil and gas exploration and development. At the stage that the website was operated they were part of Canada's first offshore oil production and were involved with the tankers "Nordic Apollo" and "Nordic Laurita" although the site says that the vessels were actually chartered to PanCanadian Petroleum. Ownership of the two ships was as part of Ugland International Holdings plc of the Cayman Islands through their subsidiary Ugland Nordic Shipping ASA of Norway and who prior to 1997 had been called Nordic American Shipping ASA which had formed the subsidiary Nordic American Tanker Shipping Ltd. in 1995 and who show a similar logo panel on the website http://www.nat.bm although substituting American colours in the hoist in lieu of Canadian [see ca~ncs-us.gif] and as the image does not move whether it represents a flag or not is debatable [the panel does appear on their funnels].
Neale Rosanoski, 29 December 2011

Northumberland Ferries Limited

image by Darrell Neuman, 25 September 2016

Northumberland Ferries Limited
- flag displayed in a window in downtown Charlottetown, PEI.
Northumberland Ferries sails from Caribou Point, Nova Scotia to Wood Islands, Prince Edward Island.
Darrell Neuman, 25 September 2016

Northland Navigation Company

image by Phil Nelson

Started in 1944 as the British Columbia Steamship Company. In 1954, it changed its name and houseflag. It purchased Union Steamship in 1959. The company discontinued service in 1976.
Phil Nelson, 29 April 2000

Pickford & Black

image by Rob Raeside, 10 December 2013

Flag based on the Mystic Seaport museum Lloyds Book of Flags and Funnels search page: http://library.mysticseaport.org/initiative/ImPage.cfm?BibID=11061&ChapterId=8 (p. 66). Location: Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Eric Odense, 8 December 2013

Provmar Fuels Inc.

contributed by Jan Mertens, 9 October 2005

This company is listed as a part of Upper Lakes Group Inc. and based in Hamilton, Ontario. Homepage: www.provmar.com.

The company was founded in 1984 as a joint venture of Upper Lakes Shipping and Canada Steamship Lines in view of marine bunkering and based at Hamilton. Details are at the company history page.

The site shows a (possible) house flag or flagoid: A turquoise swallowtail bears the firm’s name in red capital letters (PROVMAR / FUELS / INC.), the ‘P’ being larger than the others.
Jan Mertens, 9 October 2005

Purvis Marine Ltd

contributed by António Martins-Tuválkin, 11 August 2008
Source: Great Lakes Maritime Center at Vantage Point

PML or Purvis Marine Ltd, Sault Ste Marie, Ontario.

Purvis Marine Limited has been in the marine business since 1967. The company now, after 33 years of aggressive acquisitions, owns and operates one of the larger tug and barge fleets on the Great Lakes with a wide variety of floating plant…” meaning tugboats, barges, a cargo ship and – last but not least – a floating dry dock. The firm has a diver and stevedoring crew.

The vessels are in the ‘Our Fleet’ section (right menu), especially the funnel of the tug ‘Avenger IV’. As to preserving the past, see ‘Other Info’ explaining what PML has accomplished e.g. restoring ships.

The logo company site shows the company name beneath the company initials ‘PML’, serifed, inside a double cartouche (it is also shown in contrasting colours, mainly white, on dark blue funnels). The Great Lakes chart shows a blue flag with these initials, in white, inside a single cartouche the colour of which seems also white.
Jan Mertens, 20 November 2006

[Les] Remorqueurs du Quebec Ltee

image by Jarig Bakker, 7 November 2005
Source: Brown’s Flags and Funnels of Shipping Companies of the World, 1995 [lgr95]

Montreal - red flag, white oval, black "Q". (Note: "Remorqueurs" means "tuggers").
Jarig Bakker, 7 November 2005

[Editorial Note: In Brown [lgr95] the name is incorrectly listed as "Les Remorqueurs de Quebec Ltee"]

Rigel Shipping Canada Inc.

contributed by Jan Mertens, 20 November 2006
Small: Rigel Shipping Canada

Shediac, New Brunswick

The company website states that this Canadian domiciled and registered firm is a joint venture with Rigel Schiffahrts GmbH & Co. KG of Bremen, Germany, the aim being to provide tanker shipping to Canadian petroleum and related firms.

Founded in 1993, the Canadian Rigel operates three double-hulled tankers (ice-strengthened). Interestingly, in the beginning of this year the company contemplated opening a ferry route between New Brunswick and Labrador but the plan fell through.

Found on the net as a drawing for the house flag (for a photo present on the company site: click top menu ‘Company’ then ‘News’). Quarterly divided: left and right triangles red, upper triangle black, lower triangle blue; a white black-rimmed disk in the centre bearing a white black-rimmed six-pointed star enclosing a black initial ‘R’.

The ‘R’ is really italic as seen on the funnel
Jan Mertens, 20 November 2006