B&I Line
 |
|
| Industry | Shipping |
|---|---|
| Fate | Rebranded as Irish Ferries |
| Founded | 1836 |
| Defunct | 1995 |
| Headquarters | Dublin, Ireland |
|
Area served
|
Irish Sea |
| Services | Passenger transportation Freight transportation |
| Parent | 1965-1992: Government of Ireland 1992-1995: ICG |
The British and Irish Steam Packet Company was a steam packet and passenger ferry company operating between ports in Ireland and in Great Britain between 1836 and 1992. It was latterly popularly called the B&I, and branded as B + I line.
The B&I was established in Dublin in 1836 with an initial fleet of paddle steamers. The company was based on Eden Quay until it moved to No. 46 East Wall in 1860. The fleet changed to iron in the 1840s and 1850s to ply on the company routes of Falmouth-Torquay-Southampton-Portsmouth and London together with Dublin-Wexford-Waterford. The company acquired the London service of the Waterford Steamship Company in 1870 by which they dominated this route.
The controlling owner of the B&I was the Liverpool Shipping Company. It was taken over by the Kylsant Royal Mail Company in 1917 and renamed Coast Lines which by the end of 1917 held all the shares in the B&I. Among the operations of this group were
The 1930s was a difficult period for the B&I, and Coast Lines offered the Irish Government a share in the company but they declined. This was regretted on the outbreak of World War II, when Coast Lines withdrew most of the vessels and placed them at the disposal of the British authorities. During the war, the company sustained casualties with the separate losses of two vessels in Liverpool in 1940: the Innisfallen, and the Munster sunk by a mine.
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