Union-Castle Travel

Union-Castle Line's travel agency (Est. 1947)

After the Second World War, Union-Castle Line had a depleted fleet due to wartime losses and the fact that the new postwar mailships had yet to be delivered. However the demand for accommodation was in no way diminished. This was an acute concern for Union-Castle Line as many of those seeking passages were regular pre-war clients. As a result the then chairman of Union-Castle Line, Sir Vernon Thomson, set up the Air Bookings Section in 1947 with the aim of “If we can’t get you back by sea, we’ll fly you there”.

Eventually the work of the section extended to not only booking passengers on flights to South Africa, but to the rest of the world as well, and making such sea bookings as were possible by other shipping lines, booking hotels, and car hire etc. So the section was fast becoming a fully fledged travel agency. Soon BOAC were reported as saying that the section was their biggest agents in the City of London.

Soon the accommodation situation returned to normal with new ships in service and capacity restored to meet the required demand. However Union-Castle Travel (as the section had become known) remained as a service to Union-Castle Line’s passengers for their additional travel requirements, as well as offering facilities worldwide.

In 1977 Union-Castle Line ceased its mail and passenger line services, but the “Union-Castle Travel” travel agency continued in operation and in 1997 celebrated its golden jubilee. In its latter years the company was owned by the Curzon Company and specialised in holidays to Africa, the Indian Ocean and Latin America. Sadly this last surviving remnant of the once famous Union-Castle Line, ceased trading on the 1st November 2000 and a famous name disappeared forever.