From humble beginnings in the 1830s, The Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Company grew to dominate British mercantile shipping for much of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Initially, the company's paddle steamers carried Her Majesty's Mail to the Iberian Peninsula, as the name implies, but over time P&O extended its routes across the Mediterranean and onwards to the Middle East, Far East and Australasia. Besides the mail, P&O liners carried bullion, silk, tea, and even opium as well as passengers. The company came to represent the British Empire at sea - but as the Empire waned and British travellers took to the air, so a golden age of travelling by sea came to an end. Ruth Artmonsky here delves into the P&O Heritage Collection to take a nostalgic glance astern at all those who travelled P&O.

All the romance of travel at sea is captured in the long history of P&O. From humble beginnings in the 1830s, The Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Company grew to dominate British mercantile shipping for much of the 19th, and a good deal of the 20th, centuries. Initially the company's paddle steamers carried Her Majesty's Mail, as the name implies, to the Iberian Peninsular, but over time P&O extended its routes across the Mediterranean, and onwards to the Middle East, Far East and Australasia. Besides the mail P&O liners carried specie, as well as such commodities as silk, tea, and even opium! And then there were the passengers - colonial officers, the military, planters, traders, big game hunters, pilgrims, missionaries, emigrants, Monarchs and Maharajah, along with their wives, children and nannies; not forgetting the 'fishing fleet' - young ladies venturing east to catch a husband. P&O came to represent the British Empire at sea, and as the Empire waned, and Britain took to the air, so a golden age of travelling by sea came to an end. This new book delves into the P&O archives to take a nostalgic glance astern at all those who travelled P&O.