The History of Booker Line

In 1815, Josias Booker, the third of seven sons of a Lancashire Miller, emigrated to Demerara to work in the sugar plantations. One of the first British settlers in Demerara, he learnt his trade quickly and became a planter of some distinction, and by 1818 he was managing his own plantation. Following his success he was joined by two of his brothers, George and Richard, and the firm of Booker Brothers was founded.

After a dispute with the Liverpool Shipowners who had been transporting their sugar, the brothers decided to form their own shipping company, and in 1835 they acquired their first ship, the Elizabeth, a brig built in Scotland in 1832. In the early years Bookers bought and sold many ships, unfortunately a lot of the company's records were destroyed by fire in Guyana, and the complete record of the company's activities was destroyed in London during WW2, but it is known that some of their early ships were; Palmyra, Standard, Lucknow, Lord Elgin, John Horrocks and Lancaster.

In 1846 John McConnell went to Guyana to work as a clerk for the Booker Brothers, where he prospered, and in 1874 founded his own firm of John McConnell & Company. Due to his long and close association with the brothers, the two firms merged in 1900 and became known as Booker Brothers, McConnell & Co Ltd, and the company set up an office in The Albany, Old Hall Street, Liverpool, where it remained until 1941.

The shipping venture prospered, and in 1867 the regular direct service from Liverpool to Georgetown became known as the Liverpool Line. For this service, Bookers owned or chartered vessels continually until 1911, when the line was renamed  the Booker Line and they purchased the vessels, Imataka, Amakura and Arakaka. (The names  Imataka and  Amakura are Arawak aboriginal names of rivers in Guyana, Arakaka is an Arawak place name).

The First World War claimed the Imataka and Amakura. The former was torpedoed and sunk by an enemy submarine in a position 15 miles SSW from Daunt's Rock on April 23, 1917. Soon afterwards the Amakura also fell victim to a submarine 180 miles NW1/2W from Tory Island on June 12,1917.  The Arakaka survived the war years and remained in service with Bookers until she was sold in 1922.

The Amakura and Arakaka were subsequently replaced, but history repeated itself. On June 23 1941, the Arakaka was lost
in the North Atlantic while serving as a meteorological ship with the Admiralty, and on August 25, 1942, an enemy submarine sank the Amakura off the Jamaican coast. Despite their losses, Bookers continued trading with chartered ships until 1946, when the third Arakaka, (2,814GRT) was built, and in 1949 came the third Amakura (2,961GRT).

In the late 1950s Booker Line would charter a vessel for one round trip and this ship would replace the Amakura & Arakaka whilst they were dry-docked.  Moss Hutchison Line’s Tabor made one such voyage in the summer of 1958. At least one other Moss Hutchison ship possibly the Karnak made one of these voyages. (Source: Geoff Holmes)

In the 1960's the Arakaka and Amakura were sold and replaced with 3 new vessels, Booker Vanguard, Venture and Viking, and a fourth vessel, the Booker Valliance, was chartered from Norwegian owners. It was around this time that the company changed its name to Booker Merchantmen Ltd and also changed their funnel colours to blue, white and blue, with a red "B" to replace the former buff, black-topped funnel.

In the early 1970's the Booker Valliance came off charter after 10 years service and was replaced by another chartered vessel, the Booker Voyager, and the company added another ship to the fleet, the Booker Vulcan. Towards the end of the 1970's the Booker Vanguard, Venture and Viking were sold and replaced by East German built  vessels, the Booker Challenge, Courage and Crusade, where they went in to service alongside the Booker Vulcan and Voyager.

The company continued operating with these vessels up until the early 1980's when, due to a decline British shipping and changes in the sugar market, the company was forced to cease trading, the ships were laid up in Liverpool's Huskisson Dock and subsequently sold. Thus, Liverpool's Booker Line, one of the longest serving Liverpool shipping companies, came to an end after nearly 150 years of continuous service.

But what became of the company's founder, Josias Booker?

After returning to Liverpool, Josias Booker was instrumental in forming the Royal Insurance Company in 1841, and was an early chairman. A map of the Allerton district of Liverpool about 1870 indicates an area described as "Mr. Booker's land", and there is also a record of Booker cottages and the fact that above the door of Booker Cottage School with a stone bearing the initials "JB" and the date 1865. Today, Booker Avenue is the name of a Boulevard in Liverpool which runs from Calderstones Park, through Allerton, to Aigburth.

Josias Booker died in 1865, having lived a truly remarkable and eventful life.