Dates to Remember!

22nd August 1837 and 4th September 1837 - On these dates, 175 Years ago, the Peninsular Company's first Government Contract was signed and the DON JUAN (1837) was the first ship to sail on this new contract.

Dates to Remember!

The 22nd of August is an auspicious date in the history of P&O. On this day, 175 years ago, one of the company’s founders Captain Richard Bourne R.N. signed the Peninsular Company’s first Government contract to run a weekly mail service between Falmouth, Vigo, Oporto, Lisbon, Cadiz and Gibraltar. This was the first such contract over a deep-sea route, and marks the traditional "founding" of P&O. It was officially named The Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Company three years later.

4th September 1837

DON JUAN (1837), owned by Captain Richard Bourne R.N., was the first ship to sail on P&O's new mail contract and left Falmouth on the 4th September 1837 with Arthur Anderson on board. Triumph was quickly followed by tragedy on the homeward voyage from Gibraltar on 15th September. DON JUAN ran into dense fog and sharp rocks just off Tarifa Point and could not be saved. Luckily no lives were lost and the mails and $21,000 in cash were able to be saved partly due to Anderson's personal intervention on the spot and the HMS MEDEA which carried the mails and Captain Engledue of DON JUAN home to England.

Find more facts and stories from P&O's 175 years of history on our History page.