In 1920 Manuel Kulukundis from the Aegean island of Kasos[3] and his cousin Minas Rethymnis founded a shipbroking business in London, England.

[4] In 1934 Rethymnis & Kulukundis Ltd. (R&K) branched into shipowning,[2] establishing a nominally separate company to own each ship.

In about 1946 CSM companies began replacing its losses by buying seven Liberty ships from the UK Government.

[3] On 8 April 1948 the cousins founded a new company, London & Overseas Freighters Ltd, with the intention of owning tramp oil tankers.

[5] Pentridge Hill, built in 1941 by Bartram & Sons for Dorset Steamships became London Dealer.

[9] Another Dorset Steamships' vessel, Charmouth Hill, which became LOF's London Mariner in 1950, had been completed in Hartlepool in 1943 as Empire Peak.

[13] She was transferred to LOF in October 1951 and sold in January 1952 to Liberian owners wno renamed her Nausica.

The ships had white superstructures and carried the coat of arms of the City of London facing forward just below the bridge.

[2] The white and blue referred to the Greek origins of the Kulukundis, Rethymnis and Mavroleon families.

[3] The red star made the funnel livery suggest that of a Soviet merchant fleet, which sometimes caused some confusion.

LOF employed UK officers on salaries but used crew from India[14] hired on contracts for limited periods.

This allowed it to pay crew wages lower than those agreed between the General Council of British Shipping and the National Union of Seamen.

[20] However, the costs of buying new tankers rose considerably[20] so by the end of 1953 LOF sold all of its dry cargo ships.

[24][25] When LOF ordered London Splendour nearly three years earlier, some oil companies regarded this as being almost the maximum size of tanker that they could ever use.

In 1956 LOF in association with Philip Hill, Higginson & Co Ltd founded a subsidiary, London & Overseas Tankers, in Bermuda.

[32] In the 1960s LOF created a subsidiary in Greece, Mayfair Tankers, to benefit from the lower taxes in that country.

However, LOF continued transferring some ships to London & Overseas Tankers in order to pay less tax.

On 10 July 1972 London Statesman was unloading a cargo of rice at Nha Trang in South Vietnam when her engine room flooded and she sank by the stern.

[47] The tanker fleet was modernised with three 138,680 LT DWT ships built by Götaverken of Hisingen in Sweden.

[58] WOC was renamed Welsh Overseas Freighters in 1977 and LOF bought the remaining 49% of shares from the West Wales Steamship Co in 1982.

[58] LOF's profitability was reduced by the 1973 oil crisis and the 1977 nationalisation of the UK's shipbuilding industry.

[2] LOF laid up a number of its ships in a bay near Piraeus in Greece, including the London Pride (II) in 1981.

[66] Frontline took a 51% controlling share in LOF,[65] ending its independent history 49 years after its incorporation.