From the early 20th century onwards, an association began with P&O which became 51% shareholder in 1919 and culminated in the Orient Line being totally absorbed into that company in 1966.

The Orient Line's beginnings can be traced back to the formation of a shipbroking company by James Thompson (or Thomson) in 1797.

They built a series of large seagoing steamers for the trade, commencing with the four-masted, two-funnelled Orient in 1879.

All had names starting with 'O', such as Otway, Osterley, Orsova, Otranto, Ortona and Orvieto – a quintet of 12,000-ton ships – entering service in 1909.

A new firm, Anderson, Green & Co. Ltd., acquired the other 49% and then managed the Orient Line on its new owner's behalf until the subsidiary was formally absorbed into its senior partner in 1966 following P & O's acquisition of the balance of the shares.

They included the USS Zeppelin which Orient bought in 1920, had refitted and renamed Ormuz, and ran between Great Britain and Australia from 1921 until 1927.

It took a number of years for the company's fleet to be returned to full strength due to the slow industrial recovery after the war.

Despite this downturn in ocean liner traffic, both P&O and Orient Line ordered new, larger vessels – Canberra for the former, Oriana for the latter.

Oriana survived another 19 years after retiring and being sold, a career as a floating tourist attraction ending in 2005 with her being scrapped.