[1] The company was liquidated and its assets taken over by the newly formed Royal Mail Lines in 1932 after financial trouble and scandal; over the years RML declined to no more than the name of a service run by former rival Hamburg Süd.

The RMSPC, founded in 1839 by James MacQueen, ran tours and mail to various destinations in the Caribbean and South America, and by 1927, was the largest shipping group in the world.

[2] MacQueen’s imperial visions for the RMSPC were clear; he hoped that new steamship communications between Britain and the Caribbean would mitigate post-Emancipation instabilities, in particular by promoting commerce.

It introduced new technologies, such as John Elder’s marine compound steam engine in 1870, and worked to redefine seafaring by focusing on comfort and passenger requirements.

However, poor economic circumstances and controversy surrounding a deception by Philipps meant that the RMSPC collapsed in 1930, after which various constituent companies were sold off.

He started in June 1903 by ordering three refrigerated cargo ships: Parana, Pardo and Potaro, to bring frozen meat to Europe from ports on the River Plate.

That October, Philipps ordered three smaller cargo ships for RMSP's Caribbean service, Conway, Caroni and Catalina, from Armstrong Whitworth on Tyneside.

Lord Vestey's Blue Star Line had joined the South American route and won a large share of the frozen meat trade.

Then in 1926–27 Blue Star introduced its new "luxury five" ships Almeda, Andalucia, Arandora, Avelona and Avila to both increase refrigerated cargo capacity and enter the passenger trade.

Although these were the biggest and most luxurious UK ships on the route, RMSP Chairman Lord Kylsant called Blue Star's quintet "very keen competition".

[13] The company ran into financial trouble, and the UK Government investigated its affairs in 1930, resulting in the Royal Mail Case.