What are the opening hours?

Monday 9am - 5pm Tuesday 9am - 5pm Wednesday 9am - 5pm Thursday 9am - 5pm Friday 9am - 5pm

P&O Heritage Collection

Home
United Kingdom
London
P&O Heritage Collection

P&O Heritage Collection, exists to preserve and celebrate over 188 years of maritime history

As our name suggests, P&O Heritage, exists to preserve and celebrate the maritime history and collections of P&O, one of the best known shipping companies in the world. Our website is our main port of call fro visitors and we have designed it to allow our collections - and the rich heritage of P&O - to be more accessible to the public, thereby continuing to keep alive the memory of the enormous co

ntribution P&O has made to numerous people and countries around the world for over 175 years. Behind the scenes, the P&O Heritage Collection, which numbers over 30,000 items, is cared for by a small dedicated team of three: Curator, Digital Curator and Web editor and Conservator, based in European regional headquarters of DP World. Our vast and varied collections of archives and artefacts tell the story of P&O and the numerous shipping lines it acquired, including Orient Line, British India and many more. DP World acquired P&O in 2006 and today it takes great pride in its association with the venerable name of P&O. DP World is committed to the work of P&O Heritage and to preserving and protecting this unique collection for future generations.

03/09/2026

Today we celebrate , honouring the hard work and sacrifices of the men and women of the .

King George V officially gave the British merchant shipping fleets the name ‘Merchant Navy’ following their service in the first world war.

In 2000, the government established Merchant Navy Day as an official day of remembrance. Backed by The Seafarers Charity, the red ensign is being flown in tribute today on public and maritime buildings across the UK.

This 1917 photograph from our collections shows King George V and Commodore Bruce inspecting the crew onboard PLASSY (1901). During the first world war PLASSY served as a hospital ship, and repatriated prisoners of war after the armistice.

Read more about the seafarers who made P&O at https://poheritage.com/stories/

01/09/2026

Since 1837, P&O has carried many famous people around the world. Some of them have been simply taking a break from the pressures of public life.

In 1956, Winston Churchill had just finished his second stint as Prime Minister and was busy adjusting to retirement and writing a history. His wife, Lady Clementine Churchill took the opportunity to take a holiday by herself.

In the 1930s, Clementine had travelled the world on a private yacht. In 1956, a line voyage to Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) aboard STRATHEDEN (1937) was just the ticket.

Pictured here disembarking at Tilbury it looks like a P&O holiday did her the world of good!

Have you ever taken a P&O holiday to recover?

27/08/2026

P&O has carried many famous passengers, but some ships have been celebrities in their own right.

CANBERRA finally made it to Hollywood in 1971, hitting the silver screen in the Bond movie ‘Diamonds are Forever’.

It was Sean Connery’s final outing as Ian Fleming’s 007. After defeating Blofeld, Bond boards CANBERRA to return home with Tiffany Case, unaware that two final villains await him. Southampton Docks stood in as the film’s rather more glamorous Californian setting.

P&O’s publicity teams were keen to make the most of the connection. This 1972 poster advertising P&O cruises features a production still featuring the cast of the film on deck surrounded by the traditional streamers used to mark a departure from port.

What’s the most famous P&O ship you’ve sailed on?

23/08/2026

You can almost feel the warmth of the Mediterranean sun coming from these P&O advertising posters.

Artists like Alan Lindsay and Royston Cooper created bright and joyful images that sold summer cruises to the public in the dark days of winter.

Browse hundreds of classic P&O advertising images like this in our online collections:

http://poheritage.com/collections/

22/08/2026

189 years ago today, on 22 August 1837, the company we now know as P&O formally began with another set of initials: ‘RB’ signed in ink on a contract.

The Government awarded the Peninsular Steam Navigation Company the mail service to Spain and Portugal. The Iberian Peninsula gave the company its first name.

Less than two weeks later, the wooden paddle steamer DON JUAN (1837) set sail from Falmouth. It arrived in Gibraltar ten days later, an auspicious beginning.

The signature on the contract belonged to Dublin ship-owner Captain Richard Bourne. He was one of the company’s three co-founders, together with London ship-brokers Arthur Anderson and Brodie McGhie Willcox.

He fought in the early Napoleonic wars and retired from naval service before starting a mail coach business in his native Ireland.

But it was as successful steam ship owner and a founding director what would become the largest shipping company in the world, that we remember him today.

This portrait by Thomas Francis Dicksee was painted just a year before his death in 1851.

20/08/2026

In the early days of cruising, you be as likely to find a P&O liner in the Baltic as in the Mediterranean. These snow-capped mountains and icy Norwegian fjords certainly look like a cooling alternative to this summer’s heatwaves.

1905 was only P&O’s second season of cruising. That year, a voyage on VECTIS (1881) would take you to Spitzbergen, well inside the Arctic Circle.

In 1909 she was still sailing there, and in 1913 MANTUA (1909) was on a summer voyage around the Scandinavian fjords.

Browse hundreds of classic P&O advertising images like this in our online collections:

http://poheritage.com/collections/

17/08/2026

A hundred years ago in 1926, P&O had only been cruising for just over 20 years. But business was booming. You could pop into P&O’s office on Cockspur Street, pick up a brochure and book yourself a voyage.

This colourful yellow booklet was your guide to Mediterranean tours to Spain, France and North Africa on board one of P&O’s brand new R-class liners.

You could go further: all the way round the world if you wanted to on P&O and its associated lines.

The British India Steam Navigation Company merged with P&O in 1914. Combining P&O and BI schedules opened up travel beyond the Mediterranean, travelling through Suez to Sudan. This brochure by artist Charles Dixon is illustrated with a rose-tinted view of Port de Monaco, one of the stops along the way.

Browse hundreds of classic P&O advertising images like this in our online collections:

http://poheritage.com/collections/

15/08/2026

P&O carried many thousands of civil servants and military members between the UK and British India as it was until 1947.

But in 1931, RAJPUTANA (1925) carried an inspiring Indian leader to London, to discuss the future of a new nation.

Mahatma Gandhi representing the Indian National Congress, travelled with his companions to attend the Second Round Table Conference in London.

On the way to London, RAJPUTANA stopped at Port Said after travelling through the Suez Canal. Indians living in Egypt published an address to Gandhi. They declared that “we are aware that great difficulties await you in London, but we have full confidence in your sagacity, and the justice of our cause.”

Gandhi delivered his response to his fellow countrymen aboard the ship, trusting that they represented “the best traditions of the motherland”. His handwritten notes, on the back of the address are one of the treasures of our collection.

India gained its independence in 1947. P&O encountered Gandhi’s legend again in 1981. DWARKA (1947) was used as the set for the shipboard scenes in Richard Attenborough’s Oscar-winning film of Gandhi’s life.

Have you ever shared a P&O voyage with a famous passenger?

12/08/2026

We hope you’re ready to enjoy the eclipse today, and you’ve found a good place to watch it from, whether that’s at sea or on dry land.

53 years ago in June 1973, a total solar eclipse passed across Africa, the longest total eclipse of the 20th century.

P&O’s CANBERRA set off on a ‘Voyage into Darkness’ to observe the eclipse off the west coast of Africa. The 1,868 passengers aboard experienced 5 minutes and 44 seconds of totality from their vantage point between the Canary Islands and Senegal.

As well as hundreds of scientists and astronomers, also on the cruise were the first man to stand on the moon, Neil Armstrong, science fiction writer Isaac Asimov, and 15-year old future science communicator Neil deGrasse Tyson!

Pictured here are passengers on CANBERRA’s sun deck, getting ready to observe the eclipse with protective glasses, cameras, and telescopes. As one passenger observed: ‘the decks of CANBERRA looked like Tripod National Forest’.

10/08/2026

P&O has carried many famous passengers around the world. But not all of them were keen to be recognised.

T E Lawrence, better known as ‘Lawrence of Arabia’, played a vital role in British intelligence during the first world war.

But in 1929, hearing rumours that he was fomenting an insurrection in Afghanistan, the RAF ordered him to return to England.

Keen to avoid being spotted on his way home, Lawrence booked a second-class passage on P&O’s nearly empty RAJPUTANA (1925). After evading the Egyptian police at Port Said, he spent the rest of the voyage translating three books of Homer’s Odyssey.

On arriving at Plymouth, Lawrence was equally secretive and shimmied down a rope into a vessel waiting to take him to shore.

Have you ever travelled incognito on P&O?

Address

London

Opening Hours

Monday	9am - 5pm
Tuesday	9am - 5pm
Wednesday	9am - 5pm
Thursday	9am - 5pm
Friday	9am - 5pm

Website

http://www.poheritage.com/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when P&O Heritage Collection posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Museum

Send a message to P&O Heritage Collection:

Want your museum to be the top-listed Museum in London?