Under the Flag of P&O
The Aurora Australis sails under the flag of the P&O shipping company. All shipping companies have a house flag and the flag of P&O is one of the oldest still in use.
The Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company or as it is better known, P&O had its beginnings with a partnership formed in 1822 between Brodie McGhie Wilcox, a London ship broker, and a Shetland-born former Royal Navy clerk named Arthur Anderson. They concentrated as shipping agents with the countries of Spain and Portugal - the Iberian Peninsula. Their house flag incorporated the national colours of the royal houses of Spain and Portugal, the red and yellow of Spain and the blue and white of Portugal
In 1835 Willcox and Anderson joined forces with Captain Richard Bourne, a Dublin shipowner, and began a regular steamer service between London, Spain and Portugal using the appropriate name "Peninsular Steam Navigation Company". By 1845 the company had expanded services to Singapore and Hong Kong, and in 1852 were extended to Sydney. With the establishment its three great Imperial mail routes - to India, the Far East and Australia, the name Orient was incorporated into the company's name.
Today the flag of P&O traverses Antarctica waters a region virtually unknown at the time the company was formed.
References:
The Story of P&O; The Peninsula and Oriental Steam Navigation Company by David Howarth and Stephen Howarth
