Samuel Cornell Plant, Captain, 1866-1921

This collection consists of five record series, comprising: documents relating to Captain Samuel Cornell Plant’s work in China; transcripts concerning his experiences in Iran; documents primarily relating to the deaths and commemoration of Captain Samuel Cornell Plant and his wife Alice Plant; a series of photographs of Yangtze River steamers Shu Hun and Shu Tung, as well as images related to the Plant family; and publications on Upper Yangtze commercial navigation authored by Captain Samuel Cornell Plant.

Related materials: Research notes and correspondence on the career of Captain Samuel Cornell Plant are held by the National Maritime Museum under the RMG ID references: NOT/43/3 and NOT/43/2.


Archivist's Note: Catalogue compiled by Siqing Zhan, RMG Volunteer, 28/01/2025, in accordance with ISAD(G): General International Standard Archival Description, 2000.

Administrative / biographical background
Samuel Cornell Plant (8 August 1866 – 26 February 1921) was a British sailor born in Framlingham, Suffolk. In 1900, he became the first person to command a merchant steamer on the Upper Yangtze River. Plant established the Sichuan Steam Navigation Company, serving as captain of SS SHUTUNG from 1908 and SS SHUHUN from 1914, providing the first regular steamship service on the Upper Yangtze. In 1915, he was appointed First Senior River Inspector for the Upper Yangtze. Highly respected in China, where he was known as Pu Lan Tian, Plant passed away in February 1921 as a passenger aboard the SS TIRESIAS. Source: Ref: NOT/43/3, Research notes on Captain Samuel Cornell Plant, 1968-1969. [Compiled by Siqing Zhan, RMG Volunteer, 28/01/2025].