The heyday of the South Wales tramp steamer has long since passed. In 1920 there were 122 shipping companies in Cardiff alone, owning 1.5 million tons of shipping. At that time Cardiff was the greatest shipping centre in the world. In 1905 Sir William Reardon Smith, who went to sea at twelve years of age, entered into the shipowning business on his own account and founded the Reardon Smith shipping line. The company he started as a tramp shipping company survived as a major operator of bulk carriers and at the time of writing (1984) was one of the few South Wales shipowning firms still in existence...