The house flag of Guinness Co., Dublin. A red swallow-tailed burgee with a black 'G' in the centre. The flag is made of a wool and synthetic fibre bunting. It has a cotton hoist and is machine sewn. A rope and toggle is attached.

The Dublin brewers Guinness first began exporting beer in 1796, initially to England.
The company purchased its first ship in 1913, the ‘W.M. Barkley’ which ran routes from Dublin to Manchester, Liverpool and London. In 1917 the ‘W.M. Barkley’ was sunk - fully laden with stout, by a torpedo from a German submarine. Three further vessels were acquired to run these routes, the ‘Carrowdore’, the ‘Claireisland’ and the ‘Clarecastle’, all ex-colliers.
In 1931 the company commissioned its first ship, SS ‘Guinness’, which was a custom built to carry beer. In the 1950’s the company started shipping beer in steel tanks, and this necessitated the upgrading of its fleet. Some of the older shops were sold on, with new vessels such as the ‘Lady Grania’ and the ‘Lady Gwendolen’ being added. Although the company was operating its own fleet, it still used a variety of other merchant fleets to transport its product. B&I, British Rail, Burns and Laird and Palgrave Murphy were all employed. When the NS ‘Savannah’ became the first ship to cross the Atlantic under atomic power in 1964 it was carrying a cargo of 6000 cartons of bottled Guinness.
In 1977 the MV ‘Miranda Guinness’ was commissioned, the world’s first custom built bulk liquid carrier, in effect a beer tanker. She was also the last ship to be built at the Albion Yard, Bristol, bringing an end to 156 years of shipbuilding at the site.
1987 saw the management of the Guinness fleet being taken over by Irish Marine Services Ltd. The fleet went into decline as the company opened breweries all over the world, and in 1993 Guinness ceased its tanker operation.