In the first instance the Portuguese Queen was faced with insurrection and Anderson, the driving force of the partnership, sided with her against the rebels. On one occasion he refitted a half wrecked schooner and went gun-running on behalf of the Queen and, on another, posed as a Mr Smith and smuggled two of the Queen's agents into England. Anderson then used his influence in the City of London to raise funds to mount an expeditionary force which the Queen deployed to defeat the rebellion. The partners efforts did not go unrewarded and they were suitably endowed with numerous royal and official favours. The partners sided with the legitimate Queen against the pretender Don Carlos, and once again, were proved to be right.
F rom the beginning the company was concerned with the comfort and welfare of the passengers.
Models of the ship's accommodation could be inspected at the company's head office 'by which a Passenger may see at once the size and situation of any cabin or bed-place as well as if he were on board the ship'. On every ship a complaints book was prominently displayed and passengers requested, in four languages, to note 'any want of civility or attention on the part of the cabin attendants, or any want of cleanliness in the cabins or bed or table linen or scarcity in the provision department' B y 1836 weekly sailings to Madeira were being advertised 'for the accommodation of Invalids', a venture which was, in reality, a gamble. The company was providing more shipping than the existing volume of traffic could fill in the belief that once the service was established the passengers would follow. The policy was vindicated then any many times on subsequent occasions. However, on the first occasion it was an Admiralty mail contract worth 29,600 per year which kept the company solvent.