What’s in a name ?

The MV James Monroe was named after the first scheduled passenger service to New York in 1817 direct from Liverpool. That clipper ship which also carried apples, hops and other dry goods to the New World was named after the then US President James Monro.

• Born: 28 April 1758

• Birthplace: Westmoreland County, Virginia

• Died: 4 July 1831

• President of the United States, 1817-1825

James Monroe served one term as governor of Virginia, then was sent to France by Thomas Jefferson to negotiate the Louisiana Purchase where the USA paid France in total $15 million for 823,000 square miles of land in 1803.

He was an officer during the American Revolution serving alongside George Washington and became an all-around statesman whose career included stints as congressman, senator, foreign diplomat and cabinet member. In 1811 he was appointed Secretary of State under President James Madison, and in 1816 Monroe won the presidential election. He was easily re-elected in 1820 (winning 231 of 232 electoral votes), and his administration was termed "The Era of Good Feelings", a time when the United States focused on expansion and ignored the troubles of the European nations.

He is famous for the Monroe Doctrine (1823), which proclaimed U.S. hostility toward any European intervention in the Americas, which he had a habit of doing.