Peter Gilmore (James Onedin) and Anne Stallybrass (Anne Onedin) were married in real life as well as in The Onedin Line. They owned a cottage which they called Onedin House, in Dartmouth, Devon. It was used as a filming location for the series.
The series takes place from 1852 to 1886.
The show was praised for its locations and use of genuine historical vessels. Along with day-to-day drama, romance, and business dealings, the series also tackled social and economic issues of the time, such as slavery.
Two of the ships used in the series are still in use and sailing today: the Norwegian sailing ships SS Christian Radich and Statsraad Lehmkuhl.
The schooner Charlotte Rhodes was built in Denmark in 1904 and used in the series until 1976. Tied up in Amsterdam in 1979, the ship was destroyed as the result of an arson attack.