The North Pacific Steamship Company was a shipping company operating along the west coast of the United States and to South America during the late 19th century and early 20th century.
The North Pacific Steamship Company was chartered in March 1869 in Oregon, with a capital of $5,000,000. The company was the successor to the California, Oregon and Mexican Steamship Company. [1]
In 1906, the company purchased the George W. Elder, which had been launched in 1874. The company also operated the steamship Roanoke, launched in 1882. Both boats had been built as nightboats for the Old Dominion Steamship Company.
On July 21, 1907, the former running mate to the George W. Elder, the Columbia collided with the lumber schooner San Pedro off Shelter Cove, California, causing the Columbia to sink, killing 88 people. Among the dead was Captain Peter A. Doran, a former commander of the George W. Elder. Both the George W. Elder and Roanoke arrived at the site of the disaster and picked up Columbia's survivors from the badly damaged San Pedro. The George W. Elder returned some of the survivors to Astoria, Oregon. [2] The George W. Elder also towed the San Pedro to shore, following the disaster. [3]
During World War I, the George W. Elder was leased by the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, which was at the time owned by the Grace Line. The George W. Elder was used during this time as part of a four ship feeder service for Central American and Mexican ports.
By 1909, the NPSC was operating four ships. The George W. Elder and Roanoke worked its primary route from Portland, via Eureka and San Francisco to Los Angeles. The F.A. Kilburn ran between Eureka and San Francisco. And the Eureka operated along the Oregon coast, connecting Portland, Astoria, Coos Bay and Eureka. [4]
By 1915, the company's fleet had expanded to eight ships. However the NPSC vessels, the largest of which could accommodate 234 passengers, were smaller and slower than the 800-person "Great Northern" and "Northern Pacific" of the Great Northern Pacific Steam Ship Company. The NPSC found a niche by supplementing service on the key Portland–San Francisco Line with stops at Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, San Diego and other smaller ports that were bypassed by the major lines. [5]
Despite a larger fleet, the NPSC was also struggling financially due to the loss of its steamer Santa Clara on the bar of Coos Bay, Oregon, in 1914. The management considered closing the company's doors in 1915. Financial relief came when the California South Seas Navigation Company chartered both Roanoke and George W. Elder. Neither were used for passenger service under this charter.
By 1916, the NPSC fleet had shrunk to two ships, but a third was added to fill an opening left by the sale of the independently operated Aroline to H.F. Alexander in February 1916. With more capacity, the company scheduled service every five days (previously weekly) on its Southern California-to-Oregon route and added calls at Eureka and Coos Bay. The NPSC reported that although it had received offers for its ships it was committed to continuing a coastal service. [6]
Only months later, the company again had to confront disaster. Roanoke left San Francisco bound for Valparaíso, Chile at midnight May 8/9, 1916 with a cargo of explosives, wheat, oil and gasoline. [7] The ship foundered in heavy seas in the Pacific Ocean off Point Buchon, California at about 3 p.m. on May 9. [7] [8] 47 people died and three crew members were rescued from a lifeboat that beached near San Luis Obispo, California. [7] [9]
On May 8, 1917, Charles P. Doe sold the North Pacific Steamship Company to Thomas Crowley and Andrew Mahoney of San Francisco. Of the company's three remaining ships, the George W. Elder had been chartered for offshore cargo work, while the coastal runs between Portland and San Francisco every five days were handled by the F.A. Kilburn and the Breakwater. The new owners changed the company name to the Independent Steamship Company, which was also known as the Emerald Line. [10] All three vessels were sold to the Mexican Fruit and Steamship Company early in 1918. [11]
After the war, the aging George W. Elder was sold to Artigas Riolrio Compania, based in Valparaíso, Chile. It was renamed America and served the Chilean coastline until 1935. The America was reported scrapped at this time, but it remains uncertain whether the job was done in Japan or Valparaiso. Either way, the America had reached an outstanding age of 61 years.
 |
Union Iron Works, located in San Francisco, California, on the southeast waterfront, was a central business within the large industrial zone of Potrero Point, for four decades at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries.
The Pacific Mail Steamship Company was founded April 18, 1848, as a joint stock company under the laws of the State of New York by a group of New York City merchants. Incorporators included William H. Aspinwall, Edwin Bartlett, Henry Chauncey, Mr. Alsop, G.G. Howland and S.S. Howland.
The Oregon Railroad and Navigation Company (OR&N) was a railroad that operated a rail network of 1,143 miles (1,839 km) running east from Portland, Oregon, United States, to northeastern Oregon, northeastern Washington, and northern Idaho. It operated from 1896 as a consolidation of several smaller railroads.
Pacific was a wooden sidewheel steamer built in 1850 most notable for its sinking in 1875 as a result of a collision southwest of Cape Flattery, Washington. Pacific had an estimated 275 passengers and crew aboard when she sank. Only two survived. Among the casualties were several notable figures, including the vessel's captain at the time of the disaster, Jefferson Davis Howell (1846–1875), the brother-in-law of former Confederate President Jefferson Davis. The sinking of Pacific killed more people than any other marine disaster on the West Coast at the time.
Olympian was a large side-wheel inland steamship that operated in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska. Olympian operated from early 1884 to late 1891 on the Columbia River, Puget Sound, and the Inside Passage of British Columbia and Alaska.
Asbury Park was a high-speed coastal steamer built in Philadelphia, and intended to transport well-to-do persons from New York to summer homes on the New Jersey shore. This vessel was sold to West Coast interests in 1918, and later converted to an automobile ferry, serving on various routes San Francisco Bay, Puget Sound and British Columbia. This vessel was known by a number of other names, including City of Sacramento, Kahloke, Langdale Queen, and Lady Grace.
SS Manchuria was a passenger and cargo liner launched 1903 for the San Francisco-trans Pacific service of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company. During World War I the ship was commissioned 25 April 1918–11 September 1919 for United States Navy service as USS Manchuria (ID-1633). After return to civilian service the ship was acquired by the Dollar Steamship Line in 1928 until that line suffered financial difficulties in 1938 and ownership of Manchuria was taken over by the United States Maritime Commission which chartered the ship to American President Lines which operated her as President Johnson. During World War II she operated as a War Shipping Administration transport with American President Lines its agent allocated to United States Army requirements. After World War II, she was returned to American President Lines, sold and renamed Santa Cruz. The liner was scrapped in Italy in 1952.
Active was a survey ship that served in the United States Coast Survey, a predecessor of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey, from 1852 to 1861. Active served on the U.S. West Coast. She conducted the Coast Survey's first reconnaissance from San Francisco, California, to San Diego, California, in 1852. Active sometimes stepped outside her normal Coast Survey duties to support U.S. military operations, serving as a troop transport and dispatch boat during various wars with Native Americans and during the San Juan Islands "Pig War" with the United Kingdom in 1859. She also rushed Union troops to Los Angeles, California, in 1861 during the early stages of the American Civil War.
SS Columbia (1880–1907) was a cargo and passenger steamship that was owned by the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company and later the San Francisco and Portland Steamship Company. Columbia was constructed in 1880 by the John Roach & Sons shipyard in Chester, Pennsylvania for the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company.
Rabboni was a steam tug that operated on the west coast of the United States starting in 1865.
The Pacific Coast Steamship Company was an important early shipping company that operated steamships on the west coast of North America. It was first organized in 1867 under the name Goodall, Nelson and Perkins. The Goodall, Nelson & Perkins Steamship Company was formed in 1875, but a year later was reorganized as the Pacific Coast Steamship Company. In 1916 the Admiral Line bought the shipping interests of the company.
SS Oregon (1878–1906) was a coastal passenger/cargo ship constructed in Chester, Pennsylvania by the Delaware River Iron Ship Building and Engine Works in February 1878. Originally delivered to the Oregon Steamship Company, she was used on the Portland, Oregon-to-San Francisco, California route for many years. In 1879, the Oregon Railroad and Navigation Company became the Oregon′s new owners after purchasing the Oregon Steamship Company. Also included in this purchase were the steamships George W. Elder and City of Chester. While in O.R. & N service, Oregon served alongside SS Columbia, which made the first commercial use of Thomas Edison's incandescent light bulb. Like Oregon, Columbia was also built by John Roach & Sons in Chester, Pennsylvania. Over time, Oregon's hull became breached after a number of incidents. Furthermore, the hull had been weighted with concrete to the point where she was considered unsuitable for service as a passenger liner. After operating as a cargo ship, she was laid up in 1894 at Portland. In 1899, the Oregon was re-qualified to carry passengers once more. She was sold by O.R. & N the same year. Despite this, she was viewed as a cursed ship by her crew. On 26 December 1899 she sank Clan McKenzie in a collision in snow in the Columbia River at Coffee Rock 47 miles above Astoria, Oregon. Two of Clan McKenzie's crew killed, one injured. Her bow was damaged and she drifted ashore, later pulled off.
SS George W. Elder (1874–1935) was a passenger/cargo ship. Originally a U.S. east coast steamer, she was built by John Roach & Sons in Chester, Pennsylvania. The George W. Elder became a west coast steamer in 1876 and served with the Oregon Steamship Company, Oregon Railroad and Navigation Company, San Francisco and Portland Steamship Company and the North Pacific Steamship Company. In 1907, the George W. Elder helped to rescue the survivors of her former running mate Columbia. The last owners of the George W. Elder were a Chilean firm which operated her under the name America. She operated the Chilean Coast under this guise until 1935, when she was finally scrapped. The location of her scrapping remains unknown.
The SS Parthia (1870–1956) was an iron-hulled transatlantic ocean liner built for the Cunard Line by William Denny and Brothers in Dumbarton, Scotland. Her sister ships were the Abyssinia and Algeria. Unlike her two sisters, Parthia was smaller, built in a different shipyard and had a slightly different funnel arrangement. The Parthia was retired by Cunard in 1883 and sold to John Elder & Co., who subsequently transferred her to the Guion Line. After serving with the Guion Line and operating on trans-Pacific routes with the Canadian Pacific Railway Company, she was refitted and renamed Victoria.
The SS City of Chester was a steamship built in 1875 that sank after a collision in a dense fog with SS Oceanic at the Golden Gate in San Francisco Bay on August 22, 1888. She was owned by the Oregon Railroad Co. and leased by the Pacific Coast Steamship Company.
SS Roanoke (1882–1916) was a passenger and cargo ship built by John Roach & Sons in Chester, Pennsylvania. The Roanoke was built for the Old Dominion Steamship Company's service from New York to Norfolk Virginia. In 1898 the ship was sold to the North American Transportation and Trading Company to take miners, supplies and gold between Seattle and ports in Alaska. Later the Roanoke was sold to the Oregon-based North Pacific Steamship Company. In 1907, the Roanoke helped to rescue the survivors of her former running mate Columbia. On May 9, 1916, the Roanoke sank in heavy seas off the California coast near San Luis Obispo with the loss of 47 lives. There were only three survivors.
Idaho was a wooden steamship built for Pacific Coast passenger and freight service. She was launched in 1866 and wrecked in 1889. She was one of the first ocean-going steamships to provide regular service to the northwest coast of North America.
Orizaba was one of the first ocean-going steamships in commercial service on the west coast of North America and one of the last side-wheelers in regular use. Her colorful career spanned the business intrigues of Cornelius Vanderbilt, civil unrest in Mexico and Nicaragua, and the Fraser River gold rush. The ship was particularly important to Southern California ports, where she called for roughly the last 20 years of her service.
The Callendar Navigation Company, sometimes seen as the Callendar Transportation Company, started in business in the early 1900s. Callendar was formed in the early 1900s, and was based in Astoria, Oregon. Callender was to become one of six large towing companies of the Columbia and Willamette rivers in the early decades of the 1900s, the others being Shaver Transportation, Smith Transportation, Hosford, Knappton Towing Co., and Willamette and Columbia River Towing Co. In 1922, Callendar Navigation merged with Knappton Towboat Co., which existed, with a name change in 1990, and which became part of Foss Marine in 1993.
States Steamship Company, also called States Line and SSS, was started in 1928 by Charles Dant, in Portland, Oregon and later moved to the headquarters to San Francisco. Dant started the States Steamship Company to take his lumber product to market. He had a fleet of lumber schooners. Dant started by leasing ships from the United States Shipping Board - Emergency Fleet Corporation and founded the Columbia Pacific Steamship Company in 1919, Columbia Pacific Steamship Company routes were between Portland, Far East and Europe. In 1928 Dant merged the Columbia Pacific Steamship Company into the States Steamship Company. The Europe route ended in 1932 and the ship moved to a Philippines route. With the shift to container shipping in the 1960s and Dant's fleet of ships becoming older and obsolete, the company into bankruptcy in 1979. States Line operated four subsidies: Pacific-Atlantic Steamship Company, California Eastern Line founded in 1937 for lumber shipping, Oregon Oriental Line and the Quaker Line.