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.
Eurana was a steam cargo ship built on speculation in 1915 by Union Iron Works of San Francisco. While under construction, the ship was acquired by Frank Duncan McPherson Strachan to operate in the Atlantic trade for his family's Strachan Shipping Company. The vessel made several trips between the Southeast of the United States and Europe before being sold to the Nafra Steamship Company in 1917. The freighter then entered the Mediterranean trade where she remained until September 1918 when she was requisitioned by the Emergency Fleet Corporation and transferred to the United States Navy to transport military supplies prior to the end of World War I, and as a troop transport after the war's end. In October 1919, the ship was returned to Nafra, which was then being reorganized to become the Green Star Steamship Company. In 1923, Eurana and twelve other ships passed to the Planet Steamship Company, newly formed to receive them from Green Star's bankruptcy. The ship remained principally engaged in the West Coast to East Coast trade for the next seven years. In 1930, together with several other vessels, Eurana was purchased by the Calmar Steamship Corporation, and renamed Alamar. The ship continued carrying various cargo between the East and West Coasts of the United States through 1941. On 27 May 1942, while en route from Hvalfjord to Murmansk carrying lend-lease war materiel to the Soviet Union during World War II as part of Arctic convoy PQ-16, she was fatally damaged by German aircraft bombs and was consequently scuttled by a British submarine to prevent her from becoming a menace to navigation.
SS Valencia was an iron-hulled passenger steamer built for the Red D Line for service between Venezuela and New York City. She was built in 1882 by William Cramp and Sons, one year after the construction of her sister ship Caracas. She was a 1,598-ton vessel, 252 feet (77 m) in length. In 1897, Valencia was deliberately attacked by the Spanish cruiser Reina Mercedes off Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The next year, she became a coastal passenger liner on the U.S. West Coast and served periodically in the Spanish–American War as a troopship to the Philippines. Valencia was wrecked off Cape Beale, which is near Clo-oose, on the west coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, on 22 January 1906. As her sinking killed 100 people, some classify the wreck of Valencia as the worst maritime disaster in the "Graveyard of the Pacific", a famously treacherous area off the southwest coast of Vancouver Island.
Mount Temple was a passenger cargo steamship built in 1901 by Armstrong Whitworth & Company of Newcastle for Elder, Dempster & Co Ltd of Liverpool to operate as part of its Beaver Line. The ship was shortly afterwards acquired by the Canadian Pacific Railway. It was one of the first vessels to respond to the distress signals of RMS Titanic in 1912.
SS 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.
SS Ancon was an American cargo and passenger ship that became the first ship to officially transit the Panama Canal in 1914 although the French crane boat Alexandre La Valley completed the first trip in stages during construction prior to the official opening. The ship was built as Shawmut for the Boston Steamship Company by the Maryland Steel Company, Sparrows Point, Maryland and put into Pacific service operating out of Puget Sound ports for Japan, China and the Philippine Islands. Shawmut and sister ship Tremont were two of the largest United States commercial ships in service at the time and the company eventually found them too expensive to operate.
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.
Wolverine State was a steam passenger-cargo ship built in 1919–1920 by New York Shipbuilding Company of Camden for the United States Shipping Board (USSB) as part of the wartime shipbuilding program of the Emergency Fleet Corporation (EFC) to restore the nation's Merchant Marine. The ship was initially employed on the United States to India route until its cancellation in Spring 1922. After remodeling the vessel was briefly used by the Los Angeles Steamship Company on a run between Los Angeles and Honolulu as an emergency replacement for one of their burned out steamers. In April 1922 the steamer was renamed President Harrison. In 1923 she conducted several trips between California and the east coast of South America, before being sold together with several other ships of her class to the Dollar Steamship Company. The vessel was captured in 1941 by the Japanese after she was deliberately run aground to avoid the capture. After repairs, the ship was renamed Kachidoki Maru (勝鬨丸), put under control of NYK Line and entered the Japan to Taiwan route, but soon after was requisitioned by the Imperial Japanese Army. Under IJA control the ship sailed between Japan, Singapore and the Philippines carrying troops and military supplies. She was torpedoed and sunk on 12 September 1944 on one of her regular trips, while carrying 950 Allied prisoners of war of which 431 were killed.
West Kasson was a steam cargo ship built in 1918–1919 by Long Beach Shipbuilding Company of Long Beach for the United States Shipping Board (USSB) as part of the wartime shipbuilding program of the Emergency Fleet Corporation (EFC) to restore the nation's Merchant Marine. The vessel initially operated on the round-the-world route from the West Coast of the United States via East Asia and Spain before being shifted to serve the Gulf to Europe and South America trade in 1922. In 1926 she was sold to the W. R. Grace and Company and renamed Cuzco. In her new role the ship operated chiefly between the ports of the Pacific Northwest and various Chilean and Peruvian ports. In 1940 the ship was again sold and transferred into Panamanian registry and renamed Carmona. The vessel continued sailing between South America and the United States and was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-160 on one of her regular trips in July 1942.
Methven Castle was a steam iron passenger cargo ship built in 1882–1883 by Barclay, Curle & Company of Glasgow for Donald Currie & Co. with intention of serving as cargo, passenger and mail carrier on their existing route from England to South Africa. The vessel was later sold to the North American Mail Steamship Co. of Tacoma to work on their Oriental trade routes and renamed Columbia. In 1899 the ship was chartered by the United States Army to transport troops and supplies to various overseas destinations. In 1900 the Army bought out the ship placing it in service as the United States Army Transport Rosecrans but sold it two years later to Matson Navigation Company. The vessel was then converted into an oil tanker to carry oil from the West Coast to Alaska and Hawaii. Subsequently she was sold in 1905 to Associated Oil Co. to carry oil from California to various ports along the Pacific Northwest and Hawaii. In January 1913 while on one of her regular trips, the ship was wrecked off the mouth of the Columbia River with the loss of almost her entire crew.
The steamship General Frisbie was a wooden two-deck passenger ship built in 1900, named after John B. Frisbie. She was designed for use as a ferry between Vallejo and San Francisco. The steamer was successful in that role and was the fastest ship on the route when she began service. Improved roads, bridges, and automobiles reduced demand for ferry service in the Bay Area, and newer ships were optimized for transporting cars, so General Frisbie was retired in the late 1920s.
Ancon was an ocean-going wooden sidewheel steamship built in San Francisco in 1867. She carried both passengers and freight. In her early career she was a ferry in Panama and then ran between Panama and San Francisco. Later she began coastal runs between Sand Diego and San Francisco. Her last route was Port Townsend, Washington to Alaska. Today she is more notable for her disasters than her routine voyages. Ancon Rock in Icy Strait, Alaska is the site of her 1886 grounding. Her final wreck, in 1889 in Naha Bay, near Loring, Alaska was commemorated by Albert Bierstadt. His painting, "Wreck of the 'Ancon' in Loring Bay, Alaska" now hangs in the Museum of Fine Art in Boston.
Queen Cristina was a steam cargo ship built in 1901 by the Northumberland Shipbuilding Co of Newcastle for Thomas Dunlop & Sons of Glasgow. The ship was designed and built for general cargo trade and spent her career doing tramp trade. She was the second ship named Queen Cristina in service with the Queen Line.
Chippewa was a steam cargo ship built in 1905 by William Cramp & Sons of Philadelphia for Clyde Steamship Company with intention of operating on their East Coast and West Indies routes.
Mohawk was a steam passenger ship built in 1908 by William Cramp & Sons of Philadelphia for Clyde Steamship Company with intention of operating between New England and southern ports of the United States. In early January 1925 the ship caught fire off New Jersey coast and eventually was abandoned and scuttled by the crew without a loss of life.
West Niger was a steam cargo ship built in 1919–1920 by Southwestern Shipbuilding Company of San Pedro for the United States Shipping Board (USSB) as part of the wartime shipbuilding program of the Emergency Fleet Corporation (EFC) to restore the nation's Merchant Marine. The freighter spent her entire career in the Pacific connecting the West Coast of the United States with the Chinese and Japanese ports in the Far East. Early in 1928, the ship, together with ten other vessels, was sold by the Shipping Board to the States Steamship Co. and subsequently renamed Nevada. In September 1932, the vessel, while on her regular trip to Japan, ran aground in foggy weather on Amatignak Island and subsequently broke into three parts and sank with the loss of thirty four out of thirty seven men.
Wheatland Montana was a steam cargo ship built in 1919 by Skinner & Eddy of Seattle for the United States Shipping Board as part of the wartime shipbuilding program of the Emergency Fleet Corporation (EFC) to restore the nation's Merchant Marine. The freighter spent the majority of her career in the Pacific connecting the West Coast of the United States with the Chinese and Japanese ports in the Far East. Early in 1928 the ship together with six other vessels was sold by the Shipping Board to the Tacoma Oriental Steamship Co. and subsequently renamed Seattle. After her owner declared bankruptcy early in 1937, the freighter was sold to Matson Navigation Company and renamed Lihue. She was then mainly employed to transport sugar and canned fruit from the Hawaiian Islands to the ports on the East Coast of the United States. In February 1942 she was chartered to transport general cargo and war supplies to the Middle East but was torpedoed by U-161 in the Caribbean Sea on February 23, and eventually sank three days later while in tow without loss of life.
Lyman Stewart was a steam tanker built in 1914 by Union Iron Works Company of San Francisco for the Union Oil Company of California, with intention of transporting oil and petroleum products to ports along the West Coast of the United States and Canada. The ship was named after Lyman Stewart, the president of the Union Oil Co. In October 1922 the tanker collided with another steamer, SS Walter Luckenbach, and was beached to avoid sinking but was subsequently declared a total loss.
Senator was a steel-hulled steamship launched in 1898. She served as a troopship during the Spanish-American War and was an important part of the Nome gold rush. She spent thirty years in the coastwise shipping trade between Alaska and San Diego, until she was scrapped in Osaka, Japan in 1935.
Anglo-African was a steam cargo ship built in 1900 by the Short Brothers of Sunderland for Lawther, Latta & Co. of London with intention of operating on their Australian routes. The vessel operated mostly on South America to North America route during her career and was wrecked on one of her regular voyages in January 1909.
United States 
