Pacific Far East Line, also called PFEL in short, was a passenger and cargo shipping line founded in 1943 by Thomas E. Cuffe, in San Francisco, California. At the beginning he started by chartering foreign ships to run the lines in tramp trade. Later scheduled cargo services were added to the line. During World War II the South Atlantic steamship line was active with charter shipping with the Maritime Commission and War Shipping Administration.
General Steamship Company was founded in 1920 in Houston, Texas, as a Private Company, and now goes by Gensteam since 1996. General Steamship Company has a fleet of cargo ships that operate worldwide. Gensteam has a Gensteam Operations Desk website that tracks all shipping logistics. Gensteam headquarters is now in San Francisco, California. General Steamship Company was part owner of American Pacific Steamship Company in New York state and Los Angeles during and post World War II. American Pacific Steamship Company was founded in 1942 in New York City, and was previously called Los Angeles Tanker Operators Inc. which operated T2 tanker ships. During World War II the General Steamship Company and American Pacific Steamship Company were active with charter shipping with the Maritime Commission and War Shipping Administration.
Calmar Steamship Company was a proprietary subsidiary of the Bethlehem Steel founded in New York City in 1927. Bethlehem Steel Company founded Calmar Steamship Company and other steamship companies after finding general shipping companies could not meet the company's needs in a timely manner. At the time Bethlehem Steel Company was the second-largest steelmaker in the United States and the world, only behind U.S. Steel. Calmar Steamship Company shipped Bethlehem Steel Company products from the Atlantic coast to the Pacific coast. On the return trip, Calmar Steamship Company would bring lumber products from the Pacific coast to the Atlantic coast. Calmar Steamship Company closed in 1976, as United States steel manufacture declined in the 1960s.
Interocean Shipping Company, Interocean Steamship Company of San Francisco was a subsidiary of the Bethlehem Steel Company founded in the late 1930s and closed in 1986.
Wessel, Duval & Co. was founded in Boston, Massachusetts in 1825 Augustus Hemenway (1805-1876) as Hemenway & Co.. Augustus Hemenway started the shipping company to move his timber products to markets. Augustus Hemenway had timberland in Maine and started his schooner shipping company to take timber to Eastcoast ports. Later he opened a sugar plant in Cuba, his ships would take lumber to Cuba and bring back sugar. Next, he expanded his timber products to Argentina and other Western South American ports. By 1828 the company expanded to Valparaiso, Chile. Augustus Hemenway married into a Boston merchant family, marrying Mary Tileston (1820-1894) in 1840. In 1865 Héctor Beéche (?-1914) became a partner in the firm and a subsidiary company, Wessel, Duval y Cía, was founded in Chile by Charles P. Hemenway, Augustus's brother. Charles had acted on Augustus' behalf in other matters as needed and became a partner in 1870. T. Quincy Browne became a partner in 1870 also and for a few years the firm was called Hemenway & Browne. In 1875 William Muller joined as a partner, the name returned to Hemenway & Co. Augustus Hemenway died in Cuba in 1876. The partnership continued as Hemenway & Co. till 1885. In 1885 Muller retired and Carlos Wolff joined the partnership, the company name was changed to Hemenway, Beeche and Co.. In 1888 Peter "Perdo" M. Wessel (1851-1821) joined the partnership and the company name was changed to Browne, Beeche and Co.. In 1891 a New York City office was opened on 68 Brad Street, and most key workers moved to New York. The next year the Boston office was closed. In 1896 Wolff retired and in 1897 George L. Duval (1855-1931), W. L. Parker, and q became partners. With the new partners, the company name was changed to Beeche and Co.. In 1905 T. F. Budge and Robert Jaffray became partners. In 1907 the company name was changed to Wessel, Duval & Co. In the 1900s the company moved from sailing ships to steamships and opened a new West Coast Line at 47 Cedar Street, later moved to 1 Broadway. The West Coast Line started regular service from New York City to Valparaiso and Callao, Peru. West Coast Line main cargo was railroad and mining equipment to the expanding business in Chile and Peru, along with general cargo. The Chile rail firm, Ferrocarril del Llano de Maipo in Santiago used Wessel, Duval & Co. to import their railroad equipment in 1890. The return cargo from Chile was nitrate of soda. The West Coast Line chartered steamship as needed and was the US manager and agent for other shipping lines. West Coast Line also shipped UK and US coal for coal ships and to nations. For the West coast of South America both the steamer and sail ships used the starits of Magellan, this changed on August 15, 1914, with the opening of the Panama Canal, some routes began to use the Panama Canal cutting about 10,000 miles off the trip. The outbreak of World War I changed service, some charted ships were requisition by their home country, and the United States Shipping Board, gave some ships to the Line to operate for the War effort. Normal operations did not return till 1924, all post-war work have been completed. In from 1920 to 1932, West Coast Line was the US agent for Compania Sud Americana de Vapores, the South America Steamship Company of Chile. South America Steamship Company had luxury passenger service to and from Chile and New York City, on a fleet of luxury steamers: SS Renaico, SS Aconcagua and SS Teno. During World War II Wessel Duval & Company operated ships to support the war in the Pacific War and European theatre. Wessel, Duval & Co. operated some ships in the support of Korean war in the early 1950s. As ships aged and were retired Wessel, Duval & Co. has moved into media, advertising and marketing.
International Freighting Corporation of New York City was a US shipping company. International Freighting Corporation's main operations was chartered shipping from United States ports to South America. International Freighting Corporation owned and operated an ocean liner service called American Republics Line, with service from New York to South America. In 1920 Scovil Company took over the International Freighting Corporation. Scovil Company was founded in 1802 in Waterbury, Connecticut, operating a large brass plant. By 1956 Du Pont and General Motors Corporation were the two stock owners of International Freighting Corporation and Du Pont purchased General Motors shared. In 1957 International Charter Services, was founded and took over the accounts and contracts of the troubled International Freighting Corporation.
Keystone Shipping Company of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is a major shipping and transportation company. Keystone Shipping Company operates a fleet of ships for both dry bulk cargo and tankers. Since World War I, the Keystone Shipping Company has been active in the worldwide support of the United States Armed Forces. Keystone Shipping Company is part of the Ready Reserve Fleet program. Keystone Shipping Company was founded by Charles Kurz. Before Keystone Shipping Company, Charles Kurz was a shipping agent, commodities trader, and ship owner. Keystone Shipping Company headquarters is in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania.
Merchants and Miners Transportation Company, often called M&M and Queen of Sea, was a major cargo and passenger shipping company founded in 1852 in Baltimore, Maryland. In 1852 is started with routes from Baltimore and Boston two wooden side wheelers ships. In 1859 M&M added two iron hulled steamers to its fleet. In 1866, post Civil War, M&M added routes to Providence, Rhode Island, Norfolk and Savannah, Georgia. In 1876 M&M purchased the Baltimore & Savannah Steamship Company add routes to Savannah, Jacksonville and Charleston. In 1907 the Winsor Line of Philadelphia's J. S. Winslow & Company of Portland, Maine was purchased, with seven steamships. The Winsor Line was founded in 1884 by J. S. Winslow. The Winsor Line first route was from Norfolk, Virginia to New England ports, supplying West Virginia coal. The Winsor Line sailing ship Addie M. Lawrence took ammunition to Europe during World War I. By World War II M&M had a fleet of 18 ships and add routes to Miami. With the outbreak of World War II the War Shipping Administration requisitioned Merchants and Miners Transportation Company fleet of ships for the war effort.
A. L. Burbank & Company, Ltd. of New York City was a shipping company founded by Abram Lincoln Burbank on October 16, 1928. A. L. Burbank & Company, Ltd. operated dry bulk cargo ships. Abram Lincoln Burbank worked for and learned the shipping trade at Bull lines of the A. H. Bull Steamship Company in 1917.
Blidberg Rothchild Company was a shipping company founded by Allan Blidberg and Sylvester Rothschild in New York City, United States. The shipping company has is start with a previous company Blidberg and Sagen Company founded by Tryggve Sagen and Allan Blidberg. Tryggve Sagen owned a ship in Oslo, Norway before coming to the United States in 1919. Sylvester Rothschild was born in 1896 in Sweden, he was a finance officer in Gothenburg. Rothschild came to America in 1919 and started the shipping company with Sagen. Blidberg and Sagen Company had shipping routes from New York to Scandinavian and Baltic ports. Sagen was president, Blidberg vice president and Sylvester Rothschild was the Secretary for the shipping company. Sylvester Rothschild was from Gothenburg Sweden, were he was the Vice-consul. In the 1930s Tryggve Sagen departed the company and the firm was renamed Blidberg Rothchild Company. The company had offices in Gothenburg and Norway. Blidberg Rothchild Company worked with an affiliated company Eastport Steamship Co of New York. Blidberg Rothchild Company also worked with an affiliated company Bridgeport Steamship Line of New York, a New Haven Railroad company.
J. H. Winchester & Company was founded by James Henry Winchester (1824-1913) in New York City in 1856. J. H. Winchester & Company was a cargo agent for the United States Shipping Board post World War I, in the 1920s. Winchester raised and born in Annapolis, Nova Scotia, Canada, on June 4, 1824. He moved to the United States in 1831 and settled in Eastport, Maine. Winchester completed the United States naturalized prossess on July 7, 1845 and became a US citizen. He moved to New York and became a ship captain. In New York became a partner in two brigantine sailing ships, one the Mary Celeste. The Mary Celeste was found hastily abandoned in 1872 between the Azores and Portugal. The abandonment is still a mystery today.
Parry Navigation Company was a shipping company founded in 1942 by Alfred Walter Parry Jr. in New York City. Alfred Walter Parry Jr. first career was ship broker with Smith & Terry Inc. in New York City. He was also the office manager of the Interocean Steamship Company of New York in New Orleans. Smith & Terry Inc also were managing agents for the some United States Shipping Board ships. Alfred Walter Parry Jr. father, Alfred Walter Parry, Sr., was an agent for a railroad company. Parry Navigation Company operated ships for the World War II. Alfred Walter Parry Jr. became a Colonel in the United States Army. Parry served with the US Army Transportation Corps in the South Pacific Ocean. Parry Navigation Company expanded the company and opened an office in San Francisco in 1945. Parry Navigation Company stated the Parry Line in 1947 and expanded with route to Galveston, Texas. The Parry Line had routes from the West Coast of the United States to Manila, Shanghai, Hong Kong and North China. Parry was the vice president for the Lykes Brothers Steamship Company for a few years. Parry was awarded the Legion of Merit and World War II Victory Medal for his service in the US Army Transportation Corps. Charles W. Perkes was a manager in Parry Navigation Company. Perkes, before Parry worked for the Dollar Line.
Polarus Steamship Company was founded in 1918, and again in 1923 in New York City by Tikhon Nicholas Agapeyeff (1891-1931). Tikhon N. Agapeyeff's 1918 frim, operated for only about two years. In March 1921, Agapeyeff sold the first Polarus Steamship Company to the C. M. Fetterolf Company for $250,000. The next incorporation in 1923 was a partnership of Agapeyeff, Marcel Levy, and Charles S. Dunaif. Marcel Levy was an attorney and Charles S. Dunaif was an exporter.
Pope & Talbot, Inc. was a lumber company and shipping company founded by Andrew Jackson Pope and Frederic Talbot in 1849 in San Francisco, California. Pope and Talbot came to California in 1849 from East Machias, Maine. Pope & Talbot lumber company was very successful, with the high demand of the 1849 Gold Rush.
Olympic Steamship Company was founded in Seattle, Washington on August 22, 1925 by John Ambler, Charles A. Wallace and William W. Shorthill. Olympic Steamship Company had routes that served the Pacific Northwest. Olympic Steamship Company had a fleet of about 4 ships. Olympic Steamship Company was named after Olympic Mountains in the state of Washington. John Ambler was an attorney, and Charles A. Wallace previously worked at Fisher Flouring Mills Company. William W. Shorthill was a clerk at Pacific Steamship Company. After the start of the company Joseph L. Carman, Jr., became the vice president. Carman previously was president of Alaska Washington Airways. Olympic Steamship Company's first ship was an acquired 5,335-ton tanker, named the SS Dayton. Olympic Steamship Company renamed the Dayton, the SS Olympic. SS Olympic was built in 1907 as the Harport in South Shields, England. In 1936 Olympic Steamship Company went into a joint venture with James Griffiths & Sons, Inc., as the Consolidated Olympic Company. Consolidated Olympic Company offered a Long Beach, California, Seattle, Tacoma, Washington route on the Consolidated Olympic Line. The Consolidated Olympic Line was later renamed the Olympic-Griffiths Line. The Olympic-Griffiths Line acquired the 7,216-ton cargo ship SS Olympic Pioneer, which was used on Pacific Northwest lumber and newsprint routes. SS Olympic Pioneer also did two long voyages on world wide trade route. The SS Olympic Pioneer then moved to a routed from Puget Sound to Japan moving US Army supplies. Olympic-Griffiths Line chartered ships for the other routes on the line. Ernest Clayton became president of the firm in 1940. Ernest Clayton previously worked for the Mccormick Steamship Company. Olympic Steamship Company was active in supporting the World War II effort.
American Foreign Steamship Corporation was founded in Brooklyn, New York City, in 1932 by Ira L. Rosenson, Sophia Pruss and Elias Katz. Rosenson was an attorney and the major shareholder in the firm. American Foreign Steamship Corporation purchased a 5,570-ton cargo ship SS Eastern Glen from the American South African Line in 1933. American Foreign Steamship Corporation named the ship the SS American Oriole. The ship was built by Kabushiki Kaisha Uchida Zosengo company of Yokohama, Japan, in 1920. The ship was a United States Shipping Board ship. The next two ships purchased was the SS Liberty Glo and SS Wildwood, these were Hog Islanders type ships. The two ships were purchased from the South Atlantic Steamship Company. In 1938 another Hog Islanders ship was purchased the, SS Magmeric, renamed the SS American Robin. The American Oriole was sold to England in 1940 to help with the World War II efforts. She was renamed the SS Barberrys, but on November 26, 1942, she was sunk by a torpedoed from German submarine U-663 off of St. John's, Newfoundland.
W. R. Chamberlin & Company was a lumber and shipping company founded in 1915 by William Richmond Chamberlin in the Balboa Building in San Francisco, California. W. R. Chamberlin & Company main business was selling, brokering and shipping lumber and timber products from Portland, Oregon to the growing city of San Francisco and the San Francisco Bay area. By 1928 Chamberlin has four steamships to transport his lumber: the Barbara C, Phyllis, Stanwood, and W. R. Chamberlin, Jr. W. R. Chamberlin & Company was active in supporting the World War II efforts. W. R. Chamberlin & Company's ship the SS W.R. Chamberlin Jr put into service in the United States Navy and renamed USS Tackle (ARS-37). USS Tackle was damaged by an exploding mine on September 4, 1943 and too damaged to be repaired. Before founded W. P. Chamberlin & Company, Chamberlin Chamberlin was president of Byxbee & Clark Company, a lumber company in San Francisco.
Prudential Steamship Corporation was a shipping company founded in 1933 in New York City by Stephan Stephanidis. Prudential Steamship Corporation operated the Prudential Lines. Prudential Lines main routes was from the United States to Mediterranean ports. The Prudential Lines was never successful and was always near bankruptcy. Prudential Lines was active in supporting the World War II efforts. At its peak in the 1960s Prudential Lines owned and operated two tankers, and five cargo ships. In 1960 the Prudential Steamship Corporation was sold to Spyros Skouras and his family. In 1969 the Prudential Lines merged with Grace Lines, which continued to operate the fleet as the Prudential Grace Line.
William J. Rountree Company was a steamship agent and broker company founded by William J. Rountree in New York City in 1912. William J. Rountree Company was active in supporting the World War II effort by chartering and operating Liberty ships and Victory ships.
R. A. Nicol & Company was a shipping and ship broker company founded in New York City by Robert Alexander Nicol in 1923. Robert Alexander Nicol was born in England in 1880. Robert Alexander Nicol came to the United States in 1906 at the age of 26, from Liverpool, England. In 1290 Robert Alexander Nicol became a naturalized United States citizen. He started in the shipping business by working for the Oriental Navigation Company in New York City in 1916. R. A. Nicol & Company's office was at 17 Battery Place, New York City. R. A. Nicol & Company supported the World War II effort by operating United States owned ships.
