American Steamship Co. (1) — American Line
A324’s funnel is dated 1873–84. Its flag is a red burgee with a white keystone, the Pennsylvania Railroad trademark derived from the state’s “Keystone State” nickname. A1035 is another flag illustration assigned to 1873.
A402’s funnel is dated 1884–92, while the FOTW flag is labelled 1884–93. A red star was added to the keystone after the sale, described in the contribution as to the Red Star Line, International Navigation’s Belgian-flag subsidiary. American Line china provides supporting flag evidence. Rosanoski questions Griffin’s and Loughran’s normal-swallowtail renderings in light of that china, provided its depiction is not distorted.
An 1880s Philadelphia–Liverpool poster shows the second flag with a blue rather than red field, recorded as A403.
The keystone, also called the “jampot”, appears on both funnel and flag, but colour accounts differ. Loughran’s A325 follows Granville’s 1875 book and other nineteenth-century publications. Company documents instead mention a white swallowtail, A326, with a red funnel and black band.
Reed 1901’s A1037 is assigned to the Liverpool American Line under Richardson, Spence. It has a wider funnel band; Rosanoski thought the eagle was probably centred in practice but reproduced Reed’s position. Reed 1912’s Liverpool version, A1038, narrows the band and changes the flag slightly. A1039 uses the same funnel but a more recognisable American eagle badge for the Southampton–New York service.
The A327 funnel is dated 1892–1925 and assigned by Lloyds to Southampton–New York. The flag was adopted on 22 February 1893 in President Harrison’s presence, with the former Inman funnel adopted about the same time. The flag later became the basis of United States Lines’ design with added letters. LJC 1909’s A1040 gives upward-pointing wings and both Liverpool and Southampton as domiciles.
Brown 1923 and 1929 place A1041 at Southampton. In 1934 it is assigned to Panama-Pacific Line, apparently operated by an American Line S.S. Corporation recorded in 1930. Rosanoski leaves that connection unclear because Bonsor had already ended American Steamship’s sailings in 1925.
The FOTW third flag, A1043, is a blue eagle on white, described as adopted when Red Star passed into International Mercantile Marine ownership and revived for United States Lines in 1931. That account differs in context from the dated 1893 adoption above. Rosanoski notes that A1043 does not match the cited Brown 1926 version and therefore presumably came from the other, no longer available, website source.
The first company, generally called American Line, held its initial meeting on 4 April 1871 and received a Pennsylvania charter two weeks later. Trading began on 22 May 1873. Pennsylvania Railroad supplied a majority of the initial ordinary capital. International Navigation, with which it had co-operated from the start, bought it in 1884. Services ceased in 1925.
UK, London; also USA, Philadelphia, in Loughran.
Keep the explicit scope label independent; no alias or company identity is inferred.
American Steamship Co. (2) — Boston
The Boston company was formed during the Civil War to recover transatlantic traffic from New York. Bonsor dates formation to July 1864, trading to 1867 and cessation to 1868. Another account gives foundation in 1863, commencement in August 1867 and failure for lack of funds that same year. It ran out of money before bringing a second ship into service.
USA, Boston.
Keep the explicit scope label independent; no alias or company identity is inferred.
American Steamship Co. (3) — Great Lakes
Some sources assign the Great Lakes livery to Boland & Cornelius. Joe McMillan argued that the “A” flag probably belonged to the American Steamship subsidiary, distinguishing another source’s parent-company flag: a white burgee with red upper and lower edges and blue “B&C”. Brown 1958 gives a narrow border to the A flag, and Brown 1982 a wider one. Adam C. Cornelius photographs support A333’s grey or silver funnel bands, although one close view appears white. The red may be slightly broader, but the difference is small enough that Rosanoski draws the bands essentially equal. He considers A331’s white bands apparently incorrect.
Rosanoski identifies A526 and A527 as incorrect blue versions, with Mitchell apparently mistaking grey for blue.
Know Your Ships continued the white-band version in A534. Silver was confirmed in correspondence credited RLeL on 13 September 2005, and the 2006 edition changed to a definite grey.
A1032 is supported by an actual flag on Boatnerd. Know Your Ships 2007 brings its “A” into line with the actual example, although Rosanoski still finds the border slightly too narrow.
The Great Lakes company was founded in March 1907 by Boland & Cornelius, whose partnership dated from 1903. Oswego bought it in 1967, described elsewhere as a merger, with the American Steamship name retained. GATX ownership dates from 1 July 1973.
It acquired Reiss Steamship in 1969 and Gartland Steamship on 28 July 1986, and held 50% of Amersand Steamship from about 1952. Boland & Cornelius remained listed as an associate. In January 2002 American Steamship and Oglebay Norton Marine Services agreed to pool their fleets as United Shipping Alliance, LLC.
USA, originally New York; later Buffalo and Williamsville, New York.
Keep the explicit scope label independent; no alias or company identity is inferred.
