The American-Hawaiian Steamship Company was founded in 1899 to carry cargos of sugar from

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only state ...

to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

and manufactured goods back to Hawaii. Brothers-in-law George Dearborn and Lewis Henry Lapham were the key players in the founding of the company. The company began in 1899 with three ships, operated nine by 1904 and was operating seventeen by 1911 with three on order. At the time of the company's founding, its steamships sailed around South America via the

Straits of Magellan The Strait of Magellan (), also called the Straits of Magellan, is a navigable sea route in southern Chile separating mainland South America to the north and Tierra del Fuego to the south. The strait is considered the most important natural pas ...

to reach the East Coast ports. By 1907, the company began using the Mexican

Isthmus of Tehuantepec The Isthmus of Tehuantepec () is an isthmus in Mexico. It represents the shortest distance between the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean. Before the opening of the Panama Canal, it was a major overland transport route known simply as the T ...

Route. Shipments on the Tehuantepec Route would transship at Atlantic Port of Coatzacoalcos (formerly Puerto) or the Pacific Port of Salina Cruz and would traverse the Isthmus of Tehuantepec on the Tehuantepec National Railway. The contract, binding until completion of the Panama Canal, with American-Hawaiian for its entire cargo moving between oceans and assuring a minimum of 500,000 tons of sugar and other cargo was important in the railway's economic plans from its beginning. For the steamship line the Tehuantepec route enabled the company to serve both a New York—Honolulu route and a coastal route from Salina Cruz to Pacific ports of the United States. With new ships to be delivered the company planned to have four 8,000 ton ships on the New York—Coatzacoalcos route, six 12,000 ton ships operating on the Salina Cruz—Honolulu route and two 6,000 ton ships serving the West Coast route. Company ships were used on both the Pacific and Atlantic routes. When American political troubles with Mexico closed that route, American-Hawaiian returned to the Straits of Magellan route. When the

Panama Canal The Panama Canal ( es, Canal de Panamá, link=no) is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean and divides North and South America. The canal cuts across the Isthmus of Panama and is a condui ...

opened for traffic in August 1914, American-Hawaiian began routing all of its ships via this route. The temporary closure of the canal because of a series of landslides forced the company to return to the Straits of Magellan route for the third time in its history. During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, twelve of the company's ships were commissioned into the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

; a further five were sunk by submarines or mines during the conflict.

Roger Dearborn Lapham Roger Dearborn Lapham (December 6, 1883 – April 16, 1966) was a shipowner and businessman who served as the 32nd mayor of San Francisco from 1944 to 1948. Life and career Lapham was born in New York City, the son of Antoinette N. (née Dearbo ...

, a future mayor of

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

, served as company president in the mid-1920s.

Ships

* SS ''Alaskan'' * * * SS ''Arizonan'' * * * * * SS ''Delawarean'' * SS ''Floridian'' * * * SS ''Honolulan'' * * * * SS ''Mexican'' * * * * SS ''Nebraskan'', built by Bremer Vulcan,

Bremen-Vegesack Vegesack is a northern district of the city of Bremen. Geography ''Vegesack'' is located about north from the centre of Bremen-city at the mouth of the river Lesum, beside the river Weser (). Abutting the district of Vegesack to the northwest i ...

for

North German Lloyd Norddeutscher Lloyd (NDL; North German Lloyd) was a German shipping company. It was founded by Hermann Henrich Meier and Eduard Crüsemann in Bremen on 20 February 1857. It developed into one of the most important German shipping companies of t ...

in 1912 as ''Elsass''. The ship was seized by the United States on 6 April 1917 at Pago Pago, Samoa coming under the control of the

United States Shipping Board The United States Shipping Board (USSB) was established as an emergency agency by the 1916 Shipping Act (39 Stat. 729), on September 7, 1916. The United States Shipping Board's task was to increase the number of US ships supporting the World War ...

as ''Appeles'' and then renamed ''Kermit'' in 1920 before acquisition by American-Hawaiian on 5 March 1920 for the price of $538,881.99 and being named ''Nebraskan''. On 9 February 1942 the ship was delivered by American-Hawaiian to the

War Shipping Administration The War Shipping Administration (WSA) was a World War II emergency war agency of the US government, tasked to purchase and operate the civilian shipping tonnage the United States needed for fighting the war. Both shipbuilding under the Maritime C ...

(WSA) for operation under

United States Army Transportation Corps The Transportation Corps is a combat service support branch of the U.S. Army. It is responsible for the movement of personnel and material by truck, rail, air, and sea. It is one of three U.S. Army logistics branches, the others being the Q ...

charter with American-Hawaiian as the WSA agent, until title was transferred to WSA on 2 December for delivery of the ship under

Lend Lease Lend-Lease, formally the Lend-Lease Act and introduced as An Act to Promote the Defense of the United States (), was a policy under which the United States supplied the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and other Allied nations with food, oil, ...

to the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

where the ship became ''Sukhona'' until return to the WSA on 6 April 1944. Returned to the ''Nebraskan'' name the ship was allocated to the Army on 17 October 1944 until returned for layup in the Wilmington Reserve Fleet on 17 October 1946. The ship was used by the Army in the Pacific as a floating mobile warehouse. * * SS ''Oregonian'' * * * SS ''Texan'' * SS ''Virginian *

World War II

During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, the company operated ships under the War Shipping Administration, some of which were company owned and taken over by WSA as was ''Nebraskan'', and others wartime built and delivered directly to WSA for operation by commercial agents. **World War 2 ships: *Benjamin Goodhue * SS Chanute Victory *

SS Logan Victory SS ''Logan Victory'' was a cargo Victory ship built for World War II under the Emergency Shipbuilding program. The ''Logan Victory'' was launched January 16, 1945, by Permanente Metals Corporation, Richmond, California and completed on February ...

Apr. 6, 1945 sank by Japanese *John Milledge *John Drake Sloat * ''Marine Eagle''. *Alaskan Nov. 28, 1942 torpedoed, 7 crew and one 1 United States Navy Armed Guard killed *American June 11, 1942 torpedoed *Arkansan June 15, 1942 torpedoed *Coloradan Oct. 9, 1942 torpedoed *Honolulan July 22, 1942 torpedoed *Illinoian July 28, 1944 deliberately sunk to form breakwater, Normandy Beachhead *Kentuckian Aug. 12, 1944 deliberately sunk to form breakwater, *Normandy Beachhead Montanan June 3, 1943 torpedoed *Ohioan May 8, 1942 torpedoed *Oklahoman Apr. 8, 1942 torpedoed *Oregonian Sept. 13, 1942 torpedoed *Pennsylvanian Aug. 4, 1944 deliberately sunk to form breakwater, Normandy Beachhead *Puerto Rican March 9, 1943 torpedoed *Texan March 11, 1942 torpedoed & shelled *Washingtonian April 7, 1942 sunk by submarine Cape *San Juan Nov. 11, 1943 torpedoed *Albert Gallatin Jan. 2, 1944 torpedoed *Harrison Gray Otis Aug. 4, 1943 mined while at anchor *William D. Burnham Nov. 23, 1944 torpedoed *William M. Marcy Aug. 7, 1944 torpedoed

Post World War II

In the 1950s, the company ceased sailing operations and was taken over by Daniel K. Ludwig, who used it as a holding company into the 1960s. Ventures at that time included the development of

Westlake Village, California Westlake Village is a city in Los Angeles County on its western border with Ventura County. The City of Westlake Village incorporated in 1981 becoming the 82nd municipality of Los Angeles County.Baker, Pam (2002). ''Thousand Oaks Westlake Vil ...

References

Bibliography

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External links