The Pacific Steamship Company was a US freight and passenger shipping company that operated between 1916 and 1936. The company was formed by the merger of the

Pacific Coast Steamship Company 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 Stea ...

and the Pacific-Alaska Navigation Company and was a direct competitor to the

Alaska Steamship Company The Alaska Steamship Company was formed on August 3, 1894. While it originally set out to ship passengers and fishing products, the Alaska Steamship Company began shipping mining equipment, dog sleds, and cattle at the outbreak of the Klondike G ...

in the Alaska-Seattle shipping business. Pacific Steamship Co. owned and operated The Admiral Line and The Admiral Oriental Line.

American Mail Line American Mail Line of Seattle, Washington was a commercial steamship service with routes to and from Seattle, Washington and the Far East. American Mail Line was founded in 1920, by Pacific Steamship Company also with a $500,000 investment from ...

worked with the Admiral Oriental Line.

Pacific Lighterage Company

Cargo ship SS ''Admiral Halstead'' Pacific Steamship Company also operated its subsidiary, acquired in 1927, the Pacific Lighterage Company founded in 1917. Pacific Steamship Company acquired the 101.5-foot SS ''Warrior II'' on December 21, 1917, The ''Warrior II'' was a passenger ship built by the Wilmington Transportation Company and designed by William Muller. ''Warrior II'' route was from

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

to Santa Catalina Island, which she did for sixteen years. ''Warrior II'' was sold on July 24, 1930, to Pacific Motorship Company. Pacific Lighterage Company operated the

Tugboat A tugboat or tug is a marine vessel that manoeuvres other vessels by pushing or pulling them, with direct contact or a tow line. These boats typically tug ships in circumstances where they cannot or should not move under their own power, su ...

''Warrior'' and two sealed steel

barge Barge nowadays generally refers to a flat-bottomed inland waterway vessel which does not have its own means of mechanical propulsion. The first modern barges were pulled by tugs, but nowadays most are pushed by pusher boats, or other vessels ...

s from

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, 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 List of Ca ...

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...

starting in 1917, the ''Lighterage'' in the name, a lighter is a barge. Durning

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 opposin ...

the Pacific Lighterage Company operated the ship SS ''Admiral Y.S. Williams''. On the SS ''Admiral Y.S. Williams'' crew sank the ship to avoid capture on Dec. 25, 1941. Of the crew 29 went into Japanese

Prisoner of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of wa ...

camp, and four died as POW. Pacific Lighterage Companyfleet of ships that were used to help the World War II effort. During World War II Pacific Lighterage Company operated Merchant navy ships for 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 ...

. During World War II Pacific Lighterage Company was active with charter shipping with the

Maritime Commission The United States Maritime Commission (MARCOM) was an independent executive agency of the U.S. federal government that was created by the Merchant Marine Act of 1936, which was passed by Congress on June 29, 1936, and was abolished on May 24, 195 ...

and

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 Co ...

. ship for the merchant navy. The ship was run by its Pacific Lighterage Company crew and the

US 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 of ...

supplied

United States Navy Armed Guard United States Navy Armed Guard units were established during World War II and headquartered in New Orleans.World War II U.S. Navy Armed Guard and World War II U.S. Merchant Marine, 2007-2014 Project Liberty Ship, Project Liberty Ship, P.O. Box 2 ...

s to man the deck guns and radio.World War II U.S. Navy Armed Guard and World War II U.S. Merchant Marine, 2007-2014 Project Liberty Ship, Project Liberty Ship, P.O. Box 25846 Highlandtown Station, Baltimore, M

/ref> *Ships: *SS ''Ammiral Cole'', Pacific Lighterage as the operator from Feb. 26, 1942, until July 1942, then turned over to the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

under the

Lend-lease Act 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, ...

. *SS ''Admiral Y.S. Williams'', Japanese took on Dec. 25, 1941 at

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

, became Tatsutama Maru. * SS Admiral Halstead,

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

charter with Pacific Lighterage as operator.

Admiral Oriental Line services

Regular Passenger and mail service ships in 1923 and 1936, from the Admiral Oriental Line: *

President Jackson Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was an American lawyer, planter, general, and statesman who served as the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Before being elected to the presidency, he gained fame as ...

*President Jefferson *

SS Pine Tree State USS ''Harris'' (APA-2) was an Emergency Fleet Corporation Design 1029 ship launched for the United States Shipping Board (USSB) on 19 March 1921 by Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation, at Sparrows Point, Maryland as ''Pine Tree State''. After oper ...

*President Madison (American ocean liner in service 1922–1938) *

President McKinley William McKinley (January 29, 1843September 14, 1901) was the 25th president of the United States, serving from 1897 until Assassination of William McKinley, his assassination in 1901. As a politician he led a realignment that made his Hist ...

Regular service ports of call in 1923 and 1936: Seattle, Seattle, Victoria, Yokohama, Kobe, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Manila.

References

{{Authority control Defunct shipping companies of the United States Steamships of the United States Transport companies established in 1916 Transport companies disestablished in 1936

Pacific Lighterage Company

Admiral Oriental Line services

See also

References