The American Line was a

shipping Freight transport, also referred to as freight forwarding, is the physical process of transporting commodities and merchandise goods and cargo. The term shipping originally referred to transport by sea but in American English, it has been ...

company that operated independently from 1871 until 1932, when it was absorbed into the

United States Lines United States Lines was an organization of the United States Shipping Board's (USSB) Emergency Fleet Corporation (EFC), created to operate German liners seized by the United States in 1917. The ships were owned by the USSB and all finances of t ...

. The

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

-based company was the largest American shipping company during its existence, rivaled only by

Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...

-based Atlantic Transport Lines, although all American oceanic shipping concerns were dwarfed by British companies such as the White Star Line and Cunard Line and German ones such as HAPAG.

History

The American Line began as part of the Pennsylvania Railroad, although the railroad got out of the shipping business soon afterward. Its first president was Herman Joseph Lombaert (1816–1885), a PRR vice-president who resigned from the railroad when the shipping company became independent. The company's most prominent president was Clement Griscom, who led the company from 1888 to 1902 and worked as a company executive for its entire existence. The company became much larger when it bought out the Inman Line in 1886. In 1902, Griscom decided to merge his company with several other lines to become the International Navigation Co., soon renamed the International Mercantile Marine Company. In the IMM, the American Line generally handled traffic between the United States ports of Philadelphia and New York City and the British ports of

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

and

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

. Sister company Red Star Line handled traffic between America and the European continent, primarily through

Antwerp Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

When the IMM trust failed in 1932, the American pieces of the combine were once again solely under the American flag, this time in the guise of

Ships

*, chartered to the Red Star Line 1895–1898 for seven voyages * * (also sailed as USS ''Yale'', SS ''Philadelphia'', and USS ''Harrisburg'') *, chartered to the Red Star Line 1901–1902 for four voyages *, Haverford's sister ship, torpedoed and sunk in 1915 while acting as a decoy "battlecruiser" *, chartered to the Red Star Line 1886–1897 *, chartered to the Red Star Line 1889 *, chartered to the Red Star Line 1895–1903 *, purchased from the Red Star Line in 1923, then sold to Panama Pacific Line *, chartered from American Line 1887–1897 *''

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

'', chartered to the Red Star Line 1925–1926. Sold to the RSL 1926 and renamed ''Pennland'', sold to Bernstein Red Star Line, Hamburg 1935 * * *, chartered to the Red Star Line 1895–1903 America Lines

References

General references

*Flayhart, William Henry III (2000). ''The American Line 1871-1902'' (New York, W.W. Norton & Co.), * *

External links

{{Commons category, American Line
American Line History and Ephemera
GG Archives Defunct shipping companies of the United States Companies based in Philadelphia Defunct companies based in Pennsylvania