The Red Star Line and International Mercantile Company
Finch, V.E.W. (1988). The Red Star Line and International Mercantile Company. Uitgeverij de Branding: Antwerpen. ISBN 90-72543-01-7. 151 pp.
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Available in | Author |
VLIZ: Personal and Institutional Histories PER.165 [104818]
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Keywords |
Fishing vessels > Liners Vessels Marine/Coastal |
Abstract |
The RED STAR LINE covers the very interesting and unique history of one of America's early mercantile marine Company. It was started by the International Navigation Co. of Philadelphia in 1872.In 1893 it was incorporated in New Jersey. Less than ten years later it became the largest shipping trust in the world as the International Mercantile Marine Co. of New Jersey. Capital was increased from $15 million u.s. to $120 million u.s. under the guidance and support of J. Pierpont Morgan, the well-known financier. The specific part of the Red Star Line involved ships under the American, British and Belgian flags, for reasons described in the book. The author worked at sea on four of the five last Red Star liners and provides a view of life onboard the ships, both, during the regular various as well as the various cruises. The world cruises of the three-funneled flagship of the line, the ss. Belgenland, are described, which inaugurated the first circumnavigation of the globe in 1924, the largest liner ever to do so. In 1931, the famous "show Boat" cruises from New York to Halifax began, to which Bermuda was added in 1932. The book deals with shipping mishaps in war and peacetime, involving Red Star and I.M.M. Company ships. |
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