House Flags of U.S. Shipping Companies: C

California & Oregon Coast Steamship Co.

by Joe McMillan

California Navigation & Improvement Co.

by Joe McMillan

California Navigation & Improvement Co.

A local line that operated on lower the Sacramento River between San Francisco and Stockton, California, ca. 1900.

Source: www.steamship.net

Joe McMillan, 7 September 2001

Calmar SS Co.

by Joe McMillan

Calmar SS Co., New York (1927-1976)
See also: Ore SS Co., New York (pre-World War I through post-World War II)
These two companies were subsidiaries of the Bethlehem Steel Company, the second largest in the United States and, at the time, the second largest in the world. Like US Steel, Alcoa, and other companies, Bethlehem found general shipping companies unresponsive to its needs. Ore was a purely proprietary company that carried only Bethlehem cargoes--ore to the mills and steel to markets--while Calmar operated between the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, taking steel products westbound and lumber eastbound. By the late 1940s, Bethlehem operated not only these but three other steamship companies. After closing down Calmar in 1976, Bethlehem still operated one remaining carrier, the Interocean Shipping Company, until 1986. Both Calmar and Ore flew blue flags with white upper and lower edges and the company initial, "C" or "O" in white stencil-style block letter.

Sources: Stewart (1953), US Navy's 1961 H.O.

Joe McMillan, 7 September 2001

Caltex Oil Co.

by Joe McMillan

Caltex Oil Co is a joint venture of Standard Oil of California (SoCal, now Chevron) and Texaco, originally for exploration, pumping, and refining in the Persian Gulf. The emblem is strongly reminiscent of Texaco's, but (at least according to Stewart, 1953) on SoCal's blue field rather than Texaco's green.

by Joe McMillan

However, www.steamship.net shows a picture that appears to have the Caltex emblem on a green field, although the difference may be a result of photography lighting or fading on the china pattern from which the photograph was taken.

Sources: Stewart (1953), www.steamship.net

Joe McMillan, 7 September 2001

Catskill Evening Line

by Joe McMillan

Catskill Evening Line
A Hudson River company that operated between New York and the Catskill Mountain region until 1928. The companies were identified according to the time of their daily upstream departures.
Source: www.steamship.net

Joe McMillan, 8 September 2001

Central & South American Telegraph Co.

by Joe McMillan

Central & South American Telegraph Co., New York
Flown by cable laying ships. The same flag was used by the associated Mexican Telegraph Co, also of New York. The flag was blue with a white lightning flash issuing from the upper hoist, running diagonally between two white stars, each with two points up, in upper fly and lower hoist.
Source: Lloyd's House Flags, 1912

Joe McMillan, 4 October 2001

Central Gulf Lines

by Joe McMillan

Central Gulf Lines, New Orleans/Dover, Del. (1947-present)
A company notable primarily for having succeeded in making money with the LASH (lighter-aboard-ship) technology, an alternative to containers in which barges are hoisted aboard the ship and carried to the destination. Services run from inland coal transportation on the Mississippi and its tributaries to automobile carrying between Japan and the United States. Flag is a red swallowtail with an eight-pointed white compass star.
US Navy's 1961 H.O.

Joe McMillan, 8 September 2001

W. R. Chamberlain & Co.

by Joe McMillan

W. R. Chamberlain & Co., Portland, Ore. [usn61]
A blue "C" on a white lozenge on red. Still in business in 1972, but no further information.
Source: US Navy's 1961 H.O.

Joe McMillan, 8 September 2001

Chamberlain & Phelps

by Joe McMillan

Chamberlain & Phelps, New York
Operated a line of sail packets between New York and Liverpool--i.e., bringing Irish immigrants to New York--in the 1840s and 50s. A distinctive flag of five vertical stripes alternating red and white.
Source:  chart of "Private Signals of the Merchants of New York"

Joe McMillan, 8 September 2001

Chambers & Heiser

by Joe McMillan

Chambers & Heiser, New York
A mid-nineteenth century company with an interesting house flag: a blue hoist and a white fly with three tails, the middle one red.
Source:  chart of "Private Signals of the Merchants of New York"

Joe McMillan, 11 September 2001

Chevron Shipping

Chevron Shipping, Los Angeles (1895-present)(and predecessors)
Chevron Shipping is the tanker subsidiary of Chevron Corporation, the successor of the Standard Oil (California) unit of the Rockefeller Standard Oil Trust of the early 20th century. The company's roots were in the Pacific Coast Oil Co, founded in 1879, which went into the shipping business in 1895 and merged with Standard Oil in 1900. In 1906, Standard Oil (California) was set up within the trust, and in 1911 it was spun off as one of the new companies when the courts broke up Standard Oil on antitrust grounds. Over time, Socal, as it was called, set up a variety of shipping subsidiaries including the California Transport Corp, the California Tanker Co, and the Socal Marine Department. All these were consolidated in 1957 into the California Shipping Co, which was renamed Chevron Shipping when SoCal became the Chevron Corporation in 1984. The flags are those of:

Standard Oil of California

by Joe McMillan

Standard Oil of California - White initials of the company on a blue field.
Source: Wedge (1926)

Joe McMillan, 11 September 2001

California Oil Co.

by Joe McMillan

California Oil Co. - The acronym for California Standard Oil (Calso) in white letters on a red field.
Source: Wedge (1926)

Joe McMillan, 11 September 2001

California Transport Corp.

by Joe McMillan

California Transport Corp. - The same acronym in red letters on a white disk on a blue field.
Source: Stewart (1953)

Joe McMillan, 11 September 2001

Standard Oil Company of California

by Joe McMillan

Standard Oil Company of California - The red, white, and blue chevron logo on a white disk. The chevron was first used as a trademark of Standard Oil of California in 1931. Chevron then became a trade name under which the company marketed fuels in parts of the country where other successors to the Rockefeller Trust had the rights to use the name "Standard." As noted above, the company changed its official name to "Chevron" in 1984. I believe its tankers now fly a white flag with the current version of the trademark, a modification of that shown here with the name "Chevron" above the chevrons in black, but I don't know that for a fact.
Sources: Stewart & Styring (1963), Styring (1971)

Joe McMillan, 11 September 2001

Chicago, Duluth & Georgian Bay Line

by Joe McMillan

Chicago, Duluth & Georgian Bay Line
A Great Lakes company. The flag is simply the name "Georgian Bay Line" in white on blue.
Source: National Geographic (1934)

Joe McMillan, 14 September 2001

C. H. Church & Son Star Line

by Joe McMillan

C. H. Church & Son Star Line, San Francisco
Source: www.steamship.net

Joe McMillan, 14 September 2001

Circle Shipping Co.

by Joe McMillan

Circle Shipping Co., New York
I believe this must be the company that runs the Circle Line ferries around New York City, so named because of the route around the island of Manhattan. Perhaps a New Yorker can confirm.
Source: US Navy's 1961 H.O.

Joe McMillan, 14 September 2001

Cities Service Oil Co.

by Joe McMillan

Cities Service Oil Co., New York
Predecessor of the company now known as Citgo. An earlier version of this flag apparently had a much more complex version of this logo in black on white.
Sources: Stewart (1953), US Navy's 1961 H.O.

Joe McMillan, 14 September 2001

US shipping lines house flags - 'C' continued