House Flags of U.S. Shipping Companies: D

De La Rama Steamship Co.

De La Rama Steamship Co.
This was a Philippine Islands company that switched to the US flag when the Philippines gained independence. The flag was a blue-white-blue triband with a red border.
Source: Wedge (1951)

Joe McMillan, 30 September 2001

Delta Line (Mississippi Shipping Co.)

  by Joe McMillan

Delta Line (Mississippi Shipping Co.), New Orleans (1919-85)
Service from Gulf of Mexico and east coast of South America; originally established by coffee merchants to ship Brazilian produce directly to the Mississippi Valley through New Orleans, bypassing New York. Officially the Mississippi Shipping Company until 1962, but was already known unofficially as the Delta Line long before that. The line's management failed to buy container vessels in the 1970s, lost so much money that its owners (by then the Holiday Inn Corporation) sold out to Crowley Maritime, the largest US barge and tug operator, in 1982. Crowley tried to modernize the fleet, but decided to cut its losses by selling Delta to United States Lines in 1985, which subsumed Delta's ships into its own fleet before going bankrupt in 1986. Flag green with a yellow Greek letter delta (a triangle). In 1949, Delta owned 14 ships, with a total of 98,000 grt.
Sources: Stewart (1953), US Navy's 1961 H.O.

Joe McMillan, 30 September 2001

R. M. Demill

  by Joe McMillan

R. M. Demill, New York
Mid-nineteenth century. Flag white with a red diamond.
Source:  chart of "Private Signals of the Merchants of New York"

Joe McMillan, 2 October 2001

Detroit & Buffalo Steamboat Co.

  by Joe McMillan

Detroit & Buffalo Steamboat Co., Detroit
A Great Lakes company in the early 20th century. Flag blue with the inscription D&B Line in a monogram form in white.
Source: 1909 update to Flaggenbuch 1905

Joe McMillan, 2 October 2001

Detroit & Cleveland Line

  by Joe McMillan

Detroit & Cleveland Line, Detroit
Another Great Lakes company, still in business in 1949 when it was operating 7 ships with a total of something over 30,000 grt. Blue burgee with white upper and lower edges and the script initials D&C in white.
Source: National Geographic (1934)

Joe McMillan, 2 October 2001

E. J. Dodge Co.

  by Joe McMillan

E. J. Dodge Co., San Francisco
White swallowtail bordered in red with a blue D on the center.
Sources: Lloyds 1912 and the 1913 supplement to Flaggenbuch 1905

Joe McMillan, 4 October 2001

Robert Dollar & Co.

  by Joe McMillan

Robert Dollar & Co. (Dollar Line), San Francisco (1900-38)
The Dollar Line was the main US trans-Pacific shipping line in the early 20th century. It originated as a schooner fleet in late1890s carrying lumber from Robert Dollar's sawmills in the Pacific northwest to markets in California. Dollar entered the regular merchant shipping business after the Spanish-American War, originally using British-flagged ships. He was very successful in the trade between the US west coast and the Far East and initiated around-the-world service in 1921. However, the company became heavily indebted while trying to expand in late 1920s and could not recover once the Great Depression set in. The line was bought out by the US Government in 1938 and the assets were then used to establish American President Lines. The two lines share red and ! wh! ite livery. The Dollar Line flag was red with a white dollar sign ($).
Sources: Lloyds 1912, Wedge (1926), National Geographic (1934), Talbot-Booth (1937)

Joe McMillan, 4 October 2001

Donald Steamship Co.

  by Joe McMillan

Donald Steamship Co., New York
I know nothing about the company, but the flag is interesting--a Celtic cross (obviously connoting the Scottish origin of the Donald name) in red on a white field with blue border all around.
Source: Lloyds 1912

Joe McMillan, 4 October 2001

Dunham & Dimon

The mid-19th century New York firm of Dunham and Dimon operated coastwise service to Savannah, Georgia, and later a packet line connecting New York and Glasgow. I believe much of the Irish immigration that went through Glasgow in the 1850s went on Dunham and Dimon's ships. All these come from the chart I have been relying on extensively, Private Signals of the Merchants of New York, reprinted in the Time-Life book The Clipper Ships.

  by Joe McMillan

Dunham & Dimon, New York
Blue with a white band running from upper hoist to lower fly and on the center a black letter "D."

Joe McMillan, 6 October 2001

Dunham & Dimon Savannah Line

     by Joe McMillan

Dunham & Dimon Savannah Line, New York
"Private Signals of the Merchants of New York" shows two flags labelled as belonging to the D&D Savannah line. The first is a burgee-shaped pennant, white at the hoist and red at the fly. The other is a white field with two red disks side by side.

Joe McMillan, 6 October 2001

Dunham & Dimon Glasgow Line

  by Joe McMillan

Dunham & Dimon Glasgow Line, New York
A plain blue-white-blue vertical triband.

Joe McMillan, 6 October 2001