House Flags of U.S. Shipping Companies: E

John J. Eagle & Co

John J. Eagle & Co, New York
I think this company descends from the mid-19th century Eagle & Hazard, which operated the Eagle Line between New York and Mobile, Alabama, primarily for the cotton trade. The flag is swallowtailed with a red, white, and blue border and the abbreviation E & Co in light blue on a white field.
Source: www.steamship.net

Joe McMillan, 6 October 2001

Eastern Steamship Line

The Eastern Steamship Company was founded in 1901 by the Wall Street financier C. W. Morse by consolidating six small New England coastwise lines. It provided service between New York and New England and later branched into winter cruises to Florida. The line stopped operating during World War II, then resumed business briefly after the war with summer cruises to Nova Scotia. The company suspended operations again in 1954 and was bought by F. Leslie Fraser. Fraser shifted the vessels to the Panamanian flag and again conducted a cruise service along the New England and Canadian Maritimes coast until 1962, when he sold the line to W. K. Lovett. Lovett sold it in turn to the Norwegian company Gotaas-Larson in 1970, after which the Eastern name and house flag passed out of use. The present-day Royal Caribbean Cruise Line is in part the corporate descendant of the Eastern Steamship Co.

  by Joe McMillan

The first flag I have found was in [ruh09], a blue trapezoid with the initials of the company in white.
Source: 1909 update to Flaggenbuch 1905

       by Joe McMillan

By 1912, the house flag was a blue swallowtail with a red E inside a red circle. This flag appears in Lloyds Flags and Funnels (1912) and Talbot-Booth (1937). National Geographic (1934), however, showed a blue burgee-shaped flag with a plain white E, which remained in use into the early 1950s Wedge (1951) until F. L. Fraser bought the company in 1954.

         by Joe McMillan

Under Fraser, Eastern sailed under a red flag with a blue lozenge throughout and a white F for the owner's last name. W. K. Lovett kept this design but changed the initial to an L when he took over in 1962. (Source: Web history of Eastern SS. Co--for which I've lost the URL--and (I believe) images of company memorabilia at www.steamship.net).

Joe McMillan, 6 October 2001

Earn-Line Steamship Co.

  by Joe McMillan

Earn-Line Steamship Co., Philadelphia
A white swallowtail with blue edging at the hoist, upper, and lower edges and a short blue strip in the center forming a letter "E."
Source: Reed (1896)

Joe McMillan, 6 October 2001

Eastern Transportation Co.

  by Joe McMillan

Eastern Transportation Co., Baltimore
A blue triangular pennant with the company's initials in white.
Source: Wedge (1951)

Joe McMillan, 6 October 2001

Eschen & Minor Co.

  by Joe McMillan

Eschen & Minor Co., San Francisco
One of the last companies operating under sail. Flag divided per saltire, white in the hoist and fly, red in the upper quadrant and blue in the lower, with the letters E and M in white, arranged vertically.
Source: Lloyds 1912

Joe McMillan, 6 October 2001