History[edit]

The Munson Steamship Line was founded in 1899 by Walter D. Munson, who built a freight line from New York to Havana into a line that encompassed eastern Cuba, Mexico, and ports on the Gulf of Mexico and operated over 60 cargo ships, and becoming the largest ocean freight company on the Eastern Seaboard. Walter Munson was succeeded first by his son Carlos, and later by his other son, Frank Munson, shortly after the end of World War I.^[1] The 3,477 GT Munamar, built by Maryland Steel in Baltimore,^[2] became the first passenger liner and was employed on the eastern Cuba route.^[1]

In 1904, the company's headquarters moved to the Beaver Building in lower Manhattan.^[3]

Munson acquired a British subsidiary, the Crossburn Steamship Company, with offices in Glasgow. When Britain entered the First World War in July 1914, Crossburn owned two UK-registered ships: Mundale, registered in Swansea, and the newly-built Munwood, registered in Glasgow. Both ships were transferred to the Munson Line's direct ownership and re-registered in New York.^[4][5]

Frank Munson, after securing former German steamships seized in the war, began New York–South America service with Moccasin (the former Prinz Joachim of the Hamburg America Line) in December 1919. Martha Washington, a former Austro-American Line steamship, and Huron, Aeolus and Callao, all former North German Lloyd steamships, were added to the service by the United States Shipping Board (USSB) soon after.^[1]

In May 1921, the company moved to a new headquarters building, the Munson Building at 67 Wall Street and 85-97 Beaver Street.^[6]

In July 1921, four Type 535 class ships—American Legion, Southern Cross, Pan America, and Western World—were assigned to the Munson Line by the USSB (and the former North German Lloyd ships were returned). In 1922, Martha Washington was returned to Italy after an act of Congress declared that she belonged to the Cosulich Line.^[7] Munargo, built at New York Shipbuilding of Camden, New Jersey, was added to Caribbean service in 1921.^[1]

In 1925, Munson Line bought outright the USSB ships. In 1931, Western World ran aground off the coast of Brazil, where she would remain for four months before finally arriving in New York for repairs. But the Great Depression dramatically reduced ocean traffic and the company slowly dwindled in size, laying up ships or scrapping them to save the costs of operating them.

In June 1934, Munson Steamship Line filed a petition for a reorganization under Section 77B of the Bankruptcy Act.^[8]

By 1937, the United States Maritime Commission, a successor to the USSB, had taken over the remaining ships of the troubled line when it declared bankruptcy in 1937.^[1]

The Royal Mail Steam Packet Company was a British shipping company founded in London in 1839 by a Scot, James MacQueen. The line's motto was Per Mare Ubique (everywhere by sea). After a troubled start, it became the largest shipping group in the world in 1927 when it took over the White Star Line.^[1] The company was liquidated and its assets taken over by the newly formed Royal Mail Lines in 1932 after financial trouble and scandal; over the years RML declined to no more than the name of a service run by former rival Hamburg Süd.

History as Royal Mail Steam Packet Company[edit]

The RMSPC, founded in 1839 by James MacQueen, ran tours and mail to various destinations in the Caribbean and South America, and by 1927, was the largest shipping group in the world.^[2] MacQueen’s imperial visions for the RMSPC were clear; he hoped that new steamship communications between Britain and the Caribbean would mitigate post-Emancipation instabilities, in particular by promoting commerce.^[3] From the outset the company aimed to be the vanguard of British maritime supremacy and technology, as F. Harcourt suggests, the RMSPC presented itself "as existing not merely for the good of its shareholders but for the good of the nation".^[4] The high hopes for the business were boosted by the government’s mail contract subsidy, worth £240,000 a year.^[5] The RMSPC evolved vastly from 1839 to the beginning of the 20th century. It introduced new technologies, such as John Elder’s marine compound steam engine in 1870, and worked to redefine seafaring by focusing on comfort and passenger requirements.^[6]

In January 1903 Owen Philipps was elected to the RMSP's Court of Directors, and that March he was elected Chairman.^[7] Under Philipps, RMSP grew by acquiring controlling interests in multiple companies. Philipps was knighted in 1909 and ennobled as Baron Kylsant in 1923. However, poor economic circumstances and controversy surrounding a deception by Philipps meant that the RMSPC collapsed in 1930, after which various constituent companies were sold off. In 1932, its successor, the Royal Mail Lines (RML) was formed, continuing the memory and operations of the RMSPC.^[8]

Queen Victoria granted the initial Royal Charter of Incorporation of "The Royal Mail Steam Packet Company" on 26 September 1839.^[9] In 1840 the Admiralty and the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company made a contract in which the latter agreed to provide a fleet of not fewer than 14 steam ships for the purpose of carrying all Her Majesty's mails, to sail twice every month to Barbados in the West Indies from Southampton or Falmouth. Fourteen new steam ships were built for the purpose: Thames, Medway, Trent, and Isis (built at Northfleet); Severn and Avon (built at Bristol); Tweed, Clyde, Teviot, Dee, and Solway (built at Greenock); Tay (built at Dumbarton); Forth (built at Leith); and Medina, (built at Cowes). In reference to their destination, these ships were known as the West Indies Mail Steamers.^[10]

The West Indian Mail Service was established by the sailing of the first Royal Mail Steam Packet, PS Thames from Falmouth on 1 January 1841. A Supplemental Royal Charter was granted on 30 August 1851 extending the sphere of the Company's operations. In 1864, the mail service to the British Honduras was established. A further Supplemental Royal Charter was granted extending the sphere of the Company's operations on 7 March 1882.^[9]

Philipps modernised RMSP's fleet in the decade before the First World War. He started in June 1903 by ordering three refrigerated cargo ships: Parana, Pardo and Potaro, to bring frozen meat to Europe from ports on the River Plate. All three were built in Belfast; two by Harland & Wolff. That October, Philipps ordered three smaller cargo ships for RMSP's Caribbean service, Conway, Caroni and Catalina, from Armstrong Whitworth on Tyneside. Then in November he impressed upon his fellow-Directors the need for new and larger ocean liners for the mail contract between Britain and the River Plate.^[11]

This led to the introduction of a series of larger liners ranging from 9,588 GRT to 15,551 GRT on RMSP's Southampton – Buenos Aires route. Each had a name beginning with the letter "A", so collectively they were called the "A-liners" or the "A-series". The first was RMS Aragon in 1905, followed by sister ships Amazon, Araguaya and Avon in 1906, and Asturias in 1908. A few years later the final four "A-liners" were built: Arlanza in 1912, Andes and Alcantara in 1913 and Almanzora in 1915. Earlier members of the series, from Aragon to Asturias, had twin screws, each driven by a four-cylinder quadruple-expansion steam engine. The final four members of the series, from Arlanza to Almanzora, were significantly larger than the earlier five. They had triple screws, with the middle one driven by a low pressure Parsons steam turbine.^[12]

After the First World War RMSP faced not only existing foreign competition but a new UK challenger. Lord Vestey's Blue Star Line had joined the South American route and won a large share of the frozen meat trade. Then in 1926–27 Blue Star introduced its new "luxury five" ships Almeda, Andalucia, Arandora, Avelona and Avila to both increase refrigerated cargo capacity and enter the passenger trade. At the same time RMSP introduced a pair of new 22,200 GRT liners, RMS Asturias in 1926 and RMS Alcantara in 1927, which at that stage were the largest motor ships in the World. Although these were the biggest and most luxurious UK ships on the route, RMSP Chairman Lord Kylsant called Blue Star's quintet "very keen competition".^[13]

Reconstitution as Royal Mail Lines[edit]

The company ran into financial trouble, and the UK Government investigated its affairs in 1930, resulting in the Royal Mail Case. In 1931 Lord Kylsant was jailed for 12 months for misrepresenting the state of the company to shareholders.^[1] So much of Britain's shipping industry was involved in RMSPC that arrangements were made to guarantee the continuation of ship operations after it was liquidated. Royal Mail Lines Ltd (RML) was created in 1932 and took over the ships of RMSPC and other companies of the former group.^[14] The new company was chaired by Lord Essendon.^[15]

The new company's operations were concentrated on the west coast of South America, the West Indies and Caribbean, and the Pacific coast of North America; the Southampton – Lisbon – Brazil – Uruguay – Argentina route was operated from 1850 to 1980. RML was also a leading cruise ship operator.

RMS's largest ship was the 25,895 GRT turbine steamship RMS Andes. She was designed as an ocean liner but when launched in 1939 was immediately fitted out as a troopship. She finally entered civilian liner service in 1948, was converted to full-time cruising in 1960 and was scrapped in 1971.^[16]

RMSP and RML lost a number of ships in their long history. One of the last was the 17,547 GRT turbine steamship RMS Magdalena, which was launched in 1948 and grounded and sank off Brazil on her maiden voyage in 1949.^[17]

In 1965 RML was bought by Furness, Withy & Co.,^[1] and rapidly lost its identity. In the 1970s parts of the Furness Withy Group, including RML, were sold on to Hong Kong shipowner CY Tung, and later sold on to former River Plate rival Hamburg Süd; by the 1990s Royal Mail Lines was no more than the name of a Hamburg-Süd refrigerated cargo service from South America to Europe.