House Flags of U.S. Shipping Companies: Am

American-Asiatic Steamship Co.

 image by Joe McMillan

American-Asiatic Steamship Co., New York
Divided per saltire blue and white with the company initials in red on the white areas and white on the blue.
Source: Lloyds 1912

Joe McMillan, 23 September 2001

American & Cuban Steamship Line

 image by Joe McMillan

American & Cuban Steamship Line
Blue with a white band from upper hoist to lower fly, and on the center a monogram of the letters "A" and "C."
Source: Talbot-Booth (1937)

Joe McMillan, 23 September 2001

American Banner Lines

 image by Joe McMillan

American Banner Lines, New York (1957-60)
This company was a badly timed attempt by Arnold Bernstein to start up a tourist-oriented trans-Atlantic passenger service four months before the beginning of regular passenger jet service. Bernstein, a very successful German-Jewish ship owner, used the same flag.  See National Geographic (1934) for his (non-US) companies in the 1920s and 30s before he was arrested by the Nazis and had his ships confiscated in 1937. He was released owing to his high international profile and emigrated to the US, where he resumed his shipping career. Horizontally divided blue over red with the initials AB in blue on a white lozenge.
Source: US Navy's 1961 H.O.

Joe McMillan, 20 August 2001

American Coal Shipping

 image by Joe McMillan

American Coal Shipping, New York
The flag is a white swallowtail bordered in red and inscribed with the company initials in blue.
Source: US Navy's 1961 H.O.

Joe McMillan, 20 August 2001

American Diamond SS Corp.

 image by Joe McMillan

American Diamond SS Corp.
A subsidiary of Black Diamond SS Corp, using the same flag (black diamond on yellow) but with the initials of the name in the corners.
Talbot-Booth (1937)

Joe McMillan, 24 September 2001

American Export Lines

1929-1962

 image by Joe McMillan

American Export Lines, New York (1919-62)
AEL was the leading US-flag company between the US east coast and the Mediterranean from 1919 to 1977. It was organized as the Export Steamship Corporation, but the word "American" was added in the 1920s to emphasize its ties to the US. For most of its history, the flag was red with a blue "E" for export on a white vertically oriented lozenge.

Sources: National Geographic (1934),  US Navy's 1961 H.O., Stewart (1953)
Joe McMillan, 21 August 2001

Although Bonsor gives the flag as being adopted 1929, which means that there was none from the time of formation in 1919, it does appear in Brown 1929 which makes me wonder as it seems rather unlikely that it would make that edition if not adopted until that year.
Neale Rosanoski, 21 January 2004

1962-1964

 image by Joe McMillan

American Export Lines (1962 flag) (reconstructed from verbal description in North Atlantic Seaway IV:1577)
AEL was bought by Jakob Isbrandtsen, proprietor of the Isbrandtsen Line, in 1960. The purchase was approved by the US Maritime Administration in 1962, at which point the flag was changed to have the E superimposed on the outline of a globe instead of on a lozenge.
Joe McMillan, 21 August 2001

image located by Neale Rosanoski

The 1962-1964 flag was not retained when the company again became independent in 1973 as they then adopted a white flag with a narrow red band at top and a blue one at bottom with a narrow blue diamond touching both of these and charged with the white letters "AEL".
Neale Rosanoski, 21 January 2004

American Export Isbrandtsen Steamship Co.

 image by Joe McMillan

American Export Isbrandtsen Steamship Co, New York
In 1964, Jakob Isbrandtsen merged AEL with his other properties to form American Export Isbrandtsen, although the AEL name continued to be more commonly used. The flag added the 1962 AEL logo to the lower fly of the old Isbrandtsen flag. After heavy losses and unable to meet crippling debt payments, AEL went into bankruptcy in 1977, with Farrell Lines buying its remaining ships.

Source: Styring (1971)

Joe McMillan, 21 August 2001

American-Hawaiian SS Co.

 image by Joe McMillan

American-Hawaiian SS Co. (1899-1956)
Despite the name--and the original focus on the Hawaiian Islands, most of this company's history was spent primarily providing intercoastal (i.e., US Atlantic-to-US Pacific coast) and foreign services. Its owners shifted it away from the islands in 1916 to take advantage of high freight rates in the wartime North Atlantic and lost the confidence of the major sugar planting companies as a result. Captured by the billionaire shipping magnate Daniel K. Ludwig in a hostile takeover in 1955, after which the ships were sold off and the company closed down. Flag simply the white initials A-H on blue.
Sources: Wedge (1926), National Geographic (1934), Stewart & Styring (1963)

Joe McMillan, 20 August 2001

American Independence Line

image by Ivan Sache, 4 February 2006

One of the flags shown on the Belgian firm of Kennedy, Hunter & Co.’s list of agencies is that of the American Independence Line, New York. (There seems to be no connection with another shipping company, the American Independent Line of Chicago and New York).

The flag has a strong resemblance to that of the American Star Line (same owner, perhaps?). On a white field is a middle horizontal stripe made up of red, white and blue horizontal stripes and over all, in the centre, is a white initial ‘I’ in black holding lines. The ‘I’ slightly overlaps the red and blue stripes.
Jan Mertens, 2 February 2006

American Mail Line

image by Jarig Bakker, based on the website of the National Maritime Museum.

From the website of the National Maritime Museum, "the  house flag of the American Mail Line Ltd, Seattle. On a light blue background, there is a yellow disc surrounded with a white band inscribed 'AMERICAN MAIL LINE'. In the centre of the disc is shown a flag striped horizontally in blue, white, red, white and blue [see American Mail SS Co, antecedent to American Mail Line]. The flag is made of a wool and synthetic fibre bunting. It has a cotton hoist with eyelet holes at the top and bottom. The flag is machine sewn and the design is printed.

H. F. Alexander's Admiral Line started a service between Seattle and the Far East under the name of the Admiral Oriental Mail Line. The company was taken over by the Dollar family in 1922 and re-named the American Mail Line. The Dollar and American Mail Lines were taken over by the government to prevent their bankruptcy in 1938 and the former was re-named American President Lines. American Mail regained its independence at this time. Following privatization after the war, the company was re-acquired, by American President Lines in 1954. The use of the American Mail Lines name and flag ended in 1973."
Jarig Bakker, 2 September 2004

American Mail SS Co

 image by Joe McMillan

American Mail SS Co (1917-73), Seattle
Service between Seattle and the Far East, begun by H. F. Alexander's Admiral Line under the name of Admiral Oriental Mail Line, in an attempt to diversify beyond the coastwise trade. Taken over by the Dollar family in 1922 and renamed the American Mail Line. Regained independence when the Dollar Line was taken over by the government to prevent its bankruptcy in 1938. Ownership went to American President Lines in 1954; APL merged AML into its own operations in 1973 and ended the use of the AML name. Flag five horizontal stripes of blue-white-red-white-blue, the same as the "C" flag of the International Code of Signals and the reverse of the swallowtailed flag of the old Pacific Mail Line, which the Dollars also took over in the 20s.
Note: Stewart & Styring (1963) shows a different flag, blue with a logo consisting of the five-striped flag on a yellow disk surrounded by a white ring bearing the name of the line.
Sources: National Geographic (1934), Stewart & Styring (1963), US Navy's 1961 H.O.

Joe McMillan, 20 August 2001

American Merchant Line

 image by Joe McMillan

This company was created by the US Shipping Board after WWI as a trans-Atlantic freight service. Like the United States Lines, it was sold to Paul W. Chapman in 1929, then repossessed by USSB and resold to International Mercantile Marine in 1931. It was merged into the USL in 1937.

Source: National Geographic (1934)

Joe McMillan, 23 August 2001

image located by Neale Rosanoski

Formed as a trade name in 1924 with the ships placed under J.W. Winchester & Co. Inc. using a diagonal biband flag from upper hoist to lower fly, red over blue and overall the white letters "AML". Presumably retained after the 1929 sale to P.A. Chapman & Co. with no change until after 1931 which, after Chapmans defaulted on their payments which saw the service placed under United States Lines of Nevada in which International Mercantile Marine had an interest, controlling from 1934, saw the adoption of the United States Lines format of the 'eagle' flag, under which the letters signified which of the subsidiaries was operating a particular vessel, a format which lapsed in the 1930s. Brown 1934 and Loughran (1979) show the charges as black and have the eagle with wings displayed and inverted i.e. wing tips downwards. The colour difference may be a result of a dark blue confusion. The wings of the eagle seem to be common for portrayals of American companies and I wonder whether there is a requirement that commercial concerns differentiate in this manner or whether it is just that all the artists preferred this format.
Neale Rosanoski, 21 January 2004

No, there is no such requirement, and many commercial concerns use the American eagle with wings displayed (i.e., tips upward, not inverted). But the version with wings displayed and inverted has been popular in the US almost since the adoption of the coat of arms in 1782, including such official uses as the earliest surviving  infantry colors (1790s), military uniform buttons and belt plates, and President James Monroe's White House china. In fact, eagles with wings inverted were the norm on military colors and standards for infantry and cavalry until the early 1900s, when the army switched the pattern to the rendering on the modern die of the great seal, which was first cut by Tiffany and Co. in 1885. Even today, several government or quasi-governmental agencies use eagles with wings inverted, including the Federal Reserve and the National Gallery of Art.
Joe McMillan, 21 January 2004

American Overseas Marine Corp.

image by Jarig Bakker, 6 January 2006

American Overseas Marine Corp., Quincy, MA - horizontal blue-white-blue-white-broad red-white-blue-white-blue flag; in center white "A".
Source: Loughran (1995)
Jarig Bakker, 6 January 2006

American Pacific Line

 image by Joe McMillan

American Pacific Line
No information on this except the flag--an inverted red star on a white lozenge on a blue field.

Stewart (1953)

Joe McMillan, 8 September 2001

American Palestine Line

image provided by Al Kirsch, 4 January 2007

A vintage china plate features a flag very similar to the Israel flag with the addition of a T in the center of the 6 point star and the initials A. P. L. directly above the upper bar and the initials N. Y. directly below the lower bar. The markings on the rear of the plate indicate that this plate was manufactured between 1917 - 1930.
Provided to Al Kirsch, 4 January 2007

This is the American Palestine Line, a shipping line based in New York (under Jewish ownership) which was active in the 1920s providing voyages to the Holy Land.
Ned Smith, 5 January 2007

I've done a New York Times database search which turns up a good deal of information confirming the identity of the flag as that of the American Palestine Line. There is one photograph of the flag (located here), flying in third position on the same line with the proto-Israeli and United States flags above. Apparently I was in error interpreting the "T" as a menorah; at higher resolution it looks very much like the Hebrew letter daleth (the left "arm" on the T is longer than the right "arm", which I can only guess stands for David (the hexagram is the "Shield of David", after all). I've also learned from reading articles that the Shield of David was painted on the funnels and that the American flag flew at stern, and the Zionist flag at the main masthead (I'm not sure if they were perhaps referring to the shipping company flag in that second reference or not).

Interestingly, the prime vexillological point about the American Palestine Line seems to not be their own shipping company flag, which received nary a mention in the several Times articles (outside of the of the photo caption below), but their use of the standard "Zionist flag", i.e. the proto-Israeli flag, apparently the first time that flag was used at sea. This was considered a big deal at the time; there was a crowd of 5,000 at the first departure of the ship with a big Zionist ceremony with flags and anthems. Specifically, Jacob Strahl, the President of the company, said, "This event marks the advent of the first time in more than 2,000 years of the flag of Judea on the high seas". This somewhat dubious claim (of course the Zionist flag is a modern development) was echoed in the Times headlines.

APL only ever had the one ship and failed within the year after three transatlantic crossing (apparently there were some legal/financial problems with the company, and even reports of some sort of mutiny). The passengers, I have read, were mostly tourists, not settlers.

This reduced-size photo clipping is from the Nov. 30, 1924 New York Times. The caption is: "The first Jewish merchant ship: The Zionist flag, with the house flag of the American Palestine Line, flying with the Stars and Stripes over the Steamship President Arthur, purchased from the United States Government for a service between New York and the Holy Land."
Richard Knipel, 5 January 2007

American Pioneer Lines

 image by Joe McMillan

White with a green border and green AP monogram
Sources: US Navy's 1961 H.O.
Joe McMillan, 21 August 2001

Originated 1924 as a trading name of the United States Shipping Board, later the United States Maritime Commission, originally being operated by Atlantic, Gulf & Oriental Steamship Co. Inc. and under them the flag was similar but with a blue border and conventional red letters "AP". In the 1927/28 fiscal year the service was split into two with one part later becoming the American Gulf Line whilst the other amalgamated with two other trade names as a revised American Pioneer Line under Roosevelt Steamship Co. as operators. The flag became the green version as shown and this setup continued until 1940 when the United States Lines Co. acquired the trade name which continued in use until acquired by Farrell Lines in 1965. However the flag became that of United States Lines although exactly when appears to be disputed.
Neale Rosanoski, 21 January 2004

American Republics Line

image by António Martins-Tuválkin, 28 July 2007

Discovered on the Nautiques auction website, a lapel flag of the American Republics Line – direct link:
“American Republic (sic, jm) Line: A brass tie tack in the shape of the line flag with blue and yellow enamel. 1" across…”

Operating passenger ships named after Latin American countries and presenting itself as the “Good Neighbor Fleet”, US shipping company Moore-McCormack once had a subsidiary named ‘American Republics Line’. It seems good neighbourship was President F.D. Roosevelt’s initiative taking form from 1936 onwards; in fact the ships were owned by the U.S. Maritime Commission, serving the East coast of South America. There were freight vessels as well I believe. American involvement in WWII led to the ships being used for the transportation of troops; afterwards, Mooremack used its own livery.

Although a logo was used consisting of a globe showing the Western Hemisphere with the words “The Good Neighbour Fleet” (or its equivalent in Spanish or Portuguese) written across it, above house flag resembles the funnel design of a blue diamond on a yellow ground. Added to it are white initials ‘ARL’

Some sources:
http://moore-mccormack.com/The-Company/American-Republics-Line-Service.htm
http://www.timetableimages.com/maritime/images/mml.htm

Jan Mertens, 11 March 2007

American Roll-On Roll-Off Carrier (ARC)

image by Ivan Sache

White flag bordered in blue with bold ARC in red.  Source: www.arrcnet.com
Dov Gutterman, 11 October 2003

American Scantic Line

  image by Joe McMillan

American Scantic Line, New York
One of the nicer house flags: A green field with a large white square bearing a red cross. The green, white, and red colors apparently come from the parent company, Moore & McCormack. American Scantic Line (like many other lines of similar American ------ Line nomenclature) was one of a number of companies set up by the U.S. Shipping Board to revive the merchant marine after World War I. American Scantic was the line serving Scandinavia and the Baltic, an area in which Moore & McCormack was already well established when it bought American Scantic in 1927. It is not clear how long the flag survived; Talbot-Booth records that shown (which matches the description in "The Atlantic Seaway") in 1937, but in 1934 National Geographic had already shown the flag of Moore-McCormack itself as that for the American Scantic Line.

Source: E. C. Talbot-Booth, House Flags and Funnels of British and Foreign Shipping Companies. NY & London: D. Appleton-Century, 1937

Joe McMillan, 7 September 2001

Maritime Timetable Images has a piece about 'American Scantic Line Inc.' at http://www.timetableimages.com/maritime/images/asl.htm#asl30c. The brochure on the first picture shows a green flag with a white disk bearing a red letter 'C'. A pity the date of issue is not quite known ("undated; c. 1930"). Conjecture: the 'C' flag was in use between 1926 (or 1927) and 1934 at the latest?
Jan Mertens, 8 August 2005

American Star Line

image by Ivan Sache, 4 February 2006

One of the house flags on the Kennedy, Hunter & Co. sheet is that of the American Star Line, New York. Traces are found on the ‘net concerning ships bought in 1918 and 1921, plus a 1926 court case. Then there is a gap till we get to the ‘eighties. See a Federal Maritime Commission ruling, 1990 reachable via http://www.fmc.gov, i.e. “American Star Line, Inc. National Transatlantic Lines of Greece S.A.,  and Dimitri Amminos - Possible Violations of Passenger Vessel Certification  Requirements - Initial Decision” where we learn that Mr Dimitri Amminos was President of both American Star Line (incorporated Delaware, 1986) and the National Maritime Line of Greece S.A. (inc. Panama, 1986), later named National Transatlantic Line of Greece, firms which were to operate and market cruises on a passenger vessel to be named the ‘Betsy Ross’ with a capacity of more than 300. ASL represented NT, which also used ASL as a trade name. Both advertised cruises in 1987 but none were forthcoming. At last the ship – at least that one existed – was chartered to Star Lauro in 1989.

My somewhat shaky conclusions: there must have been two American Star Lines…And supposing – with some reason - Kennedy, Hunter & Co. to have been agent to the modern one, its house flag was white, bearing a horizontal middle stripe divided, again horizontally, red-white-blue; and a large white star over all. The star is rendered visible using black holding lines and it slightly encroaches upon the upper and lower white stripes.
Jan Mertens, 1 February 2006

American Steamship Co. (American Line)

The American Steamship Company, known as the American Line, was established by the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1873 to attract traffic to Philadelphia away from the New York terminals of its archrival, the New York Central Railroad. It operated under several different ownerships until about 1925.

First Flag (1873-84)

   image by Joe McMillan

First Flag (1873-84) A red burgee with a white keystone, which was the trademark of the railroad. It derives in turn from Pennsylvania's nickname as the "Keystone State" and is a widely used symbol of the state.

(Source: description in North Atlantic Seaway III:920)

Joe McMillan, 22 August 2001

Second Flag (1884-93)

  image by Joe McMillan

Second Flag (1884-93)
A red star was added to the keystone after the company was sold to the Red Star Line, the Belgian-flag subsidiary of the US holding company International Navigation.

(Source: description in North Atlantic Seaway III:920; I have also seen this flag depicted on American Line china)
Joe McMillan, 22 August 2001

Shown by Griffin 1895 and Loughran (1979) as being a normal swallowtail it would seem that their versions are incorrect in view of the china providing there is no
distortion.
Neale Rosanoski, 21 January 2004

Variant Second Flag (1880s)

  image by Joe McMillan

Variant Second Flag (1880s)
An 1880s poster advertising American Line service from Philadelphia to Liverpool shows this same flag with a blue field.

(Source: John and Alice Durant, Pictorial History of American Ships (New York: A. S. Barnes, 1953), p. 192)

Joe McMillan, 22 August 2001

Third Flag (after 1893)

  image by Joe McMillan

Third Flag (after 1893)
Finally, the blue eagle on white was adopted when the Red Star Line passed into the ownership of J. P. Morgan's International Mercantile Marine. The IMM revived this flag for the United States Lines when it acquired that company in 1931.

(Sources: [wed26], www.greatoceanliners.net/index.html (click on St. Paul))

Joe McMillan, 22 August 2001

• See also: post-World War I United States Lines

image by Ivan Sache, 3 December 2005

The house flag of this firm (not to be confused with the ‘American Line’) is the last one on the second row, here, and an enlargement here. It is a white, blue-bordered swallowtail bearing a red ‘A’ (no serifs) near the hoist.

Some history from the firm’s webpage :
Founded in 1907 by J.J. Boland and A.E. Cornelius, partners since 1903. Steady expansion, even during the Great Depression – as often happens
in a crisis - was a courageous choice (self-unloading vessels) and paid off. Further expansion occurred thanks to the opening of the St Lawrence Seaway after WWII. The firm became the property of the Oswego Shipping Co. in 1967 (see note). At that time, American Shipping operated about thirty vessels but sold off
its classic freighters in the next decade, keeping the self-unloading ships. It was bought up again, this time by GATX Corp. (leasing and financial services) in 1973. During the eighties, the steel decline resulted in ships being sold off to cut losses. But the next decade saw an expansion of operations towards the Gulf of Mexico. In 2002 American Steamship and Oglebay Norton Marine Services pooled their fleets under the name United Shipping Alliance.

Note: an expansion drive in the late sixties (http://www.hhpl.on.ca):
“…the era in which the American Steamship Co., under the direction of the late H. Lee White, engaged in a remarkable program of expansion, gobbling up the fleets of the Reiss Steamship Co. and the Gartland Steamship Co., as well as the smaller Red Arrow Steamship Co. and the Redland Steamship Co., and making efforts to acquire several others.”

Jan Mertens, 13 September 2005

American West African Line

  image by Joe McMillan

A red-bordered blue swallowtail with a white A. No other information on the company.
Source: Wedge (1951)
Joe McMillan, 12 October 2001

located by Neale Rosanoski

According to Talbot-Booth (1936) the company was formed in 1928 and also used a pennant version which is probably that given for America-West Africa Line by Brown 1929. This version of Brown had A.H. Bull & Co. Inc. as operators and the format is similar to their flags. By Brown 1934 the plain swallow-tailed version is shown under the American West Africa Line title with the company now being operated by Barber Steamship Lines Ltd. After WW2 the trail is cold.
Neale Rosanoski, 21 January 2004

Amoco Corporation (1899 to present)

Amoco has its origins in the Standard Oil Company (Indiana), a subsidiary of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil Trust. When the trust was broken up in 1911, it became the Standard Oil Company of Indiana. In 1918 the company adopted red, white and blue as the corporate colors and in 1926 the torch as its principal trademark. (Corporate headquarters in Chicago; ships registered in New York.)
(Information on history of logos from www.bp.com/about_bp/history/amoco/torch_oval.asp )

1932 flag

  image by Joe McMillan

In 1910, a group in Baltimore formed the American Oil Company, which came under the partial ownership of Standard (Indiana) in 1923. However, the new owners did not require Amoco (as it was called for short) to give up its existing identity, and in 1932 Amoco adopted a red, white, and black oval with the word "Amoco" across the center as its trademark.

Source: US Navy's 1961 H.O.,

Joe McMillan, 25 August 2001

See also:

• Pan American Petroleum & Transport Co (In 1925, Standard (Indiana) purchased the Pan American Petroleum and Transport Company, which continued to operate under its own name. Pan Am operated as a subsidiary under its own name as Standard's main transportation arm. Only in 1954 was it subsumed into Standard's corporate identity.)

1946 flag

  image by Joe McMillan

Standard adopted a combination of American's oval and its own torch as a logo in 1946, but American continued using the logo without the torch until 1960. In that year, all assets of Standard (Indiana) were transferred to American and the company officially became Amoco. British Petroleum recently bought out Amoco and has indicated its intention to end Amoco's separate identity, and the torch and oval emblem, within the next few years.
Source: Stewart & Styring (1963), Styring (1971)

Joe McMillan, 25 August 2001

APL, Inc. (formerly American President Lines)

image by Joe McMillan, 25 August 2001

APL, Inc. (formerly American President Lines) (1938-), San Francisco

Formed by the US Maritime Commission in 1938 to head off the impending bankruptcy of the Dollar Line, the leading carrier between the US west coast and Asia. The flag, red with a white eagle and a white star in each corner, was intended to continue the use of the Dollar Line's red and white colors while evoking the US Presidential flag, which at the time was blue with an eagle and four white stars. The unusually long proportions are as shown on the APL website. American President Lines officially changed its name to APL, Inc., several years ago and is now a subsidiary of NOL (formerly Neptune Orient Lines) of Singapore.
Source: Stewart (1953), www.apl.com
Joe McMillan, 25 August 2001

The flag design was updated about 25 years ago, and features a more modern-looking eagle against a red background. The corner stars were removed. The eagle is the one in the logo at the bottom of this page: http://www.apl.com/history/html/overview_innovate_logos.html 
Jahan Byrne, 25 August 2004

"APL’s House Flag" published in the Dec.1969 issue of the company magazine (vol.6, num. 5) informs the following:
The company flag adopted its contemporary design in 1938, upon name change name from Dollar Steamship Lines, and the chosen design was inspired by the US presidential flag. This article is available on line in full-color facsimile at http://content.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/tf000000tf  (FOTW Bibliography:  APL House Flag). The usage dates we know for this flag (red with eagle and stars) is therefore 1938-1980.
António Martins-Tuválkin, 22 May 2008

image located by Jan Mertens, 22 October 2009

APL, Inc. (formerly American President Lines) shows a large eagle-bearing flag (aquilaferous – ha!) which once appeared on eBay is attached as the image above (reduced). Source: German eBay, offer no. 130305128176 (end 15 May 2009) put up by “glashaus6”, dimensions given as 1,20 m x 2,00 m .

No doubt reflecting the present situation, its field is white bearing the red stylized eagle above fat dark blue initials “APL” (no serifs) but more importantly, horizontal stripes are added to the top: a dark blue one sustained by a narrow green one, the first bears the name “MOL GROUP” near the hoist in white letters (italic, it seems). So the Japan based MOL (Mitsui O.S.K. Lines) Group is now involved with APL: both together with Hyundai formed The New World Alliance in 1998, joining forces to expand their maritime container traffic: http://www.naukri.com/gpw/mol/services.htm.
Jan Mertens, 22 October 2009

American SS Co

  image by Joe McMillan

American SS Co, Boston (1863-67)

Company founded during the Civil War but did not begin operations until hostilities were over; an effort to draw some of the trans-Atlantic traffic away from New York and restore Boston's stature as a major center of the oceanic trade. It didn't work; the firm was undercapitalized and ran out of money before it even got a second ship into operation. House flag was a white pennant with a red border and the company initials in red.

(Source: description in North Atlantic Seaway II:1075)

American Trading & Production Corp

  image by Joe McMillan

American Trading & Production Corp, New York

No information except the flag: divided diagonally white over red, with red and blue upper and lower edges and the letters A in blue and T in white on the two halves of the field.

Sources: US Navy's 1961 H.O., Stewart & Styring (1963), Styring (1971)
Joe McMillan, 26 August 2001

located by Neale Rosanoski

Involved in the tanker trade being shown with 1 vessel, "American Trader" at 1939, being sunk 1940. Continued in business but from the early 1970s is shown as American Trading Transportation Co. Inc., ceasing operations in the early 1990s. Sources vary as to the width of the red and blue bands at top and bottom and Brown 1951 deletes them entirely.
Neale Rosanoski, 21 January 2004

American Union Transport

  image by Joe McMillan

American Union Transport, New York
No information except the flag, blue with red upper and lower edges and the initials AUT.
Sources: US Navy's 1961 H.O., Stewart & Styring (1963)

Joe McMillan, 26 August 2001

US shipping lines house flags - 'A' continued