House Flags of U.S. Shipping Companies: C

California & Oregon Coast Steamship Co.

image by Joe McMillan

California Navigation & Improvement Co.

image 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 (no longer available)

Joe McMillan, 7 September 2001

Calmar SS Co.

image 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.