House Flags of U.S. Shipping Companies: O

Occidental and Oriental Steamship Co

  by Joe McMillan

Occidental and Oriental Steamship Co, San Francisco (1874-1908)
The O&O was organized by the Central Pacific and Union Pacific railroads in response to the refusal of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company (then the dominant firm in the trans-Pacific trade) to handle cargoes from the newly completed transcontinental railroads. (Pacific Mail's owners also owned the Panama Railroad, whose business was threatened by the direct lines across the United States.) The O&O was originally operated under the British flag and manned by Chinese crews with British officers. O&O gave the better-established Pacific Mail several decades of stiff competition, but in 1893 both companies were acquired by the Southern Pacific Railroad. Southern Pacific merged the businesses, but retained the O&O trade name and fla