House Flags of U.S. Shipping Companies: T

TAK Shipping Co.

TAK Shipping Co, New York
I have no information at all on this company.  Its flag was blue with a white cipher resembling a reversed P joined to a K.
Source: US Navy's 1961 H.O.

Joe McMillan, 25 November 2001

Tak Shipping Co. I presume this is the Tak Shipping Corporation shown in the 1950s with the logo suggesting an association with Pack & Kahn Inc. and with Brown 1982 showing a red flag with white logo in the latter name although having the "P" rounded.

Neale Rosanoski, 12 April 2004

Tampa Interocean Steamship Co.

Tampa Interocean Steamship Co., New Orleans and Tampa (1920s-30s)
Tampa Interocean was one of the many small companies founded in the years following World War I using surplus vessels provided by the U.S. Shipping Board. It evidently specialized in trade between the U.S. Gulf coast and the Caribbean and South America--Lykes Brothers traditional turf--and was apparently driven out of business along with other challengers by cutthroat competition from Lykes. The flag was a white burgee with a red stripe along the upper edge, a blue one along the bottom, and the letters GWML in blue on the white area. I have no idea what these letters stood for.
Source: Talbot-Booth (1937)

Joe McMillan, 26 November 2001

Tampa Interocean Steamship Co. According to Talbot-Booth (Merchant Ships series) the letters stood for "Gulf West Mediterranean Line" which presumably was the service name. He also states that the company was controlled by Lykes so they were not in competition and their disappearance was probably due to rationalization.

Neale Rosanoski, 12 April 2004

W. and J. T. Tapscott

  by Joe McMillan

W. and J. T. Tapscott, New York (1840s-1850s)
The following description of the Tapscott firm is from www.theshipslist.com/ships/lines/tapscott.html:
William Tapscott was an "American Packet ship" broker, who kept offices on Regent's road, Liverpool, and Eden Quay, Dublin. He worked in conjunction with his brother James, who was New York-based and specialized in selling prepaid passages to established immigrants who now wished to bring over loved ones. Together, they fleeced the unsuspecting in the grand fashion of the laissez-faire businessmen. From a member of TheShipsList, we have also received this excerpt about the Tapscott brother's Line. It is undated. "The Tapscott brothers were systematic villains, whose frauds began with their advertisements. This one [quoted on The Ships List site] flagrantly exaggerates the tonnage of every ship named. The Garrick, here is said to be 2,000 tons, was in fact 895." So there it is. The Tapscott brothers' flag resembled that of Grinnell & Minturn. It was a white and blue burgee divided by a line following the cut of the tail, with the letters TL in blue in the hoist. Since G&M's Blue Swallowtail Line was one of the leading