Pacific Mail Steamship Company

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

You have new messages (last change).

The Pacific Mail Steamship Company was founded in 1848 to transport mail under contract from the United States Government from the Isthmus of Panama to California. During California Gold Rush in 1849, the company was a key mover of goods and people and played a key role in the growth of San Francisco, California.

One of the company's steamships, the Winfield Scott, ran aground on Anacapa Island in 1853.

In 1867 the company launched the first regularly scheduled trans-Pacific steamship service with a route between San Francisco, Hong Kong, and Yokohama, and extended service to Shanghai. This route led to an influx of Japanese and Chinese immigrants, bringing additional cultural diversity to California.

The company was a charter member of the Dow Jones Transportation Average.

In 1925 the company was purchased by Robert Dollar & Co..

[edit] External Source

  • Company history, hosted by the Mystic Seaport
  • 2002 article about "San Francisco's own Titanic" [SS City of Rio de Janeiro] and her 1901 sinking in the GGNRA from the NPS "Park News"
  • Pacific Mail Steamship Collectiona brief history with images of pioneering PMSS steamers, hosted by Potash & Company
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../p/a/c/Pacific_Mail_Steamship_Company_e063.html"