American-Hawaiian Steamship Company

The American-Hawaiian Steamship Company was founded in 1899 by George S. Dearborn and his brother-in-law, Lewis Henry Lapham. The company grew to own the largest single fleet of freighters under the American flag in the trade between the Atlantic and Pacific coasts and in the Territory of Hawaii. It was a pioneer in the building of large modern American steam freighters, in introducing oil-fired boilers, in opening the steamer-railroad route across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec and in the early commercial transits of the Panama Canal. By 1930 the company operated over 50 ships and in World War II these ships were called into government service. After the war, the bulk of the company's fleet was dispersed and because of growing operating costs, intercoastal service was suspended in 1953.