Archives West Finding Aid

In 1910 the Dollar Steamship Co. was reorganized under the title of the Dollar Steamship Lines, a subsidiary of the Dollar line. In 1922, the Dollar family gained control of Admiral Oriental, changing its name to American Mail Line in 1926. The American Mail Line operated Trans-Pacific Steamship Routes between the ports of Seattle, Victoria, Yokohama, Kobe, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Manila, Honolulu and many others. The Dollar Steamship Lines and American Mail Line offered Joint Service on many routes. The lines operating out of the Pacific Northwest region suffered severely by the cancellation of the ocean-mail contracts, for they lacked means of support. The American Mail Line continued to operate with a temporary subsidy until June 1938, when it was sold to tobacco magnate Richard J. Reynolds and reorganized as an independent company. Ralph K. Davis acquired control of American Mail in the 1950s with the aim of reintegrating it into the American President Line. The increasing popularity of air travel meant that passenger services had steadily been declining throughout the 1960s, and by 1973, the last APL liner, the SS President Wilson, completed her final round-the-world trip and was sold off. Also in 1973, American Mail Line was fully absorbed into APL, and its ships were subsequently given traditional "President" names. The APL is still in service today. On June 10, 2016, APL and NOL became subsidiaries of CMA-CGM when over 90% of Singapore stocks were purchased by the steamship line.