House Flags of U.S. Shipping Companies: G

Frederick Gerhard & Co.

  by Joe McMillan

Frederick Gerhard & Co., New York (Source: PSMNY)
White with a narrow red stripe along the upper edge and a narrow blue stripe along the lower, with a black P in the center. No information on what the P stood for.
Source:  chart of "Private Signals of the Merchants of New York

Joe McMillan, 12 October 2001

J. C. Gilchrist

  by Joe McMillan

J. C. Gilchrist, Cleveland (Source: 1909 annex to [ruh05])
A Great Lakes line; white G on a red field.
Source: 1909 update to Flaggenbuch 1905

Joe McMillan, 12 October 2001

S. Gitcovich & Co.

  by Joe McMillan

S. Gitcovich & Co., Galveston, Texas
Nothing on this one except white with a red lozenge and the monogram SL in white.
Source: Wedge (1926)
Joe McMillan, 14 October 2001

S. Gitcovich & Co. Wedge (1926) actually gives the name as Sgitcovich & Co., also showing in the 1929 edition, not that this makes me any the wiser.
Neale Rosanoski, 24 June 2004

Glidden & Williams

  by Joe McMillan

Glidden & Williams, Boston (1852)
Glidden & Williams is described in Samuel Eliot Morison's "Maritime History of Massachusetts" as the most important clipper firm operating out of Boston to California (1840s-50s). My sources seems to show this flag as a triangular pennant, as I've drawn it, white over blue with a red star overall, but it may have been rectangular or existed in a rectangular variant.
Source: clipper card illustrated at www.tenpound.com

Joe McMillan, 14 October 2001

by Rob Raeside

Glidden & Williams. According to Loughran (1979) they used a white over yellow biband with a red star [see us~g158a.gif attached] for their clipper "Witch of the Wave".
Neale Rosanoski, 24 June 2004

Globe Navigation Co.

  by Joe McMillan

Globe Navigation Co., Seattle
Among the last sailing ship lines. Flag blue with a white globe, latitude and longitude lines shown in red. Similar emblem to that on the fly of the last flag of American Export Line, but no connection known.
Source: 1909 update to Flaggenbuch 1905, Lloyds 1912

Joe McMillan, 14 October 2001

Goodhue & Co.

  by Joe McMillan

Goodhue & Co., New York
Founded 1809 as Goodhue and Swett; operated a line of transatlantic packets and served as agents for the Canton firm of Russell and Co. Also part of the consortium that ran the famous Black Ball Line, and later merged with Charles Marshall & Co, the Black Ball's final operators. Flag divided vertically, red to the hoist and white to the fly with a large black disk overall, possibly a reference to the Black Ball Line.
Source: chart of "Private Signals of the Merchants of New York"

Joe McMillan, 14 October 2001

G. Gordon

  by Joe McMillan

G. Gordon, New York
Red with a white cross, overall on a black disk the letter B in white. I do not believe this mid-19th century company was affiliated with the Black Ball Line, but the flag would imply that it might have been.
Source: chart of "Private Signals of the Merchants of New York"

Joe McMillan, 14 October 2001

Gordon & Talbot

  by Joe McMillan

Gordon & Talbot, New York
A mid-19th century firm. Flag burgee shaped, blue over red divided by a narrow white line, and the initials of the firm also in white.
Source: chart of "Private Signals of the Merchants of New York"

Joe McMillan, 16 October 2001

Grace Line

  by Joe McMillan

Grace Line (W. R. Grace & Co), New York (1882-69)
W. R. Grace and Co. was founded in Peru in the mid-19th century to engage in the guano trade. William R. Grace relocated to New York in 1866. What later became the Grace Line originated in 1882 as a line of sailing vessels between Peru and New York. Grace established regular steamship service in 1893 with a subsidiary called the New York & Pacific Steamship Co., operating under the British flag because ships built outside the United States were banned from US registry until 1905. US-flag service began in 1912 with the Atlantic and Pacific Steamship Company. The activities of both companies and the parent firm were consolidated into the Grace Steamship Company beginning in 1916. The firm originally specialized in traffic to the west coast of South America; then expanded into the Caribbean. After World War II, the company gradually withdrew from holdings in Latin America and finally abandoned the shipping business altogether to concentrate on chemicals in 1969. It is still in business, but not as a shipping concern. At its peak, the Grace Line was a major force in American merchant shipping. Shortly after World War II it owned 23 ships totalling 188,000 gross tons, plus 14 more on bareboat charters. The Grace Line flag was red with the word "GRACE" in blue on a white lozenge.
Sources: Wedge (1926), National Geographic (1934) (showing letters with serifs), Talbot-Booth (1937), US Navy's 1961 H.O.

Joe McMillan, 16 October 2001

by Rob Raeside

US Navy's 1961 is the only one of the quoted sources to show this flag with diamond reaching the edges. Wedge (1926) (Brown Series) and Talbot-Booth (1937) both show a red flag bearing a smaller white diamond within the field charged with the black legend "GRACE" within a black orle. In 1938 Talbot-Booth noted that this had been changed to a plain diamond bearing the blue legend "GRACE" and he continues to show this through to and including his Merchant Ships 1949. The explanation for this earlier flag may be explained from comments in Loughran (1979) from which it appears that the flag was used by the UK subsidiary, the New York & Pacific Steamship Co. The flag as shown here, with the diamond either being throughout or nearly so, appears in Brown 1934 as well the National Geographic of 9/1934 [where it is clearly within the field] and would appear to be that of the parent company. For real confusion one can peruse the "All About Ships & Shipping Series" by Harnack where, for example, the 1938 and 1949 editions show the diamond with orle and letters, though blue and not black, in the image section, but in the fleet list section show the plain diamond within the field and letters version of Talbot-Booth.
Neale Rosanoski, 24 June 2004

Great Lakes Group (and Great Lakes Towing Company)

by Ivan Sache

Company based in Cleveland,Ohio.  The flag is a blue swallowtail burgee charged with a white G
Source: www.thegreatlakesgroup.com
Dov Gutterman, 11 October 2003

See also:

• Admiral Towing and Barge Company
• Puerto Rico Towing & Barge Co.
• Tugz International L.L.Co.

Great Northern Steamship Co. and Great Northern Pacific Steamship Co.

      by Joe McMillan

Great Northern Steamship Co. (Great Northern RR subsidiary)(1900-17)
Great Northern Pacific Steamship Co., Portland, Oregon (1913-17)
Both lines these lines were founded by John Jay Hill to promote business for his Great Northern Railroad, of which they were subsidiaries. The GNSS was a trans-Pacific line out of Portland, while the GNPSS ran coastwise steamers from Portland to San Francisco. The two lines were highly publicized and promoted, but ultimately were business failures owing to Hill's lack of understanding of the shipping business. Their flags resembled each other, the GNSS flying a blue flag with a white saltire and overall a white star on a red disk, while the GNPSS flew the same flag with the red and blue reversed. The Northwestern SS Co of Seattle flew a similar flag during the same timeframe--white with a red star superimposed on a blue saltire--but as far as I know was not related to these companies.
Source: Lloyds 1912

Joe McMillan, 16 October 2001

Chiquita Great White Fleet (formerly United Fruit Company)

  by Joe McMillan

Chiquita Great White Fleet (formerly United Fruit Company), Boston, then NY (1899-present)
I list this under "G" rather than "U" because the line's official name is now Great White Fleet. United Fruit, a merger of several smaller Italian-American-owned firms in Boston, began operating its fleet of ships in 1899 to bring tropical fruits, especially bananas, and sugar from Central America and the Caribbean to the United States. Its ships also carried passengers as a sideline. In its heyday, United Fruit was a dominant political and economic presence in several Central American countries. The parent company eventually adopted the identity of its best-known brand name, Chiquita, although it maintained the United Fruit name for its shipping line until 1990. At that time, United Fruit was dissolved as a separate entity and the shipping line was formally named the Great White Fleet,! from the long-time Spanish nickname, La Gran Flota Blanca, that it had had for many years because of the paint scheme of the ships--the white paint helped keep the cargo cool and prevent it from ripening too quickly. The flag of the Great White Fleet has been in use since the very beginning of the line. It is a distinctive burgee-shaped pennant, with blue triangles based on the hoist, a white lozenge between them, and red scalene triangles along the upper and lower edges and forming the points of the swallowtail. Easier to depict than to describe.
Sources: Wedge (1926), Stewart (1953), US Navy's 1961 H.O., www.greatwhitefleet.com

Joe McMillan, 16 October 2001

Larousse Commercial Illustré (Paris, 1930) shows a red swallowtail with tapering edges, a blue triangle with base on the hoist and a white diamond forming the apex thereof. Unlike the version shown above, the diamond's edges do not reach the hoist nor the point between the swallowtail's tongues.
Jan Mertens, 13 December 2003

Green & Co.

  by Joe McMillan

Green & Co., New York
No information. Flag red with a black anchor arranged horizontally.
Source: chart of "Private Signals of the Merchants of New York"

Joe McMillan, 17 October 2001

Grinnell, Minturn & Co.

         by Joe McMillan

Grinnell, Minturn & Co.
This very prominent transatlantic packet company, which later had great success in the California clipper trade, was founded in about 1822 as Fish, Grinnell & Co (the senior partner of which had the memorable and improbable name of Preserved Fish) and remained active until 1880. Its first major endeavor was its Liverpool Line, known as the Blue Swallowtail Line (1822-1880) from its distinctive blue and white swallowtailed house flag (in which the dividing line between blue and white followed the shape of the swallowtailed fly) was originally started by Fish, Grinnell and Co. in cooperation with Thaddeus Phelps and called the "Fourth Line of Liverpool Packets." It originally sailed monthly and, like the other Liverpool-New York packet lines, did a thriving business in the wave of Irish immigration. The company entered the London market a y! ear later with its London (Red Swallowtail) Line, which also endured until 1880. The flag was the same as for the Liverpool line, but with red at the hoist instead of blue.

Joe McMillan, 17 October 2001

by Rob Raeside

Loughran (1979) when dealing with the period stresses that the records of this era can be misleading particularly with paintings etc. He shows a different version of the blue-white flag of the Liverpool Line with the blue occupying most of the field.

by Rob Raeside

On the other hand Richard McKay in South Street, who show 4 flags for the company, all tapered swallowtails, shows a triband of red-white-blue. As is quoted the
shown blue-white for Liverpool and the red-white for London services originated under Fish, Grinnell & Co. in 1822, Fish resigning in 1825 and the Grinnell brothers forming Fish, Grinnell & Co. which became Grinnell, Minturn & Co. in 1832 when Robert Bowne Minturn became a partner [details from McKay]. These changes may well have resulted in changes to the original flags as shown by McKay who for the London Line gives a yellow-blue-white version:

by Rob Raeside

Neale Rosanoski, 24 June 2004

Grinnell, Minturn & Co. California Line

  by Joe McMillan

After the start of the gold rush in 1849, G&M started a California Line of clipper ships to take advantage. This line flew a flag that combined the other two flags into a swallowtailed tricolor of blue, red, and white.
Source: chart of "Private Signals of the Merchants of New York"

Joe McMillan, 17 October 2001

by Rob Raeside

Loughran (1979) disagrees with the colours making them red-blue-yellow and McKay agrees though he shows a tapered flag. There is also a lithograph in McKay's book of the "Flying Cloud" [such illustrations being indicative rather than conclusive] which looks (it is B&W) supportive of his version. On the other hand Whipple in The Clipper Ships quotes a verbal description of a white-red-and blue flag [a backwards description?] for the clipper "Flying Cloud" in 1851 for her maiden voyage on the Californian run though also includes a painting supporting the blue-red-white version shown here.

by Rob Raeside

Loughran (1979) gives a further flag of blue-red with the blue taking most of the field for the China service.
Neale Rosanoski, 24 June 2004

N. L. & G. Griswold

  by Joe McMillan

N. L. & G. Griswold, New York
Another prominent and profitable firm, also founded in 1822. Nathaniel Lynde Griswold had earlier been a partner with John L. Griswold in a merchant house in New Orleans. He and his brother George then set up this shipping firm, beginning with West Indies routes. They later branched out into the China tea trade and finally into supporting the California gold rush trade. The company initials were jokingly said to stand for "no loss and great gain." The house flag was a blue and white checkerboard flag resembling the modern "N" signal flag except for having five blocks in each horizontal row rather than four.
Source: chart of "Private Signals of the Merchants of New York"

Joe McMillan, 17 October 2001

This version is shown by the website on USA Houseflags but is not that of the Private Signals Chart as shown by Whipple because that version shows 5 rows of 5 blocks in each horizontal row. To help confuse matters a painting of the 'Challenge" then shows a flag of 4x4 for what became the International "N" signal flag but this was not published by the British Admiralty until 1857 and the painting refers to the maiden voyage in 1851. Such a flag did appear in the Marryat Code which preceded it for British use but would an American ship use that code? It is probably 'painters licence' as is another black & white lithograph also shown by Whipple of the launching where the blue and white blocks are reversed in 5 rows of 5, along with other anomalies. McKay however in South Street shows the 5x5 version of 13 blue and 12 white and another lithograph of the "Challenge" launching is in support.

Neale Rosanoski, 24 June 2004

Griswold's Black X Line

Griswold's Black X Line, New York (1846-67)
The Griswolds were a major force in New York shipping in the 19th century.  Their Black X Line served the New York-London route and, as in the case of the Black Ball Line, was so called from the flag design, a black X on red.
Source:  chart of "Private Signals of the Merchants of New York"

Joe McMillan, 30 August 2001

Operated by John Griswold as a London Line of packets dating from 1823 according to McKay. Again sources vary with their shape portrayals. Loughran (1979) shows a tapered swallowtail whilst McKay has an ordinary rectangle.

Neale Rosanoski, 24 June 2004

J. M. Guffey Petroleum Co.

  by Joe McMillan

J. M. Guffey Petroleum Co.
Gulf Oil originated in the J. M. Guffey Petroleum Company, which was organized in 1901 to buy out the developers of the first high-volume oil well in Texas, the Spindletop. J. M. Guffey owned 7/15 of the company bearing his name and the Mellon family and their associates the remainder. The house flag of Guffey's tankers was a white block-style G on a red field.
Source: 1909 supplement to 1909 update to Flaggenbuch 1905.

Joe McMillan, 18 October 2001

Gulf and South American SS Co.

  by Joe McMillan

Gulf and South American SS Co., New Orleans (1947-1971)
A joint venture of Grace Line and Lykes Brothers connecting Grace's home turf (west coast of South America) and Lykes's home turn (Gulf of Mexico). Company split up when W. R. Grace & Co abandoned the shipping business in 1969. Flag green with a white lozenge bordered in black and inscribed with green letters "GSA."
Sources: Stewart (1953)], US Navy's 1961 H.O., Stewart & Styring (1963) (Note: US Navy's 1961 H.O. shows this company twice, once with blue in place of green on the flag.)

Joe McMillan, 18 October 2001

Gulf Fleet Marine

  by Jarig Bakker, based on the website of the National Maritime Museum.

From the website of the National Maritime Museum, "the house flag of Gulf Fleet Marine. A rectangular white flag with a red compass rose in the centre inscribed 'GULF FLEET' in white. The flag is made of a double thickness of nylon fabric, machine sewn, with a printed design. There are two brass eyelets in the cotton hoist." Loughran (1979) lists this as Gulf Mississippi Marine Corporation, New Orleans; he shows a logo for the funnel with inscription "THE GULF FLEET".
Jarig Bakker, 14 August 2004

Gulf Oil Corporation

  by Joe McMillan

Gulf Oil Corporation, New York (homeport of ships; corporate headquarters in Pittsburgh) (1901-1984)
Gulf Oil originated in the J. M. Guffey Petroleum Company, which was organized in 1901 to buy out the developers of the first high-volume oil well in Texas, the Spindletop. J. M. Guffey owned 7/15 of the company bearing his name and the Mellon family and their associates the remainder. The house flag of Guffey's tankers was a white block-style G on a red field.
Source: 1909 supplement to 1909 update to Flaggenbuch 1905.

Later in 1901, the Gulf Refining Company was organized to refine and market the crude oil produced by Guffey Petroleum. In 1907, Andrew Mellon bought out Guffey's stake in the entire enterprise and reorganized it as the Gulf Oil Company. It was already operating a substantial tanker fleet before World War I. Until after World War II, these ships continued to fly a modified version of the Guffey flag, still red but with a Roman-style white G instead of the earlier block style. Sources: National Geographic (1934), Stewart (1953).

  by Joe McMillan

By the end of the 1960s, Gulf was one of the largest oil companies in the world, thanks in large part to its 55% stake in the Kuwait Petroleum Company. Since the early days of the company, the principal trademark used in marketing was the word "Gulf" in blue on an orange disk. At some point in the 1950s, the red and white flag was replaced by a blue one with this logo on it. (Source: [usn61]).

  by Joe McMillan


Later in the 1960s the logo was redesigned and the flag changed again, this time to a white LOB with the new logo. (Source: Photo in a US Merchant Marine Academy yearbook from the 1970s).

A series of corporate missteps put Gulf in financial trouble before the end of the 1970s and an attempt by corporate raider T. Boone Pickens to mount a hostile takeover in 1983 led instead to the purchase of Gulf by Chevron Corporation in 1984. At $13.2 billion, it was the largest corporate merger in history to that time. (Various components were spun off and still retain the Gulf name and trademark, but I do not know of any that are in the shipping business.)

Joe McMillan, 18 October 2001