The Fleets

American Scantic Line

In April 1918, during World War I, the United States Shipping Board began liner services to Scandinavian and Baltic Ports under the name of the American Scantic Line. These routes were operated with tonnage owned by the US Government and managed by Moore & McCormack. Moore & McCormack Company was formed the in 1913 by Albert V. Moore of Hackensack, N.J. and Emmet J. McCormack of Brooklyn, N.Y.

In 1927 Moore & McCormack purchased the American Scantic Line with six Hog Island built ships from the United States Shipping Board. Later this trade was expanded to include Russian and Polish ports. The contract was that Moore & McCormack provided a service for ten years to the Scandinavian and Baltic ports. Four ships were transformed in 1932 from standard freighters with limited passenger accommodation to passenger cargo ships with accommodation for seventy two passengers. Those ships were the BIRD CITY, SCHENECTADY, CHICKASAW and SAGUACHE (SCANPENN, SCANYORK, SCANMAIL and SCANSTATES).

The American Scantic Line was involved in the establishment of a Caribbean passenger cargo service in conjunction with the Alcoa owned Ocean Dominion Steamship Company in 1934. Two vessels the ORITANI and ORMES began that service in September 1934. The SCANMAIL began American Caribbean services on October 19, 1944 followed by the SCANPENN in November 1934. In the spring of 1935 the SCANMAIL returned to the American Scantic Line and in 1937 the SCANPENN with the ending of agreement with the Ocean Dominion Steamship Company.

Early in 1938 most of the American Scantic Line’s cargo ships were renamed with the MORMAC prefix.

In August 1945 a new freight service was started by the American Scantic Line between Philadelphia, Gothenburg, Stockholm and Helsinki and by March 1946 the company was running a weekly service from New York to Norwegian, Swedish and Baltic Ports by cargo ships carrying twelve passengers. Also, in 1946 a C4 cargo vessel the MARINE PERCH converted for troop carrying was chartered for four voyage from New York to Oslo, Norway and Gothenburg, Sweden with the last two voyages in conjunction with the United States Lines with an extra call at Bremen, Germany. The MARINE PERCH was transferred to the American Export Lines and in her place a similar ship the MARINE JUMPER was chartered together with the United States Lines, her sister ERNIE PYLE took also two voyages to Europe in the Autumn of 1947.

After World War II Moore & McCormack concentrated on a fleet of American built standard ships with accommodation for twelve passengers. Moore & McCormack expanded the vital Scantic route in November of 1962, when Rotterdam and Antwerp were added to the ports of call for the Company‘s newest cargo liners. These ports give the Company access to the heavy traffic generated in and out of the Benelux countries and the Rhineland and made good in some degree post-war losses in shipments from Eastern Europe. Complementing the Scantic service, the luxury liners Argentina and Brazil made special spring and summer cruises to Scandinavia, the Baltic, Russia and Northern Europe.

Cargoes and passengers were declining and 1965 the American Scantic Line’s service was stopped by Moore & McCormack. Moore & McCormack missed like a lot of other American Shipping Companies the containerisation in the sixties and was taken over by Malcolm Mclean of the United States Line in 1982.

Many thanks to Henk Jungerius and Ted Finch for their assistance in collecting this data. The following list was extracted from various sources. This is not an all inclusive list but should only be used as a guide. If you would like to know more about a vessel, visit the Ship Descriptions (onsite) or Immigrant Ship web site.

• Routes:
  • 1927: New York, Copenhagen, Helsinki
  • 1937: New York, Gothenburg, Copenhagen, Gdynia, Stockholm, Helsinki.
             Return voyages: Helsinki, Leningrad, Gdynia, Copenhagen, New York
  • 1949: U.S. East Coast ports, Norwegian ports, Swedish ports, Danish ports, Polish ports, Finnish Ports.
  • 1962: U.S. East Coast ports, Norwegian ports, Swedish ports, Danish ports, Polish ports, Finnish Ports, Rotterdam, Antwerp.

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Last updated: May 18, 2006 and maintained by and M. Kohli