The Fleets

Lykes Brothers Steam Ship Company / Lykes Lines, New Orleans, Tampa, 1898-2005

The Lykes Brothers Steamship Company traces its roots to the Civil War, when Dr. Howell T. Lykes collected and delivered cattle to confederate soldiers in Florida. After the war, Dr. Lykes raised cattle and citrus fruit and shipped them to Cuba. Dr. Lykes’ seven sons continued and expanded the cattle and shipping business, and formed the forerunner of the present company in 1898.

The Lykes Lines tradition of naming their ships after family members dates back to that time, when the brothers named their first ship, a 110 foot long, 75 ton three-masted schooner Doctor Lykes after their father.
Since its founding in 1898, Lykes Brothers has been the most important U.S. firm operating in and from the Gulf of Mexico. Its first large profits came from transporting lumber and cattle from Lykes estates in the southern US to Cuba after the Spanish-American War. Shortly after World War II, Lykes Brothers was operating 50 ships totaling 364,000 gross tons.
During World War I Lykes Brothers chartered government-owned ships as an agent of the United States Shipping Board on trade routes assigned by the board.

Lykes Bros SS Co. Inc incorporated in 1922 as a Louisiana corporation, with James Lykes as president and later chairman of the board. Steamship operations were headquartered in New Orleans, the main corporate headquarters remained in Tampa, and an office opened in New York. Some Laker type ships were purchased from the United States Shipping Board. The Lake Florian and Lake Slavi both built in 1920 were aquired in 1922 and renamed Tillie Lykes and Almeria Lykes. Lake Gadsen built in 1919 was purchased in 1924 and renamed Genevieve Lykes and Lake Flagstaff became Stella Lykes in 1926.
The company later purchased war-built United States ships and acquired other steamship companies, including Daniel Ripley and Company in 1923, Tampa Interocean in 1925 (Tampa Interocean was one of the many small companies founded in the years following World War I using surplus vessels provided by the U.S. Shipping Board. It specialized in trade between the U.S. Gulf coast and the Caribbean and South America ), Southern States Line, Texas Star Line and Lone Star Steamship Company with its two ships the Southlands (ex- Lake Gera) and Southseas (ex- Lake Flournoy) repectively renamed Ruth Lykes and Velma Lykes in 1927. The Moshico was purchased from the United States Shipping Board in 1928 and renamed Margaret Lykes.

In the 1920's Lykes operations spread to Europe, Far East and the Mediterranean. In 1933 Lykes had a fleet of 67 ships.
In 1931 and 1932 the eight Government owned ships of the Tampa Interocean were purchased.
In 1933 the Shipping Board accepts bids for the 52 vessels assigned to the Dixie and Southern States Lines and Lykes Steamship Lines and were placed under the Lykes Bros.-Ripley SS Co. Inc.
Lykes Bros. Steamship Co. Inc. resulted from a 1938 merger of Lykes Bros. Lines and Lykes Bros.-Ripley S.S. Co. Inc.

After the Merchant Act of 1936 came in being the company began to sell its older tonnage and replacing them by modern C type ships.
Five ships were sold in 1938, three in 1939 and twenty in 1940 and by the end of that year eleven new ships were delivered ( four C3 type and seven C1 type). The Second World War interrupted the modernisation programme and Lykes owned thirty five ships at the end of 1940.
The steamship company served as a general agent for the War Shipping Administration in World War II, operating a total of 125 government-owned and other vessels in the war effort. After the war Lykes returned to commercial activity and the fleet was replaced.
By 1954 the separate company Lykes Brothers Steamship, with a fleet of thirty two ships of the C2 type, seven of the C3 type, fourteen of the C1 type and three Victory type was considered the largest United States-flag cargo fleet under private ownership. It first offered shares to the public in 1958.

Gulf and South American SS Co., New Orleans (1947-1971) was a joint venture of Grace Line and Lykes Brothers connecting Grace's home turn (west coast of South America) and Lykes's home turn (Gulf of Mexico). The company split up when W. R. Grace & Co. abandoned the shipping business in 1969.

Lykes Bros. Steamship Co. Inc. was sold by the Lykes family in 1979 and became part of the LTV Corporation and then repurchased back 1983. However in 1997, following Chapter XI bankruptcy, it was sold to CP Ships where it continued life as a subsidiary, retaining its flag.
During the 1960's and early 1970's Lykes was famous for their barge/lash ships, however they have since been replaced. Since 1997 Lykes Lines is owned by CP Ships. In 1999 Americana Ships was formed as a joint venture between CP Ships and TMM. Early 2000 CP Ships aquires TMM group's stake in the joint venture and becomes the sole shareholder in Americana Ships.

On May 11, 2005 CP Ships has decided to do away with the well-established brand names of seven shipping companies under its umbrella. In future the Lykes Line, ANZDL, Canada Maritime, Cast, Contship Containerlines, Italia Line, and TMM Lines will all simply become part of CP Ships.
CP Ships was purchased on 21 August 2005 by TUI AG a German holding company wich also owns Hapag Lloyd and merge it with TUI's Hapag-Lloyd division. Following the purchase and merger, TUI AG's combined Hapag-Lloyd and CP Ships fleet will comprise the fifth largest by capacity in the worldwide container shipping market.

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:
  • New Orleans and other Gulf ports (Houston, Galveston etc), Yokohama and other Japanese ports, Korean ports, Taiwanese ports, Manila, Indonesian ports, Singapore, Penang, Port Swettenham, Singapore and return to US Gulf via the Philippines
  • New Orleans and other Gulf ports (Houston, Galveston etc), Capetown, Port Elizabeth, East London, Durban, Lourenço Marques, Beira, Dar-es-Salaam, Mombasa and return via a selection of ports due to cargo requirements.
  • ...
• Abbreviations:
  • Marad: Maritime Administration
  • MOWAT: Ministry of War Transport
  • NDRF: National Defence Reserve Fleet

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Last updated: November 07, 2010 and maintained by and M. Kohli