The Fleets

Ocean Steamship Company of Savannah / Savannah Line, Savannah, Georgia, 1872-1951

The Ocean Steamship Company of Savannah, generally known as the Savannah Line, was founded in 1872 to assume the operation of the Empire Line of steamships from William R. Garrison to operate passenger and cargo steamships between Savannah and New York. The newly founded company took over six steamers from the Empire Line to start the service. The company was to provide a major travel link over the next 70 years moving passengers, agricultural products, principally cotton and fruit from Georgia and Alabama to New York and Boston.

Although at first an independent company owned by the Central Rail Road, after 1874 the Ocean Steamship Company of Savannah became a wholly owned subsidiary of the Central Rail Road and Banking Company of Georgia, except for a few shares owned by the directors at that time. The two first newly built passengers ships the CITY OF MACON (1) and CITY OF SAVANNAH joined the fleet in 1877, followed in 1878 by two slightly larger ships the CITY OF COLUMBUS (1) and the GATE CITY. The CITY OF AUGUSTA was completed in 1880. The service was prospering in the 1880’s and the company ordered three more steamships from the yard of John Roach & Son, Chester. The GATE CITY and CITY OF COLUMBUS (1) were sold to help to finance the new three ships, which came in service in 1882 as TALLAHASSEE, CHATTAHOOCHEE and NACOOCHEE.

The KANSAS CITY built in 1889 was the company’s biggest vessel of 3,679 gt at that time. In 1902 the CITY OF MEMPHIS of 5,252gt built by John Roach & Son, Chester joined the fleet, followed in 1903 by a sister ship the CITY OF MACON (2). The fleet was further modernised in the later years by two other new buildings from the same yard the CITY OF COLUMBUS (2) and CITY OF ATLANTA and older tonnage was sold. In 1907 in a surprise move Edward Henry Harriman managed to acquire a controlling interest in the Central of Georgia Railway ( the new name for the Central Rail Road and Banking Company) an with it the Ocean Steamship Company. Two new passenger ships built by Newport News in 1910 the CITY OF ST. LOUIS and the CITY OF MONTGOMERY were delivered to the company.

The CITY OF MEMPHIS was captured shelled and sunk in March 1917. That same year the company took over two relatively new steamships from the Merchant & Miners Transportation Company and renamed the ships CITY OF ROME (ex Suwannee) and CITY OF ATHENS (ex Somerset), only to lose the CITY OF ROME in 1918 in a collision with the French warship Gloire.
In 1923 what would be the last two new built passenger ships built for the company; the CITY OF CHATTANOOGA and CITY OF BIRMINGHAM (2) were delivered from Newport News Shipbuilding & Drydock Company. In 1928 the fleet consisted of eight steamships. After 1929’s Stock Market crash at Wall Street ( the great Depression) the company started to operate in the red every year, also, the competition of the Clyde Mallory Line with its more modern ships was greatly felt.

When war started in September 1939 in Europe it did not first affect the shipping along the American coast. The CITY OF CHATTANOOGA was chartered by the Government to transport troops to Iceland in 1940. From September 1941 the passenger service was ended and the ships only carried cargoes. The CITY OF ATLANTA was on January 19, 1942 torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U.123 near Cape Hatteras with the loss of fifty four crew members. On July 30, 1942 the CITY OF BIRMINGHAM (2) was torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U. 202, two passengers and seven crew members lost their lives. The CITY OF SAVANNAH, CITY OF MONTGOMERY and the CITY OF ST. LOUIS were purchased by the American Government on May 25, 1942, followed by the CITY OF CHATTANOOGA on June 6, 1942. When the war ended in 1945 the company was left with no ships. Immediately after the war the company was disposing of all of its smaller vessels mostly tugs to American tug companies.

The Ocean Steamship Company of Savannah did purchase two C1A standard type cargo ships from the United States Maritime Commission (USMC) but never used them in their service, the Cape Nome was acquired on January 31, 1947, followed by the Cape Race on February 26, 1947. Both ships were chartered out to other shipping companies and in 1951 the Cape Nome and Cape Race were sold to the Arrow Steamship Company an Isbrantsen Steamship Co. subsidiary and renamed Flying Spray and Flying Foam respectively.
A study was done to review the feasibility of restoring its services, but the outcome was negative due the development of an adequate national highway network (trucks), the high prices to built new ships and the continually rising cost of terminal operations and the decision was made to wind up the company and was liquidated in 1951.

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:
  • Savannah-Boston-New York
  • Savannah-Philadelphia
  • Savannah- Fernandina-Jacksonville

note:  *  signifies paddle wheeler
Funnel & Flag:
Fleet:	before 1930 (approx.)		after 1930 (approx.)

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Last updated: January 18, 2007 and maintained by and M. Kohli