U.S. Mail Steamship Company History and Ephemera

The United States Mail Steamship Company – also called the United States Mail Line, or the U.S. Mail Line – was a passenger steamship line formed in 1920 by the United States Shipping Board (USSB) to run the USSB's fleet of ex-German ocean liners that had been seized by the United States during World War I or awarded as war reparations after the end of the war. Receivers were appointed for the line after financial improprieties and massive losses came to light. After review of the financial data, a United States District Court ordered that all the U.S. Mail Line ships be returned to the USSB. [Wikipedia]

Documents in the Archives

  • 1921 Deck Plan: Twin Screw Passenger Steamship Princess Matoika (aka President Arthur. Norddeutcher Lloyd Bremen, General Agents.

USS Princess Matoika (ID-2290) was a transport ship for the United States Navy during World War I. Before the war, she was a Barbarossa-class ocean liner that sailed as SS Kiautschou for the Hamburg America Line and as SS Princess Alice (sometimes spelled Prinzess Alice) for North German Lloyd. After her World War I Navy service ended, she served as the United States Army transport ship USAT Princess Matoika. In post-war civilian service she was SS Princess Matoika until 1922, SS President Arthur until 1927, and SS City of Honolulu until she was scrapped in 1933.

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