Agwilines Inc

AGWI Lines

Company type	Shareholder Company
Industry	Shipping, transportation
Founded	1908 (1908) in New York, United States
Defunct	1954
Successor	Ward-García Line
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	H. H. Raymond, C. H. Mallory, Benjamin Graham and Jerome Newman

Agwilines Inc was a passenger and cargo shipping company of New York City. Agwilines is short for Atlantic, Gulf & West Indies Steamship Inc. AGWI Lines group operated four main lines in the 1910s, 1920s and 1930s:¹²

• Ward Line
• Clyde line
• Mallory Line
• Porto Rico Line
• Later the Clyde-Mallory Lines

Agwilines Inc had offices in: New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Chicago, and Washington and was founded in 1908. In 1949, Graham-Newman Corporation (1926–1956), an investment corporation, purchased 70,000 shares of Agwilines Inc to become the controlling interest. Graham-Newman Corporation was founded by Benjamin Graham and Jerome Newm in 1926.³

Mallory Line, also called New York & Texas Steamship Company of New York City was founded in 1866 and closed in 1932. Mallory Line was an early family-owned passenger line, started by Charles Henry Mallory (1818–1890), in the coastwise trade. Mallory established C.H. Mallory & Company with his partner Elihu Spicer (1825–1993). Mallory Line served New York, Galveston, Texas, New Orleans, Havana, and Mobile. In 1907 Mallory Line was sold to Charles W. Morse who with the Ward Line started the Consolidated Steamship Lines.⁴ In 1908 Consolidated Steamship went bankrupt and was sold to the Atlantic, Gulf and West Indies (AGWI) SS Company. AGWI continues the Mallory Line until 1932. The Metropolitan Steamship Company and Eastern Steamship Company that were part of Consolidated Steamship Company were not sold to Agwilines Inc. In 1934 Mallory Line merged with Clyde Line to be the Clyde-Mallory Line. In 1949 the Clyde-Mallory Line was sold to the Bull Line, the line was ended by Bull Line. C. H. Mallory served one term in the Connecticut Senate in 1862. C. H. Mallory father was Patriarch Charles Mallory (1796–1882), he had a fishing fleet in Mystic, Connecticut. The Mallory family had a shipyard in Mystic, that built ships for the Union Navy during the Civil War. Henry H. Raymond was president and general manager of the Clyde Steamship and Mallory Steamship Companies from 1908 to 1923.⁵⁶⁷⁸ Clyde-Mallory Lines main ports were: Jacksonville, New York, Miami, Boston, Wilmington, Charleston, Key West, Galveston, Tampa, New Orleans and Mobile.⁴⁹

Clyde line ran from 1844 to 1907 under the Clyde Steamship Company. Thomas Clyde started the company in New York in 1872. The line ran between the US northeast and southeast. Later added were routes to the Dominican Republic and other West Indies. In 1908 the Clyde line ran under the Atlantic, Gulf and West Indies (AGWI) SS Company. In 1932 Mallory Line merged with Clyde Line. Thomas Clyde (1812–1885) was the founder and owner of the Clyde Line, Clyde Steamship Company. Main ports were New York City, Florida, Florida Keys, Boston, Providence, Cuba, and New Orleans. In 1861 Clyde's son, William P. Clyde took ownership till the 1906 sale. Clyde line ended in 1932, in the merger with Clyde-Mallory Line that ran from 1932 to 1949. Clyde Santo Domingo Line was a subsidiary of Clyde Line with service from New York City to West Indies.⁵⁴¹⁰

Porto Rico Line of the New York and Porto Rico Steamship Company was founded in 1895 in a partnership with Archibald H. Bull and Juan Ceballos. Bull later founded the A. H. Bull and Company. The Porto Rico Line ran from New York to Red Hook's Atlantic Basin's Pier 35 to Puerto Rico. The Porto Rico Line was a cargo and tourists line, also Puerto Ricans migrated to New York's Red Hook, Brooklyn.^{11121314151617 18}

Ward Line was started by the New York and Cuba Mail Steamship Company founded in 1877. Ward Line's first route was service to and from New York, Nassau and Havana. Ward purchased the Alexandre Line in 1888 adding service to the east coast of Mexico. In 1907 Charles W. Morse purchased the Ward Line. In 1908 Morse company went bankrupt and the Ward Line combined with several other Morse companies to form the Atlantic, Gulf and West Indies Line, Agwiline, each division ran under independent management. In 1908 was owned by Agwilines Inc, in 1954 became Ward-García Line.¹⁹²⁰

Consolidated Steamship was founded by Charles W. Morse. On January 1, 1907 Charles W. Morse joined the Mallory Line, Porto Rico Line, the Ward Line, the Metropolitan Steamship Company and Eastern Steamship Company to form the Consolidated Steamship Lines. The financial crisis panic of 1907 put Consolidated Steamship Company into bankruptcy in 1908. Out of the bankruptcy the Consolidated Steamship Company was sold to the Atlantic, Gulf and West Indies SS Company (AGWI Inc.). The Metropolitan Steamship Company and Eastern Steamship Company that were part of Consolidated Steamship Company were not sold to Agwilines Inc.²¹²²

During World War II Agwilines Inc. was active with charter shipping with the Maritime Commission and War Shipping Administration. During wartime, the Agwilines Inc operated Victory ships and Liberty ships. The ship was run by its crew and the US Navy supplied United States Navy Armed Guards to man the deck guns and radio. The most common armament mounted on these merchant ships were the MK II 20mm Oerlikon autocannon and the 3"/50, 4"/50, and 5"/38 deck guns.²³²⁴

Atlantic, Gulf & West Indies Steamship Inc ships:

• Satilla (1912), sunk in 1917 by a U-boat as Hans Kinck.²⁵
• Agwimoon (1920), sank as Altair in 1943 :²⁶
• Agwihavre (1921), sank as Gulfpenn in 1942²⁷
• Manata (1916), sank as Trym in 1837²⁸
• Ozama (1919), sank in 1928²⁹
• Panuco (1917), sank in fire at dock in 1941³⁰
• Choctaw (1917), sank as Syoka Maru in 1945³¹
• Agwipond period (1921), sank in 1930 as Cities Service Boston³²
• Agwibay (1921), sank as William F. Humphrey in 1942³³
• Agwisea (1920), sank in 1933³⁴

Clyde Line ships:³⁵

• Apache
• Mohawk (1908)
• Lenape (1912)
• Huron (1896)
• Comanche
• Arapahoe
• Cherokee (1925), sunk by U-boat June 16, 1942
• Chippewa (1905), (freight only)
• Philadelphia (1916)³⁶

Passenger and cargo from New York City to Monte Cristi, Puerto Plata, Samana, Sanchez, La Romana, Macoris, Santo Domingo City Azua and Barahona.³⁷³⁸
Clyde Santo Domingo Line ships:

• Algonquin (1926)
• Iroquois

Mallory Line ships:

• Comal
• San Jacinto (1903)
• Concho (1903)
• Sabine
• Lampasas
• Alamo
• Medina (1914)
• Nueces (1887)
• West Cawthon (1919), manager
• City of Houston (1871)³⁹
• Barges: Chas. E. Goin, C. F. Deering, P. C. Golder, Samuel Walker, O. M. Hitchcock (1881)⁴⁰
• Annie M. Smull (1868), sank in 1906⁴¹

• Porto Rico Line ships:
• Coamo (1925), sunk by U-boat in 1942⁴²⁴³
• Brazos (1889), sunk by U-boat 1941
• Carolina, sunk by U-boat 1918
• San Juan (1900)⁴⁴
• San Lorenzo
• Porto Rico
• Ponce
• Borinquen (1930), sank in 1970⁴²⁴³
• San Jacinto
• Mariana (1915), sunk by U-boat in 1942⁴⁵

Passenger steamships of the Ward Line:

Clyde-Mallory Line ships:⁵

World War II chartered ships operated by Agwilines Inc.:

• 
  1893 Mallory Line
• 
  Roosevelt's Rough Riders leaving Tampa aboard the transport Concho headed for Santiago de Cuba
• 
  Onondaga on Orleans Beach after running aground on January 13, 1907
• 
  Morro Castle of Ward Line at sea in 1901