Grove Koger

It’s one of many, many travel firms that have fallen by the wayside, in this case in 1926, when it was acquired by Matson Navigation Company of Honolulu.

However, the Oceanic Steamship Company had enjoyed a good run.

Founded in 1881 on Maui in the Kingdom of Hawaii by ambitious entrepreneur John D. Spreckels and several other members of the Spreckels family, the company operated as a subsidiary of a holding company, Wm. G. Irwin and Co. The Spreckels raised sugarcane, from which they extracted raw sugar and, using the ships of their own Oceanic Steamship Company, shipped most of it to San Francisco for refining and eventual distribution throughout the western United States. (In case you’re wondering, the Spreckels owned the city’s sugar refineries as well.) The company was apparently the first to schedule runs between the islands and San Francisco on a regular semimonthly basis.

Having replaced its original fleet of sailing ships with newer, faster steamships, Oceanic soon branched out into carrying freight, passengers, and mail, this last having long been a monopoly of a rival firm, Oceanic Pacific Mail.

In August 1898, the United States annexed the Kingdom, and, in 1906, the new territory’s second governor, G.R. Carter, had this to say in his Report of the Governor of the Territory of Hawaii to the Secretary of the Interior: “The Oceanic Steamship Company operates four steamers on the Honolulu run, i.e., the Sierra, 6,200 tons; Sonoma, 6,200 tons; Ventura, 6,200 tons, and Alameda, 3,200 tons. The first three steamers maintain a twenty-one day service between San Francisco and Sydney [Australia], stopping regularly at Honolulu, Pago Pago [Samoa], and Auckland [New Zealand]. These boats have accommodation for 200 first-class and 100 second-class passengers. The steamship Alameda of this line plies between San Francisco and Honolulu only. The round trip, including stays in port, consumes twenty-one days, dates of sailing being intermediate with those of the thru steamers.”

Oceanic eventually owned 17 ships, and was hailed at the time of its sale to Matson Navigation in 1926 by the New York Times as “one of the pioneers in transpacific trade.” The pioneer continued to sail under the name Oceanic for the rest of the century.

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