Calmar Steamship Company
Bethlehem Shipping Companies
Calmar Steamship Company was a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Bethlehem Steel founded in New York City in 1927. Bethlehem Steel Company founded Calmar Steamship Company and other steamship companies after finding general shipping companies could not meet the company's needs in a timely manner. At the time Bethlehem Steel Company was the second-largest steelmaker in the United States and the world, only behind U.S. Steel. Calmar Steamship Company shipped Bethlehem Steel Company products from the Atlantic coast to the Pacific coast. On the return trip, Calmar Steamship Company would bring lumber products from the Pacific coast to the Atlantic coast. Calmar Steamship Company closed in 1976, as United States steel manufacture declined in the 1960s.
Ships
Ships:
SS Portmar a steam cargo ship built in 1919
SS Corvus a steam cargo ship built in 1919 by Columbia River Shipbuilding Company
Alamar, a steam cargo ship built in 1919
SS Circinus a steam cargo ship built in 1919
SS Oakmar sunk by U-71 on March 20, 1942, off Virginia
Calmar (1) a Type C4-class ship
Liberty ships that became Calmar ships:
Marymar, was SS Frederick H. Baetjer
Alamar (2), was Samuel F. B. Morse (2)
Massmar, was Alexander V. Fraser
Flomar, was Arlie Clark
Seamar, was George M. Verity
Kemmar, was George R. Holmes
Calmar was Vincent Harrington
Portmar, was Joseph B. Eastman
Pennmar, was William S. Baer
Yorkmar, was Walter Kidde
Lomar, was Morris Sigman
Texmar, was Harold O. Wilson
World War II
During World War II Bethlehem Steel Company had its subsidiary companies operated charter shipping to support the war. During World War II Bethlehem Steel Company had its subsidiary companies: Calmar Steamship Company and Interocean active with charter shipping for the Maritime Commission and War Shipping Administration. During wartime, the Companies 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.
“Calmar Steamship Company” enters the record as bethlehem Shipping Companies. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Calmar, Steamship and Company can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Calmar Steamship Company” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Calmar, Steamship and Company provides the most credible route into that argument.
Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 27, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q110722873. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1927, 1976, 1919 and 1942.
A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Calmar Steamship Company”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Calmar Steamship Company primary sources, Calmar Steamship Company archive and Calmar research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Calmar Steamship Company”?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Calmar Steamship Company” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.