United States Navigation Company was founded by Edward Carl Wilhelm Oelsner (1888-1973) in New York City in 1917. Oelsner was a Prussian-born German (born in Bialystok, Podlaskie, Poland), who came to America in 1908. In 1915 became a manager of the Hamburg America Line's New York office. In 1917 he became a steamship broker, he then founded his own steamship brokerage firm, United States Navigation Company. United States Navigation Company's first clients were the Hamburg-American Line and North German Lloyd Line. Next Oelsner entered into a joint venture with Biehl & Company chartering ships that serviced the Gulf of Mexico ports. United States Navigation Company when went from just a shipbroker to a ship owner, with the purchase of 1885 SS City of Salisbury, a 397-ton cargo ship. On March 7, 1973, Oelsner died, he and his wife, Eva, were on vacation in Torremolinos, Spain. United States Navigation Company continued doing business. In 1979 the United States Navigation Company was sold and in 1981 closed. The United States Navigation Company supported the World War II effort with its ship and as an operator of United States owned ships.[4][5][6]
United States Navigation Company was a US broker for a number of shipping lines:[7]
United States Navigation Co. and the Marine Services Company Limited founded a subsidiary, the Canada South Africa Line of Montreal, Canada in 1945.[8]
Howard L. Gibson Oct. 14, 1944 had a fire at after collision with Geo. W. McKnight, was towed to Casablanca, then New York City, a loss not repaired [18]
^World War II U.S. Navy Armed Guard and World War II U.S. Merchant Marine, 2007-2014 Project Liberty Ship, Project Liberty Ship, P.O. Box 25846 Highlandtown Station, Baltimore, MD [1]
.jpg)
