The story
1913–1919 (World War I)
Moore-McCormack Lines' first run was with Montara, intended to be a shipment of dynamite from Wilmington, Delaware, to Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, but, with the load not ready, the ship took coal from Norfolk, Virginia, to Searsport, Maine destined for Aroostook County, Maine, before returning for the dynamite. It had been built in 1881 and was retired after this trip.
The company then acquired various small steamers, including a Great Lakes vessel renamed Mooremack, which were operated profitably during World War I. Additionally, chartered ships including passenger ships added to the South American runs that, by 1919, included Recife in Pernambuco, Bahia, Santos, Montevideo and Buenos Aires.
Inter-war years
After the war, the US government offered surplus ships to US shipping companies. Mooremack received several ships, which expanded its fleet and opportunities for trade, including in 1920 and 1921 to the Levant and India. Runs were established, briefly, to Ireland, but ended by 1925. Ships also went into the Mediterranean and to Black Sea ports including Russian, the first American-flag ships to Soviet Union ports.
In 1928, Vice President Robert C. Lee negotiated for Mooremack to become shipping agents for the Soviet Union using the American Scantic Line, having bought the line from the US Government. He later negotiated with the government of Poland for Mooremack to be part of the establishment of Gdynia as Poland's sea port. This also led to the establishment of trade from Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Austria through Gdynia in competition with German ports, which was a factor in the German invasion of Czechoslovakia and Poland at the outbreak of World War II.
1938 consolidation
On 8 September 1938, there was a consolidation of nine companies within the group to become Moore-McCormack Lines, Incorporated, capitalized at US$4.8m. On 4 October, Moore-McCormack contracted to operate ten cargo ships and three ocean liners belonging to the United States Maritime Commission between the US and South America as the Good Neighbor Fleet. The passenger liners were the former Panama Pacific Line 20,000-gross register ton (GRT) turbo-electric steamships California, Virginia and Pennsylvania, which were renamed Uruguay, Brazil and Argentina to reflect their new route between New York and Buenos Aires via Rio de Janeiro, Santos and Montevideo.
From Wikipedia’s article on Moore-McCormack, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3