Robert Kermit Red Star Line
Encyclopedia
In 1818 the Red Star Line (also known as Red Star Packet Line, New Line, and Second Line) was founded by Byrnes, Trimble & Co. from New York. (It should not be confused with the same-named Belgian/US-American shipping company Red Star Line
, whose main ports of call were New York City
and Philadelphia in the United States and Antwerp in Belgium). On September 11, 1835 the line was bought by Robert Kermit from New York, a ship-owner and agent for packet ships, and was renamed Robert Kermits Red Star Line (aka Kermit Line). In 1851 Robert Kermit took his brother-in-law Charles Carow into partnership as Kermit & Carow to carry on the business of general ship owning, commission and commercial trading. Robert Kermit died in 1855 and Carow assumed the business. In 1867 the Red Star Line went down.
, when the chief supplies of breadstuffs for this market came from Pennsylvania
and Virginia, and the firm, for some years engaged in the Chesapeake
trade, was among the largest receivers of flour
and grain
from there. Silas Wood was by birth a New Yorker but he resided at the city of Fredericksburg
upon the Rappahannock River
to promote that part of the business. The partners also became owners and managers of several merchant ships, and in late 1818 established the Red Star Line of packet ships.
was established in 1817 by Isaac Wright
& Son (William), Jeremiah
and Francis Thompson as well as Benjamin Marshall, and made semi-monthly sailings for Liverpool. The initial announcement of new competition for the Black Ball Line (now also called the Old Line) came in early January, 1822, from Byrnes, Trimble & Co. and their Red Star Line (aka New Line). Since the partners had been operating ordinary traders
to Liverpool for a few years, they finally decided to start a regularly scheduled line traffic with four packet ships
between New York and Liverpool
: the Panthea, Meteor
, Hercules and the Manhattan. The monthly service included sailings from New York on the 25th and from Liverpool on the 12th of each month. In 1823, the dates were changed to the 24th and 8th. Soon other South Street
merchants launched competing lines to race against the Black Ball Line, and the Red Star Line finally was called the Second Line instead of the New Line. The names of the lines were somewhat confusing and mixed, as their organizations and owners changed during the years. The classification above is adequate for what has been used by Albion and Staff. Within the following years, new ships were added to the Red Star Line-fleet, for example the John Wells and John Jay which was replaced by England in 1834. The new vessels were not necessarily faster than the old ones, but they were certainly more attractive from the passenger's point of view.
Thomas S. Byrnes died in 1828, but the business was continued under the name Byrnes, Trimble & Co. until 1831. When Silas Wood returned to New York to take an active share in its management, the name became Wood & Trimble, and so continued until its final dissolution, September 11, 1835, after the sale of their shipping interest to Robert Kermit.
, Constellation (1849), Underwriter (1850) and Waterloo. Other ships of Robert Kermits Red Star Line were: John Wells, England, Empire, Virginian, Samuel Hicks, Stephen Whitney, United States as well as Sheffield.
In the pressure of hard competition, packet schedules were tightened when reorganizing sailings due to disasters, new launchings, etc. In 1844-1848, several ships made three-month round trips instead of the traditional four months, calculated from one Liverpool departure to the following one. The West Point (1847)
(built by Westervelt & MacKay), the Waterloo and especially the Virginian were among the fastest on the North Atlantic route. But the Virginian also was one of the most susceptible ships and often ended in reporting problems and misadventures.
For many years, Kermit operated the line in his own name (it was often called Kermit Line too) but since 1851 he was associated with his brother-in-law, Charles Carow (father of Edith Kermit Carow, who became Mrs. Theodore Roosevelt
). After Robert Kermits death in 1855, Carow assumed the business, but faced a disastrous drop in income and immense losses during the postwar slump (after the end of the American Civil War
in 1865). Another reason for closing was simply that steamships had taken the business, first the mail service and the fine freight, and by the late 1860s, also the emigrant business. All the American sailing packet lines closed down by 1880. Red Star Line continued their service until 1867.
Red Star Line
The Red Star Line was an ocean passenger line founded in 1871 as a joint venture between the International Navigation Company of Philadelphia, which also ran the American Line, and the Société Anonyme de Navigation Belgo-Américaine of Antwerp, Belgium...
, whose main ports of call were New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
and Philadelphia in the United States and Antwerp in Belgium). On September 11, 1835 the line was bought by Robert Kermit from New York, a ship-owner and agent for packet ships, and was renamed Robert Kermits Red Star Line (aka Kermit Line). In 1851 Robert Kermit took his brother-in-law Charles Carow into partnership as Kermit & Carow to carry on the business of general ship owning, commission and commercial trading. Robert Kermit died in 1855 and Carow assumed the business. In 1867 the Red Star Line went down.
Establishment
In August 1817 Thomas S. Byrnes, George T. Trimble and Silas Wood established Byrnes, Trimble & Co. This was some years before the opening of the Erie CanalErie Canal
The Erie Canal is a waterway in New York that runs about from Albany, New York, on the Hudson River to Buffalo, New York, at Lake Erie, completing a navigable water route from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes. The canal contains 36 locks and encompasses a total elevation differential of...
, when the chief supplies of breadstuffs for this market came from Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
and Virginia, and the firm, for some years engaged in the Chesapeake
Chesapeake Bay
The Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the United States. It lies off the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by Maryland and Virginia. The Chesapeake Bay's drainage basin covers in the District of Columbia and parts of six states: New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and West...
trade, was among the largest receivers of flour
Flour
Flour is a powder which is made by grinding cereal grains, other seeds or roots . It is the main ingredient of bread, which is a staple food for many cultures, making the availability of adequate supplies of flour a major economic and political issue at various times throughout history...
and grain
GRAIN
GRAIN is a small international non-profit organisation that works to support small farmers and social movements in their struggles for community-controlled and biodiversity-based food systems. Our support takes the form of independent research and analysis, networking at local, regional and...
from there. Silas Wood was by birth a New Yorker but he resided at the city of Fredericksburg
Fredericksburg, Virginia
Fredericksburg is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia located south of Washington, D.C., and north of Richmond. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 24,286...
upon the Rappahannock River
Rappahannock River
The Rappahannock River is a river in eastern Virginia, in the United States, approximately in length. It traverses the entire northern part of the state, from the Blue Ridge Mountains in the west, across the Piedmont, to the Chesapeake Bay, south of the Potomac River.An important river in American...
to promote that part of the business. The partners also became owners and managers of several merchant ships, and in late 1818 established the Red Star Line of packet ships.
Regularly scheduled sailings
The first line of regular packet ships between New York and Liverpool, the Black Ball LineBlack Ball Line (trans-Atlantic packet)
The Black Ball Line initially consisted of four packet ships, the Amity, Courier, Pacific and the James Monroe. All of these were running between Liverpool, England and New York City. This first scheduled trans-Atlantic service was founded in 1817...
was established in 1817 by Isaac Wright
Isaac Wright
Isaac Wright was a Quaker investor who esblished the first scheduled trans-Atlantic shipping service between New York and England and was a president of City National Bank.Wright was born in Sheffield...
& Son (William), Jeremiah
Jeremiah Thompson
Jeremiah Thompson was a New York merchant, ship owner, Quaker, officer in the New York Manumission Society , and co-founder including Isaac Wright in 1817 of the famous Black Ball Line...
and Francis Thompson as well as Benjamin Marshall, and made semi-monthly sailings for Liverpool. The initial announcement of new competition for the Black Ball Line (now also called the Old Line) came in early January, 1822, from Byrnes, Trimble & Co. and their Red Star Line (aka New Line). Since the partners had been operating ordinary traders
Packet trade
Packet trade generally refers to any regularly scheduled cargo, passenger and mail trade conducted by ship. The ships are called "packet boats" as their original function was to carry mail.-United States:...
to Liverpool for a few years, they finally decided to start a regularly scheduled line traffic with four packet ships
Packet ship
A "packet ship" was originally a vessel employed to carry post office mail packets to and from British embassies, colonies and outposts. In sea transport, a packet service is a regular, scheduled service, carrying freight and passengers...
between New York and Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
: the Panthea, Meteor
USS Meteor (1819)
The first USS Meteor retained her name when she was purchased for the Stone Fleet. She was sunk as an obstruction in the harbor of Charleston, SC in December 1861....
, Hercules and the Manhattan. The monthly service included sailings from New York on the 25th and from Liverpool on the 12th of each month. In 1823, the dates were changed to the 24th and 8th. Soon other South Street
South Street (Manhattan)
South Street is a street in Lower Manhattan, New York City, located immediately adjacent to the East River.It runs from Whitehall Street near the southern tip of Manhattan to Jackson Street near the Williamsburg Bridge. The Franklin D...
merchants launched competing lines to race against the Black Ball Line, and the Red Star Line finally was called the Second Line instead of the New Line. The names of the lines were somewhat confusing and mixed, as their organizations and owners changed during the years. The classification above is adequate for what has been used by Albion and Staff. Within the following years, new ships were added to the Red Star Line-fleet, for example the John Wells and John Jay which was replaced by England in 1834. The new vessels were not necessarily faster than the old ones, but they were certainly more attractive from the passenger's point of view.
Thomas S. Byrnes died in 1828, but the business was continued under the name Byrnes, Trimble & Co. until 1831. When Silas Wood returned to New York to take an active share in its management, the name became Wood & Trimble, and so continued until its final dissolution, September 11, 1835, after the sale of their shipping interest to Robert Kermit.
Robert Kermit
Robert Kermit (1794-1855), who gained a mercantile training in the shipping house of William Codman, and who went into own business in 1817, already owned the Saint Line in his earlier years, but was not successful. With the help of some wealthy backers, he finally took over the owner ship of the Red Star Line in 1835. Unlike other operators, Kermit owned shares in all the ships of the line, while the rest of them were mainly owned by various ship builders and ship captains. Under the Kermit management, several misadventures and shipwrecks occurred, but in the quality of the ships, and their speed and regularity, the performance of Red Star Line was still better than it had been before. A list of ships, that finally sailed under the flag of the Red Star Line: John R. Skeddy (1845), West Point (1847)West Point (1847)
The West Point was a full rigged vessel built in the 1840s and used for the transportation of goods, passengers and mail to and from Liverpool and New York...
, Constellation (1849), Underwriter (1850) and Waterloo. Other ships of Robert Kermits Red Star Line were: John Wells, England, Empire, Virginian, Samuel Hicks, Stephen Whitney, United States as well as Sheffield.
In the pressure of hard competition, packet schedules were tightened when reorganizing sailings due to disasters, new launchings, etc. In 1844-1848, several ships made three-month round trips instead of the traditional four months, calculated from one Liverpool departure to the following one. The West Point (1847)
West Point (1847)
The West Point was a full rigged vessel built in the 1840s and used for the transportation of goods, passengers and mail to and from Liverpool and New York...
(built by Westervelt & MacKay), the Waterloo and especially the Virginian were among the fastest on the North Atlantic route. But the Virginian also was one of the most susceptible ships and often ended in reporting problems and misadventures.
For many years, Kermit operated the line in his own name (it was often called Kermit Line too) but since 1851 he was associated with his brother-in-law, Charles Carow (father of Edith Kermit Carow, who became Mrs. Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...
). After Robert Kermits death in 1855, Carow assumed the business, but faced a disastrous drop in income and immense losses during the postwar slump (after the end of the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
in 1865). Another reason for closing was simply that steamships had taken the business, first the mail service and the fine freight, and by the late 1860s, also the emigrant business. All the American sailing packet lines closed down by 1880. Red Star Line continued their service until 1867.
Literature
- Albion, Robert Greenhalgh: Square-Riggers on Schedule. The New York Sailing Packets to England, France, and the Cotton Ports, Princeton 1938. ASINAsínAsín is a municipality located in the Cinco Villas comarca of the province of Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain, located a few kilometers west of Orés. According to the 2004 census , the municipality has a population of 106 inhabitants....
B0006AO5QE - Staff, Frank: The Transatlantic Mail, Massachusetts 1980. ISBN 978-0-88000-113-7
- Scoville, Joseph Alfred (Barrett, Walter = pseud.): The old merchants of New York City (1863), ISBN 0543790002, ISBN 978-0543790002
- Laakso, Seija-Riitta: Across the Oceans (academic dissertation, University of Helsinki, Finland), ISBN 9789517469043, ISBN 952-10-3559-5
- Morris, Sylvia J.: Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt: Portrait of a First Lady, ISBN 0375757686, ISBN 0-375-75768-6, ISBN 9780375757686