The Red Star Line and the IMM
Front Cover and Spine, The Red Star Line and International Mercantile Marine Company by Vernon Edmond William Finch, 1988. GGA Image ID # 203f4b90ee
From the Inside DJ Flap
Rise and Shine for the Red Star line! For years, the crews of the Red Star Line ships were awoken by this call.
The Red Star Line, one of the oldest and best-known shipping lines ever to send ships out to sail the oceans, was founded in 1872 and liquidated in 1935. All Red Star ships, bearing famous names like the Vaderland, Nederland, Belgenland, Rhynland, Westernland, and Pennland, sailed under the Belgian flag, although Americans financed the Company.
Vernon E. W. Finch, once the youngest crew member on the Red Star ships, has written the whole story of this renowned shipping concern. Finch's book is based on years of research and contains many photographs of the Red Star ships, interiors, crews, and buildings. Vernon E.W. Finch says: "The result is this book about an unusual maritime venture, written with the sole purpose of preserving for future generations a record as detailed as I could find about the Red Star Line."
Contents
- Introduction (Read why this line is important and how the International Navigation Company, Red Star Line, Inman Line, American Line, White Star Line, Leyland Line, Atlantic Transport Line, and Dominion Line Merged into the Steamship Trust of J. P. Morgan, more commonly known as the International Mercantile Marine Company.)
- Chapter 1 The First Red Star Line
- Chapter 2 The International Navigation Company Of Philadelphia
- Chapter 3 The American Line
- Chapter 4 The International Navigation Company Of New Jersey And Of Liverpool
- Chapter 5 The International Mercantile Marine Company Of New Jersey
- Chapter 6 The U.S. Investigation Of The Practices Of Steamship Lines
- Chapter 7 Mishaps Involving Red Star Liners Period: 1873-1914
- Chapter 8 Rescues By The Red Star Liner Kroonland
- Chapter 9 Red Star Liners In World War I
- Chapter 10 Major Losses of International Mercantile Marine Company Ships Period: 1912-1918
- Chapter 11 The International Mercantile Marine Company In Financial Difficulties
- Chapter 12 The Liquidation
- Chapter 13 The Liquidation and the Belgenland
- Chapter 14 The Liquidation and the Pennland and Westernland
- Chapter 15 The Pennland and Westernland in World War II
- Chapter 16 The End of the International Mercantile Marine Company and Merger with the United States Lines
- Chapter 17 Charts of Red Star Line Ships
- Bibliography
- Acknowledgements
- Photo Credits
Title Page, The Red Star Line and International Mercantile Marine Company, by Vernon E. W. Finch, 1988. Author's Notation and Signature. GGA Image ID # 203ff4c969
Red Star Line Fleet List
Ships Chartered by the Red Star Line
- Abbotsford
- Adria
- Arabic
- Aragonia
- Cambroman
- Colina
- Conemaugh
- Cybele
- Devonian
- Haverford
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Italia
- Java
- Kenilworth
- Kensington
- Manitou
- Marquette
- Menominee
- Merion
- Mesaba
- Ninian
- Pennsylvania
- Poland (Ex Manitou)
- Rydal Hall
- Scotia
- Southwark
- State of Nevada
- Winifredian
About the Author
Vernon E. W. (Edmond William) Finch was born in Gillingham (Medway), Kent, England on 5 January 1916. His father, Cyril Vernon Finch, instilled in him an early love of the ships and sea; Finch Senior was a skilled shipwright and sailed with the great shipping lines.
The economic depression compelled Vernon E. W. Finch to start work at an early age, his first job as a messenger at the John Cockerill shipyard in Belgium. He could watch many of the ships on and along the river Scheldt.
In 1933, he wanted to join the Red Star Line. Although, according to regulations, Finch was six months under-age, the Red Star Line crew manager signed him on as a Bell Boy.
He left Antwerp for New York in the flagship Belgenland four days later. Vernon E.W. Finch later embarked on a quayside career, but memories of the Red Star Line remained with him.
After reading the scanty information on the Company, he decided "to write the most comprehensive history of the Line as was possible forty years after its disappearance and before all traces were obliterated by time."
Vernon Finch died on 12 November 2003, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, at the age of 87.
Library of Congress Catalog Listing
- Personal name: Finch, Vernon E. W., 1916-2003
- Main title: The Red Star Line and International Mercantile Marine Company / Vernon E.W. Finch.
- Published/Created: Antwerpen : Uitgeverij de Branding, 1988.
- Description: 151 p. : ill. (some col.) ; 27 cm.
- ISBN: 9072543017
- LC classification: HE945.R38 F56 1988
- Portion of title: International Mercantile Marine Company
- Cover title: Red Star Line
- LC Subjects: Red Star Line--History. International Mercantile Marine Co.--History.
- Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 148-149).
- LCCN: 91203951
- Type of material: Book
