A. H. Bull Steamship Company
A. H. Bull Steamship Company was a shipping company and passenger liner service founded in New York City in 1902 by Archibald H. Bull. Service started with shipping between New York and Florida. His fleet of ships then added service to other Eastcoast ports. The company is also often called the Bull Lines and the Bull Steamship Line or A. H. Bull & Company. While founded in New York, Bull soon move its headquarter to Pier 5 in Baltimore, Maryland. Bull Lines main east coast ports were: Baltimore, Charleston, Philadelphia, Tampa and Norfolk, Virginia. Oversea ports: Porto Rico, Antwerp, Bordeaux, Hamburg, Bremen, Copenhagen, and West Africa. Bull Steamship Line supported the US war effort for both World War I and World War II, including the loss of ships.
Archibald H. Bull
Archibald Hilton Bull started in the shipping business at a very young age, he worked his way from an errand boy to be on the board of directors and president of companies. In 1885 Archibald H. Bull founded the British-flagged New York and Porto Rico Steamship Company, which operated the Porto Rico Line. He ran the firm as a British-flagged ship, as he found the operating cost much lower than US-flagged shipping. In 1895 Bull entered into a partnership with Juan Ceballos. The Porto Rico Line lines ran from New York to Red Hook's Atlantic Basin's Pier 35 to Puerto Rico. The Porto Rico Line was a cargo and tourists line, also Puerto Ricans migrated to New York's Red Hook, Brooklyn on the line. The Porto Rico Line was Bull's second company serving Porto Rico, his first company was started in 1873, using a small fleet of sailing packets boats. In 1900, his share in the company was bought by his partners in a hostile takeover. As part of the agreement Bull had to agree not to run steamers to Puerto Rico for 10 years, till 1910. In 1902 Archibald H. Bull founded the A. H. Bull Steamship Company. Bull Steamship's next family President was Bull's son Ernest Miller Bull in 1920. The next family President was Edward Mryon Bull in 1942, third generation. He took the reins of the company after practicing as a maritime lawyer. In 1956 the company was sold to the American Coal Shipping Company. In 1961 American Coal sold the Bull Line to a Greek company that went into bankruptcy in 1964. Heir apparent, Edward M. Bull, Jr., left the East Coast, and practiced as a maritime lawyer for a time in San Francisco. His son, Edward M. Bull III, continued in the maritime industry, also a practicing maritime lawyer.Bull Lines
In 1885 Bull acquired his first ship, the SS Eva, a 4,750 dwt, cargo ship, with a British crew of 24. Starting in 1902 Bull chartered foreign ships for foreign shipping to remain profitable. In 1909 he added to his fleet SS, a collier, with a German crew of 31. Jean was taken over by the United States Navy in 1917 for World War I service, and returned in 1919. Bull sold the Jean in 1926 and the new owner renamed her SS Margarita Calafati. When the United States entered the World War I in 1917, the US had Bull Lines operate fifteen ships. Some of the ships were built by the United States Shipping Board and others acquired. SS Evelyn, a 1912 Bull passenger and freight was taken over by the US Navy in 1917 and returned to Bull in 1919. At the end of World War I were surplus cargo ships, some of which were assigned to Bull. At the end of World War I Bull started service to the eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea and to the Azores, Canary Islands, and West Africa till 1924. In 1924 new service was added to South Africa and East Africa till 1927. In 1927 service moved to the US Atlantic coastal ports and the West Indies. In 1923, Bull's first passenger ship was a converted 2,286-ton lake freighter cargo ship the SS Catherine. The Catherine offered overnight service between San Juan and Saint Thomas in the Virgin Islands. For World War II the Catherine was taken over by the UN Navy as. In 1925, Bull bought SS Brazos. Brazos was built by Newport News Shipbuilding Co., Newport News, Virginia, in 1907, she displaced 6,576 gross tons, and was 401 feet long. In 1930 the Bull Line had the passenger ship, SS Barbara offer service between Baltimore and San Juan. The Catherine and Barbara were the only passenger ships in the fleet at that time. Barbara was bought from the Grace Line, formerly called SS Santa Cruz. In 1934, two new cargo ships joined the Bull fleet. The two ships were a new type, built with resembled components, which greatly reduce the building time. The ships would be classified later for World War II construction as type C4-class ships. The new ships were the SS Angelina and Manuela..World War II
World War II ended all Bull passenger services. Bull ships were put into action to support the war effort. Three of Bull Lines ships were taken over by the US government. Bull Lines was active with charter shipping with the Maritime Commission and War Shipping Administration. During wartime, the Bull Lines operated Victory ships and Liberty ships. The ship was run by its Bull Line crew and the US Navy supplied United States Navy Armed Guards to man the deck guns and radio. The most common armament mounted on these merchant ships were the MK II 20mm Oerlikon autocannon and the 3"/50, 4"/50, and 5"/38 deck guns. Of the ships operated by the Bull Lines 19 ships were lost to German U-boats, beginning with SS Major Wheeler with all hands on February 6, 1942. Bull Lines had lost 14 ships to U-boats by the end of the summer of 1942, and lost its last ship, SS Delisle in October 1943. More than 275 crew were lost during the war aboard Bull Line ships..After World War II
At the war's end in 1945, Bull Line had 19 ships in her fleet. By 1947 there were many surplus cargo ships up for sale at low cost. Bull line bought three Liberty ships operating as colliers the: SS Powellton Seam, SS Chilton Seam and the SS Freeport Seam. Bull renamed the ships: SS Evelyn, SS Mae and SS Edith. Bull line bought five Liberty dry cargo ships in 1948 and five cargo-reefer ship of the type C2 the: SS Wheatland, SS Golden Fleece, SS Sweepstakes, SS Duplin, and SS Woodford. The ships were put into service on the Puerto Rico routes. In 1949 Bull bought the passenger ship, SS Borinquen from the Porto Rico Line. Bull had her refurbished and renamed the SS Puerto Rico. The Puerto Rico was put on the New York City to San Juan - Dominica Republic route. The route turned out not to be profitable, due to airline competition, and in 1953 the Puerto Rico was removed from service and to the Arosa Line as SS Arosa Star in 1954. This ended the Bull Lines passenger services. In 1949 other surplus cargo ships were bought: type C2 SS Agwicomet and the ss Cinch Knot a C1-M-AV1 ship. In 1951 Bull bought another two dry cargo Liberty ships. In Bull Line bought two more type C2 ship from the New York & Cuba Mail SS Co. in 1954.In late 1950s came the more cost-effective loading and unloading system, container shipping. The vast Bull Line fleet, now aged and on an obsolete system, put the company in decline. So, in 1956 Archibald H. Bull's heirs sold the Bull fleet of ships to the American Coal & Shipping Inc. In 1961 most of the fleet was sold to Kulukundis Maritime Industries Inc. of New York, owned by Greek Manuel K. Kulukundis. Kulukundis bought other ships, but by 1965 Kulukundis was bankrupt and the fleet was sold off one ship at a time.