SHIPS OF THE U.S. MERCHANT MARINE 



THE firm of Miller, Bull and Knowlton, established in 1886, became 

 in 1902 the firm of A. H. Bull & Co., shipping agents and operators. 

 It was incorporated in 1924 and continues a general agency business. The 

 ship-owning company, the A. H. Bull Steamship Co., was incorporated 

 in 1902. 



The first vessel of the Bull Line fleet was purchased in 1897. At the 

 time of the declaration of the first World War, the fleet consisted of 

 fifteen vessels, all under the American flag, and all but two constructed 

 in American yards. During both world wars the fleet was employed in 

 war service. 



Following the signing of the Armistice after World War I, the Bull 

 Line fleet returned to its principal trade, that with Puerto Rico. In addi- 

 tion, A. H. Bull & Co. undertook the United States Shipping Board's 

 service from North Atlantic ports to the Eastern Mediterranean, Con- 

 stantinople and the Black Sea, and later added to this operation a service 

 from North Atlantic ports to West Africa, taking in, as well, the Azores 

 and the Canary Islands. In October, 1924, the company ceased its Medi- 

 terranean operations and started service to the ports of South and East 

 Africa. In 1928 it withdrew from its remaining transatlantic operations. 



Meanwhile, the vessels of the A. H. Bull Steamship Co. continued 

 their regular service to Puerto Rico and Santo Domingo. By 1927 the 

 fleet consisted of twenty-five vessels. 



Following the cessation of transatlantic operations in 1928, domestic 

 services were expanded to include cargoes for East Coast and Gulf trade, 

 areas which the Bull Line had served by tramp steamers for many years. 



In 1934 and 1935, the Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock 

 Company constructed for the Bull Line the first dry-cargo vessels built 

 in the United States after the termination of the World War I. These ves- 

 sels, the S.S. Angelina and the S.S. Manuela, were the forerunners of the 

 Maritime Commission C-type vessels later built under the Merchant 

 Marine Act of 1936. They corresponded closely to the newer C-i ships. 



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