International Mercantile Marine Company
The International Mercantile Marine Company, originally the International Navigation Company, was a trust formed in the early twentieth century as an attempt by J.P. Morgan to monopolize the shipping trade.
International Mercantile Marine Company
John Pierpont Morgan, founder and owner of the IMM Co.
The Regina sailed for the Dominion Line and White Star Line before being transferred to the Red Star Line under the name of Westernland.
The IMM company vice president released a statement following the sinking of the RMS Titanic, assuring that despite the lack of communication from the ship, she was "unsinkable".
International Navigation Company
The International Navigation Company (INC) was a Philadelphia-based holding company owning 26 ships totaling 181,000 tons and carried more passengers than either Cunard or White Star, when the company was reorganized as International Mercantile Marine in 1902. The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania approved a charter for the INC on May 5, 1871. The company was commonly known as the Red Star Line due to the red star on its white house flag. The principal American organizer and general agent of INC was the shipbroking firm of Peter Wright & Sons, one of the oldest, most respected, and most financially prosperous of the Philadelphia import-export houses.
Principal financial backing was provided by the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. Although the financial interests were headquartered in the United States, the backers did not believe that a transatlantic steamship line could be run successfully under an American flag. Ships were to be built in foreign yards, operated under foreign flags, and manned with foreign crews.
Clement A. Griscom (1841 - 1912): Longtime President of International Navigation
Griscom's first record breaker, City of New York
The American Line's St. Louis
J.P. Morgan, photographed by Edward Steichen in 1903