Jump to Content

Collection Guide
Collection Title:
Collection Number:
Get Items:
Guide to the Crowley Maritime Corporation Records
BANC MSS 89/49 c  
View entire collection guide What's This?
Search this collection
Collection Details
 
Table of contents What's This?
  • Collection Summary
  • Information for Researchers
  • Administrative Information
  • Corporate History
  • Scope and Content Note

  • Collection Summary

    Collection Title: Crowley Maritime Corporation records,
    Date (inclusive): 1888-1968
    Collection Number: BANC MSS 89/49 c
    Creator: Crowley Maritime Corporation
    Extent: Number of containers: 29 boxes, 1 oversize folder, 3 oversize boxes, 4 volumes

    Linear feet: 14
    Repository: The Bancroft Library.
    Berkeley, California 94720-6000
    Abstract: Contains business records primarily for the early years of the company's operation in the San Francisco Bay Area. Includes ledgers, account books, time books, stockholders records, payroll journals, cash books, pilot books and related material for the Crowley Tugboat and Launch Company, Shipowners and Merchants Tugboat Company, Marinolich Ship Building Company, Harbor Tug and Barge Company, and other Crowley enterprises.
    Physical Location: For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.
    Languages Represented: English

    Information for Researchers

    Access

    Collection open for research.

    Publication Rights

    Copyright has been assigned to The Bancroft Library. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the appropriate curator or the Head of Public Services for forwarding. Permission for publication is given on behalf of The Bancroft Library as the owner of the physical items and the copyright.

    Preferred Citation

    Crowley Maritime Corporation records. BANC MSS 89/49 c, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.

    Related Collections

    Crowley Maritime Corporation Pictorial Collection, BANC PIC 1990.007--ffALB
    Crowley Maritime Corporation: San Francisco Bay tugboats to international transportation fleet: Oral history transcript and related material, BANC MSS 85/26 c

    Material Cataloged Separately

    • Photographs have been transferred to Pictorial Collections of The Bancroft Library.

    Indexing Terms

    The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.

    Subjects

    Crowley, Thomas Bannon.
    Shipping--California--San Francisco Bay Area.
    Work boats--California--San Francisco Bay.
    Tugboats.
    Shipbuilding.
    Pilots and pilotage.
    Inland water transportation--California.
    Coastwise shipping--California.

    Genres and Forms of Material

    Account books.
    Business records.

    Index Terms Related to this Collection

    Shipowners & Merchants Tugboat Company.
    Crowley Launch and Tugboat Company.
    Online Archive of California.

    Administrative Information

    Acquisition Information

    The Crowley Maritime Corporation Records were given to The Bancroft Library by Thomas B. Crowley on December 16, 1988. Additions were made on June 21, 2004.

    Corporate History

    Originally headquartered in Oakland, California, Crowley Maritime Corporation is one of the most diversified marine operations companies in the world. Between 1973 and 1985, after several decades of doing business under as many as 45 different names, Crowley Maritime Corporation consolidated it's various companies under the new corporation. It now provides diversified transportation services in domestic and international markets by means of four operating lines of business: Liner Services; Ship Assist and Escort Services; Oil and Chemical Distribution and Transportation Services; and Energy and Marine Services.
    Thomas Crowley began ferrying sailors and supplies in a rowboat on San Francisco Bay in the 1800s. By 1904, he was running 28 foot launches with 8-horsepower engines. The Crowley Launch and Tugboat Company was officially created in 1906. Crowley summed up his mission statement as "Anything, Anywhere, Anytime, on Water." He adapted equipment, created services, and bought into existing operations in California and elsewhere.
    In 1918, he purchased a quarter interest in San Francisco's Red Stack tugs, owned by the Shipowners and Merchants Towboat Company and continued investing until he held 100 percent of the stock. He also built double deck passenger boats for harbor tours and established a shipyard, Martinolich Shipyard, to repair his own fleet.
    Crowley expanded into Puget Sound, shortly after World War I with the Puget Sound Tug and Barge Company. He continued to expand into all major West Coast ports with launches and tugs and entered the common carrier freight services in 1935 with the purchase of Bay Cities Transportation Company and entered the bulk-petroleum transportation in 1939. In the 1940s, Harbor Tug and Barge Company was acquired to expand harbor services in San Francisco Bay, and in 1951, a second Oakland facility, Merrit Shipyards, was purchased to increase repair capabilities.
    [Excerpted from Crowley Maritime Corporation A Century of Service 1892-1992 and the Crowley Maritime website.]

    Scope and Content Note

    Crowley Maritime Corporation Records, 1888-1968, contains business records primarily for the early years of the company's operation in the San Francisco Bay Area. Includes ledgers, account books, time books, stockholders records, payroll journals, cash books, pilot books, and related material for Crowley Tugboat and Launch Company, Shipowners and Merchants Tugboat Company, Martinolich Shipbuilding Company, Harbor Tug and Barge Company, and other Crowley enterprises.