ALCOA STEAMSHIP CO. INC.

A128’s funnel is described as aluminium or silver. The 1942 description of the company as charterer only leads Rosanoski to suggest that no flag may have accompanied this funnel.

The proportion of the flag occupied by the fess of three red bands varies among sources; the Collectors Corner badge separates them with equal white widths. Joe McMillan dates replacement of this flag by A157 to before the 1970s.

The source labelled “USA” shows a wider black funnel top.

Brown 1995 shows the later flag amended with a smaller panel placed towards the top and the black name “ALCOA” below.

Alcoa developed shipping during the First World War to carry bauxite from the territories now described as Suriname and Guyana to aluminium mills in the United States and elsewhere. Lloyds dates the Steamship company to 1917; another account says it was formed in 1940 to combine Aluminium Line’s Gulf trade, American Caribbean Line’s East Coast trade and Ocean Dominion’s Canadian trade. Rosanoski notes that Jordan already lists it in 1939. The fleet initially used foreign flags, operated under the US flag from 1940 to 1969 and then returned to flags of convenience. The 2001 directory records five Liberian-flagged ore carriers. Alcoa was the parent; Lib-Ore appears as a name company, and vessel names mainly began with “Alcoa”.

USA, New York and Pittsburgh.