Documentary images — company attribution uncertain

Kennedy, Hunter & Co.’s sheet gives an American Star Line house flag: white, with a central horizontal band divided red, white and blue, and a large white star outlined in black extending slightly into the surrounding white above and below. Jan Mertens tentatively associated the sheet with the modern company, while concluding that there were probably two American Star Lines. He also noted a strong resemblance to the American Independence Line flag; neither resemblance nor the sheet settles a corporate connection.

Which American Star Line used this flag is unresolved.

The document deliberately combines two apparently distinct companies. The Kennedy Hunter flag's attribution to one period remains tentative; the 1885 cruise date is plainly inconsistent with the later company's 1986 formation.