James E. Ward founded the Ward Line in 1856 for scheduled cargo and passenger sailing services. Its post-Civil War move to steam brought the official name New York & Cuba Mail Steamship Company, although Ward Line remained in use; Merchant Ships dates steamship ownership to 1881. It acquired New York, Havana & Mexican Steamship Co. in 1888. After Ward’s death in 1894, his successors sold to Charles W. Morse’s Consolidated Steamship Company in 1907. Consolidated collapsed in 1908, and Ward passed to Atlantic, Gulf & West Indies Lines, retaining its own name.
The line briefly regained independence after the Second World War. McMillan dates AGWI liquidation to 1954 and a sale to outside investors, who shifted away from the US flag rather than accept subsidy conditions and diversified as Ward Industries. In 1956 the shipping assets and name went to Cia Naviera García, becoming Ward-García, which ceased in 1959 amid falling demand and the Cuban Revolution. Another source instead records acquisition by T.J. Stevenson shortly before the revolution, while Alderson gives liquidation in 1953. These differing accounts remain unresolved.
USA, New York.
Keep the explicit scope label independent; no alias or company identity is inferred.