USS W. L. Steed (ID-3449) - Interwar Commercial Service, 1919-1941

Interwar Commercial Service, 1919-1941

Acquired by the Pan-American Petroleum and Transport Company in 1922, SS W. L. Steed subsequently was acquired by the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey in 1937. Following some two years of operation with Standard Oil, the ship was in need of repairs and docked at Constable Hook, Bayonne, New Jersey, on 30 June 1939. She remained there through August 1939 and departed Bayonne shortly after the 1 September 1939 outbreak of World War II in Europe with orders to proceed to Mariner's Harbor, Staten Island, New York, for repairs at the Bethlehem Steel Company yard there.

Upon completion of the necessary repairs and alterations, W. L. Steed departed New York on 4 October 1939, bound for Texas. Making port at Aransas Pass, Texas, a short time later, she took on a cargo of 68,169 barrels (10,838.0 m3) of west Texas crude oil, the first of five such cargoes she would carry in 1939. Once the crude was safely aboard, W. L. Steed cast off for New York.

During 1940 and 1941, W. L. Steed performed primarily coastwise duties for Standard Oil of New Jersey, although she occasionally included Havana, Cuba; Aruba, Dutch West Indies; and Cartagena, Colombia, among her ports of call. She made 17 voyages in 1940, carrying bulk oil cargoes of 1,053,261 barrels (167,455.1 m3), and 22 voyages in 1941, carrying bulk oil cargoes of 1,396,278 barrels (221,990.5 m3).