Help finding shipping lane information

mojosavage

Greenie
Nov 28, 2005
11
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I am looking for information about shipping lanes in the early to 1900's through the early 1930's, specifically in the Pacific for ships leaving from California. I wonder if they correspond to shipping lanes on today's nautical charts or if they have changed.

Does anyone know first of all what type of book or manual this would be in. I mean, did they hand out Captain's Map books with routes on them?????? If they did, that would be great. If I can just put a name to what Im looking for!

Please be generous with the information, any small detail will help out.

ms
 

I believe the shipping lanes remained the same. Now to find shipping lanes if one does not have maps, which i believe they do exist. Till i found the exact maps, I would research where merchant ships and warships were sunk by submarines during the war. Even enemy subs that were sunk tended to be in locations where they could find targets. Just a suggestion. Most ships traveled by themselves till the time to be in a convoy for safety was imposed. Just food for thought.
 

When shipping changed from sail to steam the routes did change.
Instead of following the old trade wind routes, modern shipping goes in straight lines. The ports have not changed however. The shortest distance between two ports will approximate the modern routes.
Splash,
Don Kincaid
 

Mojosavage:
Can you clarify your question a little bit more? Are you interested in shipping routes across the Paciific or those that originate and proceed along the Pacific coastline of the Americas?
Don.......
 

Across the Pacific, or Atlantic for that matter.

What I need to know is; When a merchant vessel sailed between the 2 world wars, where there specifically defined shipping routes and where could I locate maps of those routes?

Would a chart from that time period contain those routes? Maybe a specific brand of charts?

What research facility exists that would have that type of materials, (old nautical charts) i.e. Library Collections, Meritime Museums, etc.
 

Mojo:
Contact the trans-Pacific shipping companies themselves would be my first thought. If they don't exists, contact the repositories in California most likely to have such information. The Bancroft Library in Berkeley would be my first stop--asking the archivist there. Second stop would be the Maritime Museum in San Francisco (another good library for that info). Third, would be the Indexes of the San Francisco newspapers of the day.
Good luck,
Don..........
 

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