Lykes Brothers Steamship Company

Lykes Bros. Steamship Co., also called Lykes Lines, was a cargo shipping company acting from the beginning of the 20th century to 2005 having its main business in the trade to and from the United States.

In 1900 the sons of Dr. Howell Tyson Lykes started a shipping business by using a 109-foot, 75 ton three-masted schooner to ship cattle to Cuba as a replacement for herds which were wiped out in the Spanish–American War. The tradition of naming their ships after family members dates back to that time, when this schooner was named Doctor Lykes after their father. Three years later, an office was opened in Galveston, Texas, and Lykes began offering general cargo transportation between the US Gulf and Caribbean ports.

In 1922 the Lykes Bros. Steamship Co. was set up as a separate company, owned by the Lykes Brothers. The seven brothers had been trading cotton, lumber and grain for years so owning their own ships was a natural extension of their operations. During the 1920s Lykes began to range beyond the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean. Offices were opened in Europe, and routes were extended to the Mediterranean and Far East.

The 1930s saw Lykes acquiring 52 ships from Dixie and Southern States Lines, giving them a fleet of 67 ships. After passage of the Merchant Marine Act of 1936, they committed themselves to the replacement of their fleet with modern freighters. Sixteen had been delivered by December 1941, when the US entered World War II. During the war, Lykes carried 60 million tons of cargo and operated a maximum of 125 cargo ships for the government. 22 ships were lost along with 272 lives.

During the postwar years, Lykes returned to commercial activity. By the 1950s, it had a fleet of 54 ships totaling 568,978 deadweight tons. That fleet underwent a complete replacement between 1960 and 1973, when 41 new ships were built.

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