page_title: United Fruit Company
section_title: The Great White Fleet
hierarchical_section_title: United Fruit Company / The Great White Fleet
caption_attribution_description: English: Map of the routes of United Fruit Company steam ship service
context_page_description: The United Fruit Company was an American corporation that traded in tropical fruit grown on Latin American plantations and sold in the United States and Europe. The company was formed in 1899, from the merger of Minor C. Keith's banana-trading concerns with Andrew W. Preston's Boston Fruit Company. It flourished in the early and mid-20th century, and it came to control vast territories and transportation networks in Central America, the Caribbean coast of Colombia, Ecuador, and the West Indies. Though it competed with the Standard Fruit Company for dominance in the international banana trade, it maintained a virtual monopoly in certain regions, some of which came to be called banana republics, such as Costa Rica, Honduras, and Guatemala.
  United Fruit had a deep and long-lasting impact on the economic and political development of several Latin American countries. Critics often accused it of exploitative neocolonialism, and described it as the archetypal example of the influence of a multinational corporation on the internal politics of the banana republics. After a period of financial decline, United Fruit was merged with Eli M.
context_section_description: For over a century, United Fruit Company steamships carried bananas and passengers between Caribbean and United States seaports. These fast ships were initially designed to transport bananas but later included cargo liners with accommodations for fifty to one-hundred passengers. Cruises of two to four weeks were instrumental in establishing Caribbean tourism. These banana boats were painted white to keep the temperature of the bananas lower by reflecting the tropical sun:
  Admiral Dewey, Admiral Schley, Admiral Sampson and Admiral Farragut (1899) were United States Navy vessels declared surplus after the Spanish–American War. Each carried 53 passengers and 35,000 bunches of bananas.
  Venus (1903) United Fruit Company's first refrigerated banana ship
  San Jose, Limon and Esparta (1904) first banana reefers built to United Fruit design. San Jose and Esparta were sunk by U-boats in World War II.
  Atenas (1909) class of 13 5,000-ton banana reefers built in Ireland
  Tivives (1911) 4,596 GRT fruit carrier built by Workman, Clark & Company of Belfast, changed from British to United States registry 1914 when war broke out in Europe, served briefly as commissioned transport for U.S. Navy in World War I, and was again in service for World War II under U.S. Army charter then as War Shipping Administration transport. Torpedoed and sunk October 21, 1943 by German aircraft off Algeria in Convoy MKS-28.
  Pastores (1912) 7241-ton cruise liner became USS Pastores (AF-16)
  Calamares (1913) 7,622-ton banana reefer became USS Calamares (AF-18)
  Toloa (1917) 6,494-ton banana reefer
  Ulua (1917) 6,494-ton banana reefer became USS Octans (AF-26)
  San Benito (1921) 3,724-ton turbo-electric banana reefer became USS Taurus (AF-25)
  Mayari and Choluteca (1921) 3,724-ton banana reefers
  La Playa (1923) banana reefer
  La Marea (1924) 3,689-ton diesel-electric banana reefer became Darien 4,281-ton turbo-electric banana reefer in about 1929–31
  Telda, Iriona, Castilla and Tela (1927) banana reefers
  Aztec (1929) banana reefer
  Platano and Musa (1930) turbo-electric banana reefers
  Chiriqui (1932) 6,963-ton turbo-electric passenger and cargo liner became USS Tarazed (AF-13)
  Jamaica (1932) 6,968-ton turbo-electric passenger and cargo liner became USS Ariel (AF-22)
  Veraqua (1932) 6,982-ton turbo-electric passenger and cargo liner became USS Merak (AF-21)
  Talamanca (1932) 6,963-ton turbo-electric passenger and cargo liner became USS Talamanca (AF-15)
  Quiriqua (1932) 6,982-ton turbo-electric passenger and cargo liner became USS Mizar (AF-12)
  SS Antigua (1932) Turbo-electric passenger and cargo liner providing two-week cruises of Cuba, Jamaica, Colombia, Honduras and the Panama Canal Zone.
  Oratava (1936) banana reefer
  Comayagua, Junior, Metapan, Yaque and Fra Berlanga (1946) banana reefers
  Manaqui (1946) bulk sugar ship
caption: Routes of United Fruit Company steam ship service (1924)
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