Page 30 - Rukert - 100th Anniversary

ABOVE: The earliest known photo of Lazaretto Depot and Rukert Marine Corporation letterhead
Rukert Marine Fertilizer Inc. to Rukert Marine Corporation.
The first real jolt in company history was not the Great
Depression, but the attack on Pearl Harbor. If World War I
gave Cap the confidence to go into business for himself, World War II would test
his mettle. When the war broke out, business at Rukert Terminals came to a sudden halt. In June of 1941, the U.S. Maritime Commission directed the Southern Pacific Steamship Company to convert the Morgan Line cargo vessels into military transports. In addition, shipments of potash from France and
Germany were cut off and the Chilean interests were unable to obtain ships given the increased activity of German submarines prowling the Atlantic coastline and threatening every port.
During the early months of the war, Rukert Terminals employees, including Norman Sr. and Harry Routson Jr., unloaded the last Clipper ship (powered only by sail) carrying cargo into the Port of Baltimore. On the day before the attack at Pearl Harbor, the Abraham Rydberg sailed from Santos, Brazil, bound for Boston.
She was carrying 3,410 tons of bagged fertilizer. After battling bad weather and unfavorable winds for three months, as well as the threat of German
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