Frank Waterhouse

Frank Waterhouse (August 8, 1867 – March 20, 1930) was an English-born, American-based businessman, a prominent figure in the shipping industry in the early 20th century. He was also president of the Seattle Chamber of Commerce and of two Seattle taxi companies. His New York Times obituary described him as having had "one of the most colorful careers in the history of the Pacific Northwest."

Waterhouse was born in Cheshire, England. In 1898, Waterhouse established Frank Waterhouse & Co., and later established a Canadian subsidiary, Frank Waterhouse & Co. of Canada, Ltd., and owned a large portion of Japanese company, International Shipping Company, Ltd. Shortly before its failure in 1920, the company was described as, "a company of numerous departments, controlling through important subsidiaries various branches of production and trade and carrying on extensive business as shipowners, charterers, dock operators, forwarders, coal bunkerers, automobile and truck dealers, insurance agents, publishers, etc." In this same period, he chartered a large fleet of ships to the U.S. government at the time of the Spanish-American War (1898); these were used to transport supplies from the U.S. West Coast to the Philippines. Frank Waterhouse & Co. was based at Pier 5, now Pier 56; Piers 4 and 5 (55 & 56) were known at the time as the Arlington Docks.

When the Panama Canal Act required U.S. railroads to divest themselves of their steamship lines by November 4, 1915, Waterhouse saw an opportunity, as the Pacific Mail Line owned by the Southern Pacific Railroad sold off its ships and closed down. Coordinating with Union Pacific Railroad, he opened a trade line to Vladivostok to provision the Imperial Russian Army, which he was soon doing on a scale that exceeded the prior Pacific Mail Line operations. In April 1918, Frank Waterhouse & Co. purchased on the West Waterway of the Duwamish River, intending to build a new, larger Seattle terminal. When the Associated Industries of Seattle (AIS) was established March 12, 1919, in the wake of the Seattle General Strike, Waterhouse led the new organization as it confronted the International Longshoremen's Association in a series of strikes and lockouts.

Frank Waterhouse & Co. sought bankruptcy protection in 1920, Although elected as head of the Seattle Chamber of Commerce in 1922, he was still dealing with a bankruptcy. Vulcan Manufacturing Company, in particular, had proved a poor investment, and Waterhouse claimed he had been defrauded in purchasing it, a claim rejected by judge James T. Ronald. For a time, federal judge Jeremiah Neterer refused to grant a bankruptcy because of Waterhouse's "scandalous accusations" against creditor banks, but ultimately did grant the bankruptcy.