Oceanic Steamship was the major American shipping company throughout the Pacific Ocean starting in the 1880s.

 

It eventually was purchased in 1926 by the Matson Navigation Co. which took over its routes, which went all the way from the West Coast of North American to Australia and New Zealand.

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This was lucrative because the United States government provided funding to carry mail internationally in the Pacific.

 

With stops on various islands, Oceanic used images from its many ports of call on its printed material, like this postcard. ​Americans, especially on the West Coast, were already familiar with surfing as a typical sporting activity of the Hawaiian Islands.