Celebrating 50 years of American Marine
We’ve discussed the origins of Elastec in the early ‘90s many times. But the story began long before that – in 1967 Orlando, Florida. That was the year that the late Jim Pearce formed a new company, American Marine. Pearce formed the company after a successful career as a U.S. Navy pilot and involvement with the Apollo Lunar Landing Program. After collaborating with a colleague, he created the Hull Guard, a fabric device used to help small boat owners keep the bottom of their vessels free of barnacles.
Soon after, an oil spill in nearby Port Canaveral, Florida led to the development of American Marine’s first oil containment boom, which outperformed a rival and led to bigger things. An extruded aluminum quick-connect system was developed to join lengths of boom together (and still survives as one of two industry-wide standards). American Marine was thriving, when in 1971 Jim was asked by a State of Florida environmental engineer to create a barrier to contain silt being stirred up in an Atlantic Coast river by a bridge construction project. Soon, the first turbidity curtain was deployed to the delight of the environmental community.
In 1997, Elastec purchased American Marine and the two businesses ran parallel to each other under the name Elastec/American Marine. Jim’s son, Jeff, took over management on the American Marine side. In 2012, the two companies officially merged to operate under the Elastec banner, but we still preserve the roots, history and products of Jim Pearce’s American Marine.