The
Baltimore Steam Packet Company, nicknamed the , was an
American steamship line from 1840 to 1962 that provided overnight
steamboat service on the
Chesapeake Bay, primarily between
Baltimore,
Maryland, and
Norfolk, Virginia. Called a "
packet" for the mail packets carried on government mail contracts, the term in the 19th century came to mean a steamer line operating on a regular, fixed daily schedule between two or more cities. When it closed in 1962 after 122 years of existence, it was the last surviving overnight steamship passenger service in the United States.