In 1923, Ford worked for the American steamship company Swayne & Hoyt, based in San Francisco, California, that operated a fleet of steamships and were agents for American and foreign steamship companies. Ford started out as a dock worker and was a seaman and then as a second mate on the Gulf Pacific mailship. In 1928 he became vice president of Swayne & Hoyt's Gulf Pacific Mail Line in San Francisco. In 1930, he became Executive Vice President, Director and Partner of the Swayne & Hoyt Lines. He was a principal stockholder of the company. In his Swayne & Hoyt office, Ford owned a ship model of the Point San Pablo, built by Captain E. W. Groeper, a San Francisco Bay Pilot.
