A retro look at the SS CATALINA and SS AVALON.

They were called the BIG WHITE STEAMERS.

These day tourist steamships operated together from 1920 into the early 1950s — except for WW 2. The SS CATALINA continued running into the mid-1970s. They provided daily service throughout the summer from Los Angeles to Catalina Island.

The SS AVALON lies at the bottom of the Pacific off the coast of Southern California. The SS CATALINA, after a valiant attempt to rescue it, was taken to Mexico where she is rotting in Ensenada Harbor. There was a big deal about making the SS CATALINA a National Historical Monument.

But like most “historical” endeavors in California it got lost in financial problems and endless legal action.

Cheers to the memory of these ships and the great people who tried to save the SS CATALINA.

Topics: Catalina Island Steamship Line, VIDEOS | 1 Comment »

Cruise Ship History – Burial at sea aboard the SS UNITED STATES in the 1950s. Bodies (passengers and crew) were not transported to the next port until recently. The passengers were buried at sea.

By Michael L. Grace | September 19, 2008

Photo of a burial at sea aboard the SS United States in the 1950s.

The body pictured here on the promenade deck of the SS United States most likely could have been a crewmember in the stewards or catering department.

Notice how canvas curtains have been placed so passengers could not see the burial.

Besides the officers, there are mainly stewards and cooks in the photo.  The ship would not have carried the crewmember to the next port.  The SS United States on a trans-Atlantic crossing probably would have housed a passenger’s body.  But most lines did not.  Passengers were buried at sea.

Two passengers were buried at sea on the SS Canberra aboard a 1968 sailing from Los Angeles to Australia.

Until the last couple of decades, burial at sea (passengers or crew) was common.  Corpses were not carried to the next port.  In the late 1960s, I sailed from Los Angeles to Australia aboard the SS Canberra and there were two burials at sea.  Both were passengers.

The burials took place around six in the morning.

We were sailing via the Orient so there were long passages at sea – 6 to 7 days.  There were no morgues aboard ship.  The body would be wrapped in a canvas bag and pushed overboard.  It would be covered with a flag but the flag did not go with the body.  The Anglican (Episcopal) service of burial was read, with officers, crew and some passengers in attendance.  There was no announcement in the ship’s paper.

Recently, I was aboard the Princess Cruise’s Island Princess, touring the crew’s quarters and galleys.  There is a refrigerated compartment known as the morgue and bodies are kept there until they can be removed at the next port.

Topics: STEAMSHIP LINES, UNITED STATES LINE | 3 Comments »

Cruise Ship History: Princess Cruise Lines new ad tells it like it is. Cruising by great liners, Pullman trains, 1970s glamor of “Love Boat” compared to the grim reality of air travel today.

By Michael L. Grace | September 17, 2008

Princess Cruises excellent and rather cynical television ad (click on arrow) reminds everyone what we already know about the horrors of air travel as compared to sailing aboard a ship.

The Pullman Company use to have the greatest safety record and so did such venerable companies such as the Santa Fe.

Today, rail travel in America is not a great alternative because it is not safe compared to the past.   Amtrak has accidents annually.

Imagine commuting by train in Los Angeles and Southern California with Metrolink engineers sending text messages when they should be driving the train.

The only way to travel still seems to be by ship and Princess Cruises proves the point dramatically in their excellent video ad.

SS Princess Patricia - The first Princess Cruise Lines ship and first “Love Boat”…

Topics: AMERICAN CRUISE LINES, PRINCESS CRUISE LINES | 2 Comments »

Cruise Ship History: Judy Garland, Marlon Brando and Salvador Dalí aboard America’s greatest liner the SS UNITED STATES “crossing the pond” in the 1950s!

By Michael L. Grace | September 16, 2008

Marlon Brando and Salvidor Dali enjoying after dinner coffee in the First Class Lounge of the SS United States.

It’s Captain’s Dinner aboard the SS United States in 1956 in the First Class Dining Room.  And this is the one night Judy Garland left her stateroom. Pictured: Producer Sid Luff and his wife Judy Garland with friend John Carlyle (and number one fan) at right.

The S.S. United States arriving at Bremerhaven Columbus Bahnhof - Germany. This dreamlike photo of the S.S. United States is a wonderful composition and gives the viewer a sense of the close relationship the people of Bremerhaven had with the shipping industry and its sea going passengers.

The SS United States (also known as “The Big U”) is an ocean liner built in 1952 for the United States Lines. At 53,329 gross tons, she is the largest ocean liner to date built entirely in the United States and still holds the record for the fastest westbound transatlantic crossing.

The fastest way to cross!

In 1952, on her maiden voyage as the new flagship of the United States Lines, the United States captured the Blue Riband with the fastest eastbound and westbound transatlantic crossings on record. The entry of the United States marked the first time a U.S.-flagged ship held the Blue Riband, surpassing European speed records which had stood for decades.The United States lost the eastbound record in 1990, but still holds the westbound record. The United States plied the transatlantic with passenger service until 1969, and she outlasted the demise of her original owners.

SS United States “waiting” at Philadelphia - December 2007.

Since 1969, the United States has not been in service.  She has bounced around the world with promises of service from owner to owner.  The ship is currently docked in Philadelphia until a decision is made about her fate which does not look good.

Topics: STEAMSHIP LINES, UNITED STATES LINE | 3 Comments »

Cruise Line History: Comparison of the 2008 and 1929 Crash! In 1929 - “Crossing the Pond” on Cunard Line – you may have lost all your money at sea! Yesterday, September 15th, the dollar loss for anyone would have been on a crowded jet! At least the ship was more glamorous way to go from millionaire to pauper!

By Michael L. Grace | September 16, 2008

Great youTUBE Video - press arrow to watch - aboard the RMS Berengaria as it was “crossing the pond” when the 1929 Wall Street crash happened. Passengers left England as millionaires and arrived in New York without a penny.

The ship was featured in The Beautiful and Damned, by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Click below to read more:

Cunard Line’s RMS Berengaria (formerly the SS Imperator) was sailing from England to New York when the 1929 Wall Street crash Hit – passengers went from millionaires to paupers while at sea. September 15th — passengers would have lost their shirt while crossing the Atlantic by jet.

Topics: CUNARD LINE, STEAMSHIP LINES | No Comments »

Cruise Ship History: Walt Disney and his family sailed to Hawaii on Matson Line’s famous liner in the 1950s.

By Michael L. Grace | September 13, 2008

In the 1950s - Walt Disney sailed with this wife and daughters on the Lurline.  Mr. and Mrs. Disney had sailed in the 1930s on Matson Lines.  Walt was a big fan of cruise travel and sailed trans-Atlantic many times. 

Walt Disney first sailed to Hawaii with his wife, Lillian, in 1934.  Disney was very friendly with passengers and even sketched Mickey Mouse for a man from Pasadena.  On the back of the sketch (to the right) Disney signed it.  The sketch was recently auctioned for close $5,000.  On the back of the sketch the following details were indicated by the gallery: “Marked to back ”Given to S Abbott 1934 / SS Lurline / August / Honolulu SF / Hawaii LA”, signed ”Walt Disney”, pencil on paper sketch of the head of Mickey Mouse and the head of Minnie Mouse, 9.5” H x 6.25” W, est: Provenance: Property from the R.S.H. Trust, Pasadena, CA.”

The LURLINE was Hawaii!

William Matson had first come to appreciate the name in the 1870s while serving as skipper aboard the Claus Spreckels family yacht Lurline (a poetic variation of Loreley, the Rhine river siren) out of San Francisco Bay. Matson met his future wife, Lillie Low, on a yacht voyage he captained to Hawaii; the couple named their daughter Lurline Berenice Matson. Spreckels sold a 150-foot brigantine named Lurline to Matson so that Matson could replace his smaller schooner Emma Claudina and double the shipping operation which involved hauling supplies and a few passengers to Hawaii and returning with cargos of Spreckels sugar. Matson added other vessels to his growing fleet and the brigantine was sold to another company in 1896. Matson built a steamship named Lurline in 1908; one which carried mainly freight yet could hold 51 passengers along with 65 crew. This steamer served Matson for twenty years, including a stint with United States Shipping Board during World War I. William Matson died in 1917; his company continued under a board of directors.

A first class stateroom aboard the Lurline in the 1930s.

Lurline Matson married William P. Roth in 1914; in 1927 Roth became president of Matson Lines. That same year saw the SS Malolo (Flying Fish) enter service inaugurating a higher class of tourist travel to Hawaii. In 1928, Roth sold the old steamship Lurline to the Alaska Packers’ Association. That ship served various duties including immigration and freight under the Yugoslavian flag (renamed Radnik) and was finally broken up in 1953.

The SS Lurline at sea.

In 1932, the last of four smart liners designed by William Francis Gibbs and built for the Matson Lines’ Pacific services was launched: the SS Lurline christened on July 12, 1932 in Quincy, Massachusetts by Lurline Matson Roth (who had also christened her father’s 1908 steamship Lurline as a young woman of 18).

Dance band and singers. Ballroom scene aboard the SS Lurline in the 1930s.

On 12 January 1933, the SS Lurline left New York City bound for San Francisco via the Panama Canal on her maiden voyage, thence to Sydney and the South Seas, returning to San Francisco on 24 April 1933. She then served on the express San Francisco to Honolulu service with her older sister with whom she shared appearance, the Malolo.

Lurline was half way from Honolulu to San Francisco on 7 December 1941, when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. She made her destination safely, traveling at maximum speed, and soon returned to Hawaii with her Matson sisters Mariposa and Monterey in a convoy laden with troops and supplies.

She spent the war providing similar services, often voyaging to Australia, and once transported Australian Prime Minister John Curtin to America to confer with President Roosevelt.

Advertisement from 1947 copy of Holiday Magazine.

Lurline was returned to Matson Lines in mid 1946 and extensively refitted at Bethlehem-Alameda Shipyard in Alameda, California in 1947 at the then huge cost of $US 20 million. She resumed her San Francisco to Honolulu service from 15 April 1948 and regained her pre-war status as the Pacific Ocean’s top liner.

Her high occupancy rates during the early 1950s caused Matson to also refit her sister ship SS Monterey (renaming her Matsonia) and the two liners provided a first class only service between Hawaii and the American mainland from June 1957 to September 1962, mixed with the occasional Pacific cruise. Serious competition from jet airliners caused passenger loads to fall in the early 1960s and Matsonia was laid up in late 1962.

1950s interior for the Lurline’s first class staterooms.

Only a few months later, the Lurline arrived in Los Angeles with serious engine trouble in her port turbine and was laid up with the required repairs considered too expensive. Matson instead brought the Matsonia out of retirement and, characteristically, changed her name to Lurline. The original Lurline was sold to Chandris Lines in 1963.

Topics: STEAMSHIP LINES | 2 Comments »

Cruise Ship History: “Crusing the Past” - A history of the cruise line industry.

By Michael L. Grace | September 10, 2008

A Brief History of the Passenger Ship Industry…

The earliest ocean-going vessels were not primarily concerned with passengers, but rather with the cargo that they could carry. Black Ball Line in New York, in 1818, was the first shipping company to offer regularly scheduled service from the United States to England and to be concerned with the comfort of their passengers. By the 1830s steamships were introduced and dominated the transatlantic market of passenger and mail transport. English companies dominated the market at this time, led by the British and North American Royal Mail Steam Packet (later the Cunard Line). On July 4, 1840, Britannia , the first ship under the Cunard name, left Liverpool with a cow on board to supply fresh milk to the passengers on the 14-day transatlantic crossing. The advent of pleasure cruises is linked to the year 1844, and a new industry began.

During the 1850s and 1860s there was a dramatic improvement in the quality of the voyage for passengers. Ships began to cater solely to passengers, rather than to cargo or mail contracts, and added luxuries like electric lights, more deck space, and entertainment. In 1867, Mark Twain was a passenger on the first cruise originating in America, documenting his adventures of the six month trip in the book Innocents Abroad. The endorsement by the British Medical Journal of sea voyages for curative purposes in the 1880s further encouraged the public to take leisurely pleasure cruises as well as transatlantic travel. Ships also began to carry immigrants to the United States in “steerage” class. In steerage, passengers were responsible for providing their own food and slept in whatever space was available in the hold.

By the early 20th century the concept of the superliner was developed and Germany led the market in the development of these massive and ornate floating hotels. The design of these liners attempted to minimize the discomfort of ocean travel, masking the fact of being at sea and the extremes in weather as much as possible through elegant accomodations and planned activites. The Mauritania and the Lusitania, both owned by the Cunard Line of England, started the tradition of dressing for dinner and advertised the romance of the voyage. Speed was still the deciding factor in the design of these ships. There was no space for large public rooms, and passengers were required to share the dining tables. The White Star Line, owned by American financier J.P. Morgan, introduced the most luxurious passenger ships ever seen in the Olympic (complete with swimming pool and tennis court) and Titanic. Space and passenger comfort now took precedence over speed in the design of these ships-resulting in larger, more stable liners. The sinking of the Titanic on its maiden voyage in 1912 devastated the White Star Line. In 1934, Cunard bought out White Star; the resulting company name, Cunard White Star, is seen in the advertisements in this project.

World War I interrupted the buidling of new cruise ships, and many older liners were used as troop transports. German superliners were given to both Great Britain and the United States as reparations at the end of the war. The years between 1920 and 1940 were considered the most glamorous years for transatlantic passenger ships. These ships catered to the rich and famous who were seen enjoying luxurious settings on numerous newsreels viewed by the general public. American tourists interested in visiting Europe replaced immigrant passengers. Advertisements promoted the fashion of ocean travel, featuring the elegant food and on-board activities.

Cruise liners again were converted into troop carriers in World War II, and all transatlantic cruising ceased until after the war. European lines then reaped the benefits of transporting refugees to America and Canada, and business travelers and tourists to Europe. The lack of American ocean liners at this time, and thus the loss of profits, spurred the U.S. government to subsidize the building of cruise liners. In addition to the luxurious amenities, ships were designed according to specifications for possible conversion into troop carriers. Increasing air travel and the first non-stop flight to Europe in 1958, however, marked the ending of transatlantic business for ocean liners. Passenger ships were sold and lines went bankrupt from the lack of business.

The 1960s witnessed the beginnings of the modern cruise industry. Cruise ship companies concentrated on vacation trips in the Caribbean, and created a “fun ship” image which attracted many passengers who would have never had the opportunity to travel on the superliners of the 1930s and 1940s. Cruise ships concentrated on creating a casual environment and providing extensive on-board entertainment. There was a decrease in the role of ships for transporting people to a particular destination; rather, the emphasis was on the voyage itself. The new cruise line image was solidified with the popularity of the TV series “The Love Boat” which ran from 1977 until 1986.

Courtesy of Duke University…

Topics: STEAMSHIP LINES | 1 Comment »

Cruise Line History - Hello Sailor! Gay life on merchant ships from the 1950s to 1980s. Exhibit at the Merseyside Maritime Museum - Liverpool, UK.

By Michael L. Grace | September 7, 2008

VIDEO
Watch a short video of Jo Stanley talking about the exhibition on the (click here) Homotopia TV blog.

Hello Sailor! looks at life on board passenger and merchant ships from the 1950s to 1980s, a time when homosexuality was illegal and for gay men there were few places to be safe.

“BACK STAGE” Crew Party.

The following is a preview of an exhibition created by the Merseyside Maritime Museum in Liverpool, England — available at their website and returning to the museum this month. It can be seen until early 2009.

The Queen Mary.

There are many links here to view the exhibition along with downloading interviews and videos.

Drag Shows in crew quarters on the RMS QUEEN MARY (the old “queen”).

EXHIBIT IS BASED ON “HELLO SAILOR!” - CLICK HERE TO ORDER AT AMAZON

Apart from the theatre, passenger ships provided the only space where gay men could be not only out, but outrageously camp. Efficient, able-bodied seamen by day, queens and butches strutted their stuff below deck at night, dressed up as their favourite Hollywood stars. Hello Sailor! opens up a secret world of bold young men having a ball as they sashayed and minced across the world’s oceans.

For the first time, gay seamen recount their stories and reveal the hidden history of life in the merchant navy. Homosexuality might have been illegal in both the Royal Navy and Merchant Marine, but life on land in the middle of the twentieth century was far more restrictive than on the ships. The thousands of gay seafarers often out-numbered straight men in the catering departments of the gleaming vessels that were the pride of the British fleet - great cruise liners like the QE2 and the Canberra. Communicating in their own secret language - Polari - they were comfortably queer at sea at a time when life on land demanded compulsory straightness.

Never before has the full story of homosexuality in the British merchant navy been told. With many original photos and featuring a remarkable cast of characters, this ground-breaking book expands and deepens our vision of gay history. Hello Sailor! will fascinate and appeal not just to those who love the sea or dream of romance on liners, but to anyone interested.

Young officers and cadets aboard British ships - 1950s - 1960.

Based on research carried out for the book ‘Hello Sailor! The Hidden History of Gay Life at Sea’ by Jo Stanley and Paul Baker, the exhibition reveals a little known aspect of the history of the merchant navy.

EXHIBITION THEMES

Follow the links below for further information about the key themes in the exhibition.

CHECK OUT THE FOLLOWING LINKS:

The gateway to freedom

Backstage in staff quarters

Frontstage with passengers

Gay port cities

The secret language of polari

Books and websites

Topics: CUNARD LINE, STEAMSHIP LINES, WHITE STAR - CUNARD LINE | 5 Comments »