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SAIL ABORD THE SS MARIPOSA – 1960s – LAST OF THE U.S. FLAG CRUISE SHIPS…

December 15, 2011 By


Journey back in time with us now to the SS Mariposa as she embarks on a south seas cruise, photographed in glorious 16mm Kodachrome by Mildred and Harry Brown of Glendale, California between February 25th and April 3, 1963. See leisurely, voyeuristic shots of a lithe woman sunning herself with a tiny folding canopy to shield her face from the sun! See the bloody and messy Neptune Ritual as passengers are carved up with a meat cleaver and left to stagger, bloody away, only to be doused in foam and tossed into the pool! See a woman possessed by the mood of the afternoon as she bursts into a spontaneous twist in front of King Neptune’s Court! See exotic dancers galore! But above all… please have a good time! Courtesy of SHIPGEEK.

Cruise and Liner History – SS MARIPOSA – LAST OF THE U.S. FLAG CRUISE SHIPS…

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The elegant all first class liner SS MARIPOSA – sailing in the South Pacific of Pago Pago on a Matson Line Cruise in the 1950s.

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If you can find a copy on Ebay or Amazon, rush to buy Nothing Can Go Wrong By Capt. John H. Kilpack with John D. MacDonald. Here is a vacation post card, a valentine and a lament. Captain Kilpack was the skipper of the S. S. Mariposa when, in May 1977, it undertook one of its last long cruises – in this case a 77-day voyage from San Francisco to Leningrad and back again, with two transits of the Panama Canal and a dozen stops in between. The former Matson Line ship would be sold later in the year to a Chinese company. These were the last two passenger liners sailing under the American flag operated by American companies. This book is wonderful… amusing and touching.

The New York Times book review follows.

[Read more...]

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SS HOMERIC IN THE 1960s.

December 10, 2009 By Leave a Comment

GREAT VIDEO OF THE SS HOMERIC IN 1960s

Home Lines S.S. Homeric at her New York pier on February 15, 1969 just before sailing to Nassau. Another former Matson liner, built in 1931 as Mariposa for the U.S. West Coast – Pacific service.

SS HOMERIC IN THE 1960s.

Cruising the Past: History of Home Line’s SS HOMERIC: Originally the SS Mariposa.  She was a luxury ocean liner launched in 1931; one of four ships in the Matson Lines “White Fleet” which included SS Monterey, SS Malolo and SS Lurline.

(Left) Princess Margaret boarding the SS Homeric , Tilbury, Essex, 1962.

In World War II she served the United States as a fast troop carrier, bringing supplies and support forces to distant shores as well as rescuing persons stranded in foreign countries by the outbreak of war.

In 1947 the ship was mothballed for six years at Bethlehem-Alameda Shipyard in Alameda, California. Her engines were overhauled by Todd San Francisco Division. Home Lines bought her and renamed her SS Homeric, sailing her to Trieste for reconstruction to allow 1243 passengers: 147 First Class and 1,096 tourist class. Gross register tonnage increased to 18,563.

SS HOMERIC

Total length increased to 641 feet (195.5 meters). Home Lines operated her beginning 24 January 1955 for liner service between ports in the north Atlantic. In 1964 she replaced the SS Italia to steam on the regular run between New York and Nassau, Bahamas, though she in turn was shortly replaced by SS Oceanic. SS Homeric was reassigned to intra-Caribbean cruises.

SS MARIPOSA – 1930s

In 1973, a major fire destroyed much of her galley and restaurant and she was scrapped in Taiwan in 1974.[10] During the ship breaking process, her sister ship Ellinis (ex-Lurline) suffered major engine damage on a cruise to Japan; Chandris Lines was able to purchase one of the Mariposa engines from the ship breakers.

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Filed Under: HOME LINES, MATSON LINES, STEAMSHIP LINES Tagged With: , , , ,

MATSON LINE QUIZ FROM THE SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE – THE WHITE SHIPS…

July 21, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Walt Disney and his family sailing away on the SS Lurline in the 1950s from Los Angeles to Honolulu.  The famous Matson Liner was a regular getaway for such stars as Elvis Presley, Lucille Ball, Clark Gable, Bette Davis and on and on.

Cruise Ship History looks at the retro time when getting to Honolulu was half the fun aboard Matson Line’s memorable ocean liners…

Jeanne Cooper of SFGate (San Francisco Chronicle) did an interesting piece in her Hawaii blog yesterday, which follows, on Matson Lines with a quiz about the famous S.S. Lurline and other ships serving Hawaii operating under the Matson flag.

Matson Line’s used the ad slogan “The Lurline is Hawaii” to advertise their flag ship.

Malolo, Monterey, Mariposa, Matsonia: If those names mean something to you, you’re in the good company of either nostalgia buffs or Matson’s former ocean liner passengers, or both. In yesterday’s Sunday Quiz, I asked readers to name four other Matson ships beside the SS Lurline that sailed between California and Hawaii or other points in the Pacific. (Watch the Lurline youtube below to see a 1960s-era home video of the Lurline leaving Honolulu.) A special bonus question asked which was Capt. Matson’s first ship to sail to Hawaii: The Swedish-born captain bought the three-masted schooner Emma Claudina in 1882, and sailed it from San Francisco to Hilo in 18 days. To read more of the SFGATE story click here.

YOUTUBE DEPARTURE DAY ABOARD THE S.S. LURLINE IN THE EARLY 1960s…

A home movie of the SS Lurline on Boat Day in Honolulu. Taken in the early 1960s, this scene was a regular occurrence in Honolulu during the golden era of steamship travel (1927-1978). Each week, Matson’s grand white passenger ships arrived from California or the South Seas, and later continued on their voyage across the Pacific. The complete history of Matson’s passenger ship era is now available in a coffee-table book called “The White Ships.” Published in 2008 by Pier 10 Media. Click here to order the book.

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Cruise Line History – Rare travel book on the SS MARIPOSA’s last voyage to Scandinavia from California cby mystery writer John D. MacDonald and Capt. John H Kilpack

June 30, 2008 By Leave a Comment

matson-1-monterey.jpg

The elegant all first class liner SS MARIPOSA – sailing in the South Pacific of Pago Pago on a Matson Line Cruise in the 1950s.

nothing121.jpg

If you can find a copy on Ebay or Amazon, rush to buy Nothing Can Go Wrong By Capt. John H. Kilpack with John D. MacDonald. Here is a vacation post card, a valentine and a lament. Captain Kilpack was the skipper of the S. S. Mariposa when, in May 1977, it undertook one of its last long cruises – in this case a 77-day voyage from San Francisco to Leningrad and back again, with two transits of the Panama Canal and a dozen stops in between. The former Matson Line ship would be sold later in the year to a Chinese company. These were the last two passenger liners sailing under the American flag operated by American companies. This book is wonderful… amusing and touching.

The New York Times book review follows.

November 15, 1981

NEW YORK TIMES – TRAVEL BOOKSHELF

By RICHARD F. SHEPARD

Nothing Can Go Wrong By Capt. John H. Kilpack with John D. MacDonald. 305 pages. Harper and Row. $15.95.

Here is a vacation post card, a valentine and a lament. Captain Kilpack was the skipper of the S. S. Mariposa when, in May 1977, it undertook one of its last long cruises – in this case a 77-day voyage from San Francisco to Leningrad and back again, with two transits of the Panama Canal and a dozen stops in between. Mr. MacDonald, best known as the author of a series of detective stories that always have a color word in the title, was a passenger on that trip. Together, they have produced a story of the voyage that is amusing and eventually touching.

Each man speaks – or writes – in his own voice. In general, Mr. MacDonald, a veteran of many cruises, provides a straightforward narrative of the voyage, while Captain Kilpack adds an apposite yarn or two. The arrangement is less schizophrenic than it might be; for clarity’s sake, Captain Kilpack’s words are set in italics. [Read more...]

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