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SAILING THE GREAT LAKES on the SS SOUTH AMERICAN and SS NORTH AMERICAN

February 13, 2011 By 1 Comment

Cruise and liner history: SAILING THE GREAT LAKES on the SS SOUTH AMERICAN and SS NORTH AMERICAN

The history of commercial passenger shipping on the Great Lakes is long but uneven. It reached its zenith between the mid-19th century and the 1950s. As early as 1844, palace steamers carried passengers and cargo around the Great Lakes. By 1900, fleets of relatively luxurious passenger steamers plied the waters of the lower lakes, especially the major industrial centers of Chicago, Milwaukee, Detroit, Cleveland and Toronto.

The first steamboat on the Great Lakes was the passenger carrying Walk-In-The-Water, built in 1818 to navigate Lake Erie. It was a success and more vessels like it followed. Steamboats on the lakes grew in size and number, and additional decks were built on the superstructure to allow more capacity. This inexpensive method of adding capacity was adapted from river steamboats and successfully applied to lake-going craft.

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

The Paddle Steamer Emeraude – Colonial Indochina and Today’s Vietman

July 2, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Cruising The Past: In 1910 a paddle steamer called the Emeraude was offering unforgettable cruises in Halong Bay for visitors to what was then French Indochina. The Emeraude was part of a flotilla owned by the Roque family who had left Bordeaux in 1858 in search of adventure and fortune.

Over a period of more than 50 years they found both. After several ups and downs including successful trading and timber businesses, near bankruptcy and being taken hostage by pirates, the Roque brothers built Emeraude, Perle, Saphir, Rubis and Onyx to ferry passengers and freight along the waterways of Indochina and cruise on magnificent Halong Bay.

Today the Emeraude offers a regular cruise service on board a luxurious replica steamer with 38 cabins meticulously designed to evoke the nostalgic charm of colonial Indochina.

Visit the Emeraude website for more information and reservations.

Background and History:

In 1999, the chance discovery the postcard of a paddle steamer Emeraude cruising in Ha Long Bay inspired a search for it origins in the vaults of the French Colonial Archives in Aix-en-Provence. From historical documents unearthed there, it was discovered that the Emeraude was part of a fleet of ships operated by the Roque family, transporting freight along the waterways of French Indochina and offering cruises in Ha Long Bay.

Letters were sent to all 1,200 people with the family name of Roque listed in France and eventually the descendants of the family of ship-owners were found. The Roque family in question kindly made the family archives available. As a result, the project to rebuild the Emeraude began in a Hai Phong shipyard in 2002.

The story of the Emeraude goes back to 1858 and three brothers, Victor, Xavier and Henry Roque, who lived in a small village in South-West France. Driven by their entrepreneurial spirit and dreams of adventure, the brothers headed to the Far East in search of their fortunes.

Arriving in Manila and then moving onto Hong Kong, the brothers were soon in business supplying fresh food and provisions of all kinds to the French Army. In 1860, following the taking of Sai Gon by the troops of Admiral Rigault de Genouilly the previous year, the Roque brothers left Hong Kong to set up business in the newly colonized city.

Their business prospered and in addition to providing supplies of flour, bread, biscuits and fresh meat for the army they also now supplied timber for construction, towing services, manufactured sugar, undertook public construction work and traded in opium.

In 1872, the Roque brothers, financed by the British trading house of Jardine & Matheson, signed a contract with the French colonial administration to establish the Cochinchine Steam Lines. In exchange for an annual fee, the company provided transportation services for passengers, freight and mail between Cochinchine and neighbouring Cambodia.

In 1890 Victor Roque obtained a coal concession in Dong Trieu in northern Tonkin. Success breeds envy and two of the Roque brothers were kidnapped, along with others in their employ, by bandits led by the notorious Luu Ky. To pay the ransom, the Roque family was forced to sell off family assets, leaving the company weakened. Victor Roque, then 61 years-old, bankrupt and in ill-health, returned to France.

Following the departure of Victor, Henry assumed sole responsibility for the Roque family business but was soon joined by Paul Roque, son of Xavier, in Hai Phong. It was here that they had the idea to build a small fleet of ships to transport freight and offer pleasure cruises on Ha Long Bay. The construction of the four flat-bottomed paddle-steamers, to be named EMERAUDE, RUBIS, PERLE and SAPHIR, was carried out in Hong Kong. Each ship could be easily distinguished by the coloured band around the top of its funnel: green for EMERAUDE, red for RUBIS, white for PERLE and blue for SAPHIR.

By 1919 the business became a limited company known as the Société Anonyme de Chalandage et Remorquage d’Indochine, or SACRIC for short. Paul Roque returned to France in 1921 and was appointed a Vice-President for life. One of the future Presidents of the company was to be Edmond Giscard d’ Estaing, father of Valéry, who was elected President of France in 1974.

In 1937, the Emeraude sank en-route from Hai Phong to Mong Cai without loss of life With the French withdrawal from Tonkin in 1953, the Société Anonyme de Chalandage et Remorquage d’Indochine was no more. Paul Roque died in 1966.

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Filed Under: STEAMSHIP LINES, Stemboats Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

A nostalgic look at the SS CATALINA and SS AVALON.

May 22, 2009 By Leave a Comment

1950s RETRO: THE BIG WHITE CRUISE SHIP SAILS AGAIN TO CATALINA ISLAND! from CRUISINGTHEPAST.COM on Vimeo.

A nostalgic look at the SS CATALINA and SS AVALON.

They were called the BIG WHITE STEAMERS. These day tourist steamships operated together by William Wrigley Company 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 was left rotting in Ensenada Harbor and scrapped this year.

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.

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Filed Under: CATALINA ISLAND STEAMSHIP LINE Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Cruise Line History: Last call for historic Delta Queen steamboat?

October 30, 2008 By Leave a Comment

Delta Queen

The 82-year-old Delta Queen, America’s best-known paddle-wheeler, will pull into Memphis, Tennessee, Thursday morning for what may be its final port call as a passenger vessel.

The historic riverboat, whose twin, the Delta King, is now a floating hotel and restaurant in Sacramento, has hit troubled waters. An exemption from safety laws that allows the Delta Queen to carry passengers on overnight trips will expire at midnight Friday, and the U.S. Congress has declined to extend it.

Even if Congress decides to act, “The vessel will not operate in 2009,” Joe Ueberroth, president and chief executive of its owner, Ambassadors International Inc. in Newport Beach, said today in a conference call with media and others. “It’s just too late to put her back in service.”

After calling on Memphis and unloading its final passengers, the Delta Queen will set sail the next day, in tandem with the American Queen, for its home port of New Orleans, with tributes scheduled at several ports along the way. From there, its future is anyone’s guess.

U.S. Sens. George Voinovich (R-Ohio) and Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) have introduced a bill, a companion to H.R. 3852 introduced in the House last year by U.S. Rep. Steve Chabot (R-Ohio), to extend the Delta Queen’s safety exemption. Ueberroth and other advocates say the boat, equipped with sprinklers and fire-detection devices, is safe. But the U.S. Coast Guard says its wooden superstructure is a fire hazard. If Congress returns to session after the November election as expected, it may revisit the issue.

In any event, it’s not clear who, if anyone, would run the Delta Queen, which has plied the Mississippi and other rivers for decades under a series of owners. Ambassadors International, eager to unload what Ueberroth today called “a very bad investment,” has tried for months without success to sell its Majestic America Line, which runs the Delta Queen and several other riverboats.

Meanwhile, an informal network of steamboat fans that calls itself the Save the Delta Queen Campaign is trying to save the boat. A fan website carries updates on the effort.

— Jane Engle, assistant Los Angeles Times Travel editor

[Photo: The Delta Queen moves up the Ohio River last week after making wh

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Cruise Ship History – Historic Steamboat DELTA QUEEN may find new home in Natchez!

August 25, 2008 By Leave a Comment

 

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Cruise Ship History – Historic Steamboat DELTA QUEEN may find new home in Natchez, Mississippi!

Courtesy of the NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT

By Brian Reynolds (Contact) | The Natchez Democrat

Published Monday, August 25, 2008

Natchez — When the Delta Queen’s congressional exemption ends on Oct. 31, its history will live on if the city of Alexandria has its way.

The city is looking to form a partnership with Majestic America Cruise Lines, or whoever purchases the line, to permanently anchor the historic steamer on Alexandria’s Red River, economic development head Bill Hess said.

deltaq2.jpg“If it does stop sailing because of the non-certification placed on it we would be interested in doing a public-private deal where they would continue to own and operate it as a stationary type of boutique hotel and dinner theater,” Hess said. “That type of thing is similar to what was done out in California with the sister ship, The Delta King. Basically we would operate it as what it was, except it wouldn’t sail.”

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Riverboat Delta King (sister ship to Delta Queen) in Sacramento. Originally built for San Francisco to Sacramento service, the Delta King is now a hotel and restaurant at it’s permanent dock in Sacramento.

The Delta King has been very successful as a hotel and mirrors the plan of Hess has for Alexandria.

The ship has traditionally been given an exemption from a congressional act that prevents a vessel with that much wood from sailing with overnight guests. This year the Delta Queen was denied this traditional exemption.

However, Hess and other are still fighting to keep the boat on the water.

“We want it to stay on the rivers,” Hess said. “We want it to keep coming back to Natchez and to keep coming back to Alexandria as a sailing vessel. Our biggest fear is we don’t want to see the Delta Queen in a marina somewhere rotting.”

Majestic America Lines is also fighting to keep the ship sailing, Public Relations Director Vanessa Bloy said.

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Prior to World War 2 – The Delta King and Delta Queen ran overnight between San Francisco and Sacramento.  

“The company is evaluating its strategic alternatives, but the primary goal is to extend the congressional exemption and find a way where the Delta Queen’s rich heritage can be celebrated for generations to come.”

In the event that their efforts fail, the company is looking for alternatives for the Delta Queen.

“Several credible parties have expressed an interest in acquiring some, parts or all of American Majestic Cruise Lines,” Bloy said.

Natchez residents also hope that something can be done to save the Delta Queen.

“I would love it if it would continue to sail, both because it’s good for our town economically and it’s a part of history,” Natchez Pilgrimage Tours Director Marsha Colson said. “It would still be wonderful for us locally to have it as close as Alexandria.”

Beyond the historical significance of the ship, it has had a large economic impact on city.

“Any time you bring a vessel through that may have hundreds of people on it, even if they don’t stay overnight, those people come in town, they come into the shops, sometimes during the Pilgrimage they would stay over night and spend money there,” Colson said. “I’d say it’s a significant impact.”

While Natchez residents have joined the effort to save the ship, no one has made an attempt to bring it to the city permanently, Colson said.

Tony Byrne, former mayor of Natchez, said he wished the boat could be docked here.

“It’s a shame it can’t be here in Natchez,” Byrne said. “I’m not knocking Alexandria, but it’s no Mississippi River.”

Bee Byrne, a Natchez Pilgrimage Tours guide, has shown many Delta Queen guests around the city and would love to see it preserved.

“I think it would be a excellent idea,” said Bee. “It’s a remnant of our history that certainly should be preserved.”

Whatever happens to the Delta Queen, it will stop in Natchez on its tribute tour Nov. 3.

For more information on the Delta Queen…

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Filed Under: AMERICAN CRUISE LINES, Delta King, Delta Queen, Riverboats, STEAMBOATS, STEAMSHIP LINES Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,