SS Catalina gets scrapped.

[Tourbillion]

The SS Catalina (launched 1924) is currently being scrapped in Ensenada, Mex. Though registered as a California historic place and having many groups working to save it a lack of funds led its demise.

 

[FedoraGent]

Rather unfortunate...

The SS Catalina (launched 1924) is currently being scrapped in Ensenada, Mex. Though registered as a California historic place and having many groups working to save it a lack of funds led its demise.

Doesn't this mean that all the steamships on the West coast are gone now?

FG.

 

[RondoHatton]

Goodbye to the last of the “Great White Steamers”

A shame, our history scrapped again.
Don't recall if it was the S.S. Catalina or the S.S. Avalon, but as a mere slip of a youth I do remember a day trip to Catalina on one or the other.
Lurching off topic, our adult "guardian" was so drunk from bar hopping in Avalon, while us kids ran amok elsewhere, we had to drag him aboard to get home - and he promptly resumed residence at the fantail bar. Maybe that's where I get it from, such stellar examples...

 

[Atterbury Dodd]

Doesn't this mean that all the steamships on the West coast are gone now?
FG.

Not the Queen Mary. I don't know if there are anymore besides the Queen though.

 

[Tourbillion]

The SS Lane Victory in San Pedro and the SS Jeremiah O'Brian in San Francisco are still operable. The SS Del Orleans (1939) is at Mare Island with an unknown fate. As for straight cargo ships, the SS Matsonia still calls Long Beach on a regular basis.

 

[Retro66]

A shame, our history scrapped again.
Don't recall if it was the S.S. Catalina or the S.S. Avalon, but as a mere slip of a youth I do remember a day trip to Catalina on one or the other.
Lurching off topic, our adult "guardian" was so drunk from bar hopping in Avalon, while us kids ran amok elsewhere, we had to drag him aboard to get home - and he promptly resumed residence at the fantail bar. Maybe that's where I get it from, such stellar examples...

Great story... :eusa_clap Thanks for sharing!

 

[FedoraGent]

The SS Lane Victory in San Pedro and the SS Jeremiah O'Brian in San Francisco are still operable. The SS Del Orleans (1939) is at Mare Island with an unknown fate. As for straight cargo ships, the SS Matsonia still calls Long Beach on a regular basis.

How can I forget the Jeremiah O'Brian...I was on her a year and a half ago by Fisherman's Wharf! Great ship. Does the SS San Francisco count too?

FG.

BTW TB, nice pic.

 

[Tourbillion]

Hm, I am not sure. I am sharing the account with my boyfriend, and he went home. I looked up SS San Franciso and found these:

January 14, 1854: The steam packet San Francisco sank in a storm off North Carolina. San Francisco was a large sidewheel steamer at 280' long with a passenger capacity of 1,600. At the time she was on her maiden voyage which would take her from New York bound for California.

When off the coast of North Carolina she ran into a violent storm. As the storm got worse attempts to save the ship became futile. A large wave swept across the ship carrying away about one hundred and fifty men who were clearing debris from the deck. Not long after that the ship went under taking an estimated three hundred people with her. There were a large number of survivors despite the storm. About four hundred and fifty were picked up by other ships.

So, sunk.
and

4/23 - On a voyage from Buenos Aires to New York, Robert Cameron Housten Master, with 6,812 tons linseed and general cargo, steaming a 9.5 knot nonevasive course at 3:20 PM, position 27.10 N, 57.10 W, the vessel was attacked by U-125 (Folkers) who fired a torpedo that struck approximately 15 ft below the waterline on the port side between the #4 hatch and the engine room. The explosion blew the booms at the #4 and #5 hatches onto the deck and threw a large column of water and linseed from #4 hatch. The vessel listed rapidly to port and within 5 mins rolled onto her side. Only 1 lifeboat and 3 rafts could be launched by the 9 officers, 37 crewmen and 9 armed guards. Four of these men never left the ship. The Swedish MV ASTRI rescued 15 men on 2 of the rafts after 2 days afloat, transferring them to the USS OMAHA (CL-4). Two men abandoned ship on a broken raft. Although other survivors attempted to reach them in the heavy seas, they drifted away and were never found. The lifeboat containing 31 drifted for 23 days, 8 men dying before the USS TARBELL (DD-142) spotted them. Three more died in a San Juan hospital. In all, 8 officers, 22 crewmen and 8 armed guards survived.

So, also sunk. Is there another one? I found a M.V. San Francisco and a GTS San Francisco, but they are later non-steam vessels.

 

[Story]

Yikes, that's worse than I thought.

http://www.savethecatalina.org/

http://www.maritimematters.com/catalina.html

 

[Tourbillion]

There was a mention of the scrapping on Maritimematters.com under shipping news. Shipping photos shows a close up with deck house around the stack cut away.

 

[carouselvic]

SS Catalina and Avalon

In 1963 my family went to California to visit my dad's sister. They lived in Pasadena, but also owned a bungalow on Catalina Island. We took the SS Catalina out to Avalon and stayed about four days there. The thing I remember most traveling on that ship was from the top deck it seemed we were not moving. From the covered deck on the next lower level it seemed some faster. Still not satisfied I went even lower where the life boats were and put my head out there. From that vantage point we were fling. My Aunt and Uncle have passed by my cousins still own the Catalina property.

 

[Story]

Another Catalina ferry

The SS Cabrillo, once used to ferry passengers between the mainland and Catalina Island, is a rotting shell on the banks of the Napa River at the end of Cuttings Wharf Road near Moore’s Landing.

http://www.napavalleyregister.com/articles/2009/09/13/news/local/doc4aac84c2a3b66194642951.txt

Nearly 200 feet long, with a capacity of 1,200 passengers, the Cabrillo was fashioned out of Oregon fir and Australian ironwood. The bottom of the ship was clad in copper plates.

The Cabrillo was the most luxurious ship on the Catalina run, Stacey Otte, executive director of the Catalina Island Museum said.

Topside, the ship had Javanese teak decks, a rosewood staircase, mahogany paneling, electric lights, 10 state rooms, a social hall and a grill room for food service.

The upper decks included a “women’s cabin” for members of the fairer sex suffering “crossing sickness.”

“She was known for the high-quality workmanship,” Marifrances Trivelli, director of the Los Angeles Maritime Museum, said. “Everybody remembers how beautiful she was.”

1907
http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/search/controller/view/chs-m5613.html?x=1252877770561

1925
http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/search/controller/view/chs-m23094.html?x=1252877770561

http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/search/controller/view/chs-m23092.html?x=1252877770561

 

[Marc Chevalier]

.




In this technicolor film clip from 1936, you can see the S.S. Catalina in its heyday. (No, it's not the pirate ship!)

Go to minute 18:19 of the clip to see it steaming away:



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[BinkieBaumont]

"Here in the Swan River Colony, we still have the "SS Decoy" which operates regularly with "Jazz Cruises" the ship dates from 1912

 

[analiebe]

oh binkie - you simply MUST do a story on this for my blog!

"Here in the Swan River Colony, we still have the "SS Decoy" which operates regularly with "Jazz Cruises" the ship dates from 1912

 

[kampkatz]

Marc,
Thanks for the entertaining clip of the Catalina in her glory days.

 

[dhermann1]

I could watch that film over and over. So cool.
These are evil times for people who love old ships. They're prohibitively expensive to restore, and can only generate an inadequate income to support themselves. All the old Great Lakes steamers are now gone. Damned shame. Aloha!

 

[Professor]

Not the Queen Mary. I don't know if there are anymore besides the Queen though.

Let's not forget the Delta King in Sacramento, which much like the RMS Queen Mary is now a hotel with its innards missing!

Loss of the SS Catalina is another piece of California history gone forever...such a shame.

 

[Cricket]

Being located on the Mississippi River, the steamboat is an icon here. There was a time when river cruises were constantly up and down the river. In my hometown of Natchez, as kids, we would sit on the bluffs and watch the riverboats dock and listen to the calliope playing. Truly a wonderful experience.

[/IMG]

Now, the Delta Queen is a docked hotel, and the Mississippi Queen (the larger boat in the photo) is rumored to be scrapped soon.

Such a shame.

 

[Professor]

Now, the Delta Queen is a docked hotel, and the Mississippi Queen (the larger boat in the photo) is rumored to be scrapped soon.

Such a shame.

Now the King and Queen share the same fate, but remain separated. Here are a couple of memories from the Sacramento River...