SS Catalina

Infobox_nrhp | name =S.S. CATALINA
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caption = S.S. Catalina, ca. 1960-1964
location= Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico
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built =1924
architect= Babcock & Wilcox
architecture= No Style Listed
added = September 01, 1976
governing_body = Private
refnum=76000495cite web|url=http://www.nr.nps.gov/|title=National Register Information System|date=2008-04-15|work=National Register of Historic Places|publisher=National Park Service]

The "S.S. Catalina", also known as "The Great White Steamer", is a 301-foot steamship built in 1924 that provided passenger service on the 26-mile passage between Los Angeles and Santa Catalina Island from 1924 to 1975. According to the Steamship Historical Society of America, the Catalina has carried more passengers than any other vessel anywhere. The "S.S. Catalina" also served as a troop ship during World War II, transporting more than 800,000 soldiers and sailors. After a period of service as a floating discotheque, the ship ran aground on a sandbar in Ensenada Harbor in 1997 and has remained half-submerged and decaying at that location for more than a decade.

Passenger service to Santa Catalina Island

The ship was originally built in 1924 at a cost of $1 million for William Wrigley Jr., the chewing gum and confectionary magnate who owned most of Catalina Island. [cite news|author=Grace Lee|title=Rescue Call: Wilmington Man Joins Effort To Save SS Catalina|publisher=The Daily Breeze|date=2000-06-26|url=http://www.escapist.com/sscatalina/mirror/breeze062500.htm] [cite news|author=Anna Cearley|title=Old ship Catalina starts long journey back to splendor: Mexico deeds vessel to restoration group|publisher=San Diego Union-Tribune|date=2000-06-29|url=http://www.escapist.com/sscatalina/mirror/sdut06292k.htm] Between 1924 and 1975, the "S.S. Catalina" carried about 25 million passengers between Los Angeles and Avalon Harbor. According to the Steamship Historical Society of America, the "Catalina" has carried more passengers than any other vessel anywhere.cite news|author=Steve Springer|title=Once-Proud SS Catalina, Now Rusty and Listing, Awaits Rescue Effort|publisher=Los Angeles Times|date=1999-10-10|url=http://www.escapist.com/sscatalina/mirror/lat101099.htm]

In its heyday, the ship was known as the "Great White Steamer" and carried 2,000 passengers at a time on the two-and-a-half hour trip to Catalina. [cite news|author=Deborah Belgum|title=SOS for a Steamer: Man Mounts Quest to Save Slowly Sinking SS Catalina |publisher=Los Angeles Times|date=1998-05-08|url=http://www.escapist.com/sscatalina/mirror/lat050498.htm] Among its famous passengers were Presidents Calvin Coolidge and Herbert Hoover, actor Robert Mitchum and many of the great musicians of the Big Band era.cite news|author=Gregory Gross|title=Steamer Catalina may end up as scr
] The "Los Angeles Times" recalled the passage this way:

"To board the Catalina during its heyday was to enter a world of luxurious leather settees and gleaming teak. On the upper deck people danced to swinging big bands. Magicians and clowns entertained passengers. On the lower deck youngsters played hide and seek among the lifeboats, and couples found hidden spots where they could be alone. ... Residents fondly remember the rituals with which the ship was greeted as it approached the island: Speedboats would circle the ship, water skiers slicing through its giant wake. Closer to shore, children swam out to dive for coins passengers tossed into the bay. People in Avalon gathered to sing as passengers stepped off the ship that docked near the center of town."cite news|author=Diana Marcum|title=Catalina Rescue Steams Forward: History: Mexico gives group 90 days to remove the steamship, which lies rusting in Ensenada. The vessel carried millions between the island and San Pedro|publisher=Los Angeles Times|date=200-06-22|url=http://www.escapist.com/sscatalina/mirror/lat062000.htm]

In 1958, the 26-mile trip to Catalina Island was made famous by Four Preps' hit song "26 Miles (Santa Catalina)". The song reached the #2 position on the U.S. popular music charts. The metric distance of "42 kil-o-meters" also is sung.

Troop ship in World War II

During World War II, the "Catalina" was used as a troop ship in San Francisco Bay, transporting more than 820,000 sailors and soldiers – more than any other military transport ship in the war effort.

Retirement and abandonment in Ensenada

By the early 1970s, smaller, faster vessels made it difficult for the "Catalina" to compete for passenger traffic, and she was retired from passenger service in 1975.

In 1977, the "Catalina" was purchased at auction for $70,000 by real estate developer Hymie Singer. He bought the ship as a Valentine's day gift for his wife and the steamship was moved for several years between Newport Beach, San Diego, Santa Monica Bay and Long Beach. At one point, there was a proposal for the Catalina to ferry tourists up the Nile River, but her 21 feet of draft was too deep for the river. [cite news|author=Bill Manson|title=Half the Town Would Run toward the Pier |publisher=San Diego Reader|date=1997-05-08|url=http://www.escapist.com/sscatalina/mirror/reader050897.htm] As the ship bounced from one port to another, one writer noted: "Twice she broke free of her moorings in Long Beach and once nearly hit a tanker; it was as if the ship was rebelling against her fate, having gone from being a source of pride to an embarrassment to a naval hazard."

In 1985, Singer moved the ship to Ensenada, Baja California, where she became the focus of a series of unsuccessful business ventures, including a floating discotheque and the Catalina Bar and Grill. In late 1997, the Catalina escaped its moorings and became stuck on a sandbar in Ensenada Harbor. Since that time, the Catalina has remained half-submerged and stuck in the mud in the harbor. After years of neglect, the Catalina has become badly decayed and rusted and has been stripped by looters and vandals.

Historic recognition and preservation efforts

The "Catalina" has been recognized as a Historic-Cultural Monument (HCM #213) by the Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Commission, [Citation | last = Los Angeles Department of City Planning | date = 2007-09-07 | title = Historic - Cultural Monuments (HCM) Listing: City Declared Monuments | place = | publisher = City of Los Angeles | edition = | url =http://www.cityprojectca.org/ourwork/documents/HCMDatabase090707.pdf | accessdate = 2008-07-10 ] and is a California State Historic Landmark. She was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976. Preservationists have sought since the late 1990s to raise funds to return the "Catalina" to Los Angeles for restoration. Others have opposed raising the ship, saying, "It's like digging up grandma and putting her at the head of the table."

ee also

* List of Registered Historic Places in Los Angeles
* Santa Catalina Island, California

References

External links

* [http://www.savethecatalina.org/history.html Save the Catalina: History]
* [http://users.erols.com/gayle/avalon.htm The S.S. Catalina: The First 75 Years Of a "Great White Steamer" by Shawn J. Dake]
* [http://www.escapist.com/sscatalina/ Escapist.com: S.S. Catalina Steamship Information]
* [http://www.maritimematters.com/catalina.html Maritime Matters: S.S. Catalina]

Videos

* [http://youtube.com/watch?v=W_9d_wy06Ew Video of the Catalina decaying in Ensenada Harbor]
* [http://youtube.com/watch?v=NtsNh5xvfNo Video: "The Big White Steamers to Catalina"]
* [http://youtube.com/watch?v=t17wE9bYCLM Video: "The Great White Steamship"]