SS Lurline (1932)

The SS "Lurline" was the third Matson vessel to hold that name and the last of four fast and luxurious ocean liners that Matson built for the Hawaii and Australasia runs from the West Coast of the United States. "Lurline"'s sister ships were "SS Malolo", "SS Mariposa" and "SS Monterey". As "USAT Lurline" (aka "USS Lurline"), she served as a troopship in World War II.

Rechristened in 1963 by Chandris Lines as the MS "Ellinis", the ship became one of the most important luxury cruise ships on the Australian and New Zealand services. She operated in Australasia and Oceania until 1980.

"Lurline" of the Matson Line

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) [ [http://www.fullbooks.com/The-Poems-of-Henry-Kendall2.html Kendall, Henry. The Poems of Henry Kendall: "Lurline"] ] 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 nacent fleet and the brigantine was sold to another company in 1896. [cite book |title=To Honolulu in Five Days: Cruising Aboard Matson's S.S. Lurline |last=Krantz |first=Lynn Blocker |coauthors=Nick Krantz, Mary Thiele Fobian |year=2001 |publisher=Ten Speed Press |isbn=1580082327 ] Matson built a steamship named "Lurline" in 1908 [ [http://www.matson.com/bos/history_sec0105.shtml Matson.com fleet history. Birth of a Ship: From Sail to Steam.] ] ; 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.

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. 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). 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, travelling 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.

"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.

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.

"Ellinis" of the Chandris Line

The "Lurline" was bought by Chandris Lines in September 1963 to replace the "SS Brittany", wrecked by fire earlier in the year. The "Ellinis" sailed under her new name from California to North East England for repairs in North Shields and was refitted with increased accommodation for 1,668 passengers in one class.

She was given new Chandris livery and a modernised superstructure with new funnels and embarked on her maiden voyage from Piraeus to Sydney on 30 December 1963. Her homeward voyages were alternately routed east via the Panama Canal to Southampton. The ship took occasional cruises.

In April 1974, cruising to Japan, "Ellinis" developed major problems in one engine. Fortunately, Chandris were able to buy a surplus engine from her sister ship "Homeric" (ex-"Mariposa") which was being broken up in Taiwan at the time. The replacement was carried out in Rotterdam, finishing in March 1975.

"Ellinis" provided mainly cruise services from 1975 and, in October 1981, she was finally laid up in Greece after providing passenger services for nearly fifty years. Despite various plans to utilize the ship whole, she was sold in 1986 and scrapped in Taiwan in 1987. Some of her fittings were installed in other Chandris ships; her engine parts were stored against future need by her aging sister "Britanis" (ex-"Monterey").

References

*cite book |title=The Chandris Liners and Celebrity Cruises |last=Plowman |first=Peter |year=2007 |publisher=Roseberg Pub |isbn=1877058475

External links

* [http://www.geocities.com/chandrislines/ellinis.html Chandris Lines: "Ellinis"]
* [http://www.maritimematters.com/lurline32.html Maritime Matters: "Lurline", "Ellinis"]
* [http://www.ssmaritime.com/ellinis.htm ssMaritime with Reuben Goossens. Matson / Chandris Lines "SS Lurline / RHMS Ellinis"]