USS Shoshone (ID-1760)

USS Shoshone (ID-1760) was a transport that served in the United States Navy in 1919.

Shoshone (ID-1760), first U.S. Navy ship of the name, was built in 1911 by Bremer Vulkan at Vegesack, Germany, and operated as a passenger-cargo ship by the Hamburg-America Line as SS Wasgenwald. Wasgenwald was chartered for World War I service by the United States Army on 26 October 1917 from the Custom House, New York, and used as a depot collier with the name SS Shoshone.

Shoshone was acquired by the U.S. Navy for use as a troop transport, assigned Id. No. 1760, armed, and placed in commission as USS Shoshone on 19 February 1919. She was attached to the Cruiser and Transport Force and, between February and July 1919, made two voyages to St. Nazaire, France, returning to the United States with American troops coming home from World War I service in Europe.

Shoshone was decommissioned at Norfolk, Virginia, on 5 August 1919 and returned to her owner. As SS Shoshone, she resumed commercial service, and around 1919 was renamed SS Manoa.

Later career as s.s. "Manoa"

On 11 June 1921, Canada Steamship Lines introduced the 5,070-ton passenger and cargo ship MANOA (ii) into a new service between Montreal, Charlottetown and St John's that partly revived the Quebec Steamship Co's pre-1915 service between Montreal, Quebec and Gaspé. Because of the number of ports, the round voyage took 17 days, as “Canadian Railway & Marine World” announced that June: –

"Canada Steamship Lines will place its twin-screw steamship MANOA in service this summer, between Montreal, Quebec, and Gaspé, Que, Charlottetown, PEI, and St John's, Nfld, making seven round trips of about a fortnight each, leaving Montreal 11 and 28 June,  15,  2 July and 19 Aug, and  6 and 23 Sep... Her stateroom accommodation includes parlor rooms with baths en suite.

"The route will be along the south shore of the St Lawrence, round the Gaspé peninsula, and Percé Rock, and thence via Charlottetown to St John s. The passenger rates will range as follows, according to accommodation, first-class fares including berths and meals. To Gaspé, one way, $30 to $70; steerage, $20; no round trip fares to Gaspé. To Charlottetown, one way, $45 to $85; round trip, $75 to $150; steerage, one way, $30. To St John's, one way, $70 to $100; round trip, $125 to $175; steer- age, one way, $40. There will be local rates between Gaspé and Charlottetown, Gaspé and St John's and Charlottetown and St John's. Children under 5, if occupying seats at table, will be charged 50c a meal, but no charge for passage or berth; children 5 years and under 12, half fare; and over 12 full fare. All fares exclusive of war tax." The Quebec Steamship Co's second ship of this name, that of a mythical golden city in British Guiana, the MANOA was a former Hamburg-American liner that had been taken by the Americans as a war prize. She could carry 100 passengers and had also run briefly in the Quebec Steamship Co's West Indies trade, between December 1919 and April 1920, before moving to the Compagnie Canadienne Transatlantique Ltée for a new service between Montreal and Le Havre, with Saint John as winter port. This joint venture of Canada Steamship Lines and Compagnie Générale Transatlantique, known also as the Fracanda Line, had been formed on 12 April 1919, with two ships from each partner carrying passengers. But it had operated only thirteen round voyages for passengers plus several voyages by chartered cargo ships before closing down in January 1921.

By October, “Canadian Railway & Marine World” was reporting her acceptance on the St John's run: –

"Canada Steamship Lines' s.s. MANOA, which was to have made her last trip of the season from Montreal to Newfoundland, made additional sailings, Oct 13 and 29, and will make a third additional sailing, Nov 17, in response to requests from Newfoundland residents. The usual calls were made at Gaspé, Que, and Charlottetown, PEI. It is stated that the MANOA will make a series of special winter cruises to the south."

She would remain the mainstay of the Montreal-St John's trade for the next five years. Whether the “special winter cruises” were to be run by Canada Steamship Lines or she was to be chartered back to Furness Withy & Co is not clear. Canada Steamship Lines had sold its Quebec Steamship subsidiary, for whom the MANOA had once operated, two seasons earlier and was no longer involved in the southern trades.

After dropping the MANOA's Gaspé calls, Canada Steamship Lines was able to change her schedule from every 17 days to fortnightly fixed day of the week departures. These left Montreal every other Saturday at 4 pm for Charlottetown and St John's, with a return from St John's on the following Saturday. Calling at Charlottetown each way, she arrived at the other end of the line on Thursday, a 5-night voyage each way. CSL also sold these sailings as a 12-day cruise, from $90 inside or $135 in an outside cabin, and described it in its tourist brochure as follows: –

"A cruise in cool latitudes on the 6,000-ton (ocean type) s.s. MANOA. In this 12-day sea trip on the placid waters of the St Lawrence River and Gulf, you will find all the fascination of an ocean voyage – without any of the monotony and discomfort of a sea trip. A Boat Trip of 2,000 miles through the lower St Lawrence and Gulf of St Lawrence from Montreal to St John’s, Newfoundland, and return."

In 1922, these Gulf of St Lawrence cruises featured in a new brochure entitled “Two Wonderful Cruises” that also included the weekly Saguenay cruise of the CAPE ETERNITY.

In 1923, Canada Steamship Lines lost $25,000 on its Newfoundland service but in 1924, as well as the MANOA, it ran the WINONA to St John's, giving it a weekly cargo service and fortnightly passenger service. At the end of that summer, however, the MANOA was replaced by the 2,816-ton Norwegian-flag cargo ship LISGAR COUNTY, brought in from the County Line. It also maintained a winter service from Saint John, New Brunswick, where it had been using the MAPLEDAWN in 1922.

Canada Steamship Lines sold the MANOA to the Boston Iron & Metal Co in June 1926. That company in turn sold her back to her original owners, the Hamburg-American Line. Canada Steamship Lines meanwhile continued its Montreal-St John's service, but for cargo only, with winter sailings from Saint John, using chartered British freighters for the most part.