SS Catalina

The S.S. Catalina, also known as The Great White Steamer, was 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 remained there half-submerged and decaying for more than a decade.

In January 2009 it was announced that the ship would be cut up for scrap, which has been completed.

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 confectionery magnate who owned most of Catalina Island. 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.

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. 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. 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.'"

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 "40 kil-o-meters" also is sung.

In 1960, fed up with all of the excessive taxation and union pressure, Phillip K. Wrigley sold the ship to a group of investors, known as M.G.R.S. President, Charlie Stillwell, and Vice President, Vern Maynard who was also President of Channel Concessions, ran the ship, as well as managed the Casino Ballroom during the early to mid-1960s.

The ship is featured in the 1967 film "Catalina Caper".

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. 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 remained half-submerged and stuck in the mud in the harbor. After years of neglect, the Catalina was badly decayed and rusted and had been stripped by looters and vandals.

Historic recognition and preservation efforts
The Catalina was recognized as a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument (LAHCM #213) by the city's Cultural Heritage Commission, and was a California Historical Landmark. She was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976. Preservationists had sought since the late 1990s to raise funds to return the Catalina to Los Angeles for restoration. Others had opposed raising the ship, saying, "It's like digging up grandma and putting her at the head of the table."

Demise
The Catalina was finally broken up after sitting in Ensenada Harbor for about 12 years. The scrapping of the SS Catalina began in January 2009 and was finished by late 2009 or early 2010.

Videos

 * Video of the Catalina decaying in Ensenada Harbor
 * Video: "The Big White Steamers to Catalina"
 * Video: "The Great White Steamship"