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unusual facts about SS ''Matsonia''



1838 in the United Kingdom

8–23 April — Isambard Kingdom Brunel's paddle steamer SS Great Western (completed on 31 March) makes the Transatlantic Crossing to New York from Avonmouth in fifteen days, inaugurating a regular steamship service.

51st Infantry Division Siena

2,670 men drowned when they were transported to the mainland as PoWs on the SS Petrella, which was torpedoed by the HMS Sportsman.

Athen

SS Athen (1893), German merchant ship lost off Portland Bill in the English Channel in 1906, and now a dive site

Atlantic Transport Line

A full-scale regular passenger service to New York commenced in 1892 and today the line is best known for its first class only direct London to New York passenger/cargo service operated by its four Minne class ships, SS Minneapolis, SS Minnehaha, SS Minnetonka and SS Minnewaska from 1900 to 1915.

Emory Kristof

Kristof has participated in multiple undersea expeditions with Canadian explorers Joseph MacInnis and Phil Nuytten, including the exploration of the Breadalbane, the world's northernmost known shipwreck, and the 1995 expedition to recover the bell from the wreck of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald.

Flying Cloud

SS Flying Cloud, either of two type C2 ships built for the United States Maritime Commission

Gambling ship

On New Year's Day 1937, during the Great Depression, the gambling ship SS Monte Carlo, known for "drinks, dice, and dolls," was shipwrecked on the beach about a quarter mile south of the Hotel del Coronado, near San Diego.

Georgiana, Alabama

SS Georgiana, Confederate cruiser wrecked March 19, 1863, while attempting to run the U.S. Navy's blockade at Charleston, South Carolina

Hamburg Atlantic Line

After substantial rebuilding, the ship re-emerged as the first SS Hanseatic in June 1958, and was placed in service connecting Cuxhaven, Germany to New York, United States via Le Havre (France), Southampton (United Kingdom) and Cobh (Ireland).

Herndon Monument

It was erected in memory of Captain William Lewis Herndon who courageously decided to go down with his ship, SS Central America, and the men left aboard rather than save himself on September 12, 1857.

Hugh Mulzac

In 1942 he was offered command of the SS Booker T. Washington, the first Liberty ship to be named after an African-American.

Japanese submarine I-19

After sinking one of the ships SS William K. Vanderbilt on May 16, 1943, I-19 surfaced and machine-gunned the surviving crew members in their lifeboats, killing one of them.

John B. Babcock

He finished his career with the rank of brigadier general, and died from Bright's disease on board the SS Prinz Friedrich Wilhelm, while traveling from Bremen to New York City.

Millwall

On 31 January 1858, the largest ship of that time, the SS Great Eastern designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, was launched from Napier Yard, the shipyard leased by Messrs J Scott Russell & Co.

Nora Kovach

The couple traveled to the United States, arriving in Hoboken, New Jersey on the SS Nieuw Amsterdam on November 13, 1953.

Norman Batten

He and fellow driver Earl Devore were lost at sea while sailing aboard the ocean liner SS Vestris.

Olza

SS Olza, the first full-sea ship to be built at the Gdynia shipyard in the interwar years of the Second Polish Republic

Project HOPE

Its most visible aspect was the SS HOPE, the first peacetime hospital ship (converted from the USS Consolation (AH-15)).

RMS Etruria

She arrived in the Azores on Sunday, 9 March, and on the 15th her passengers and mail were transferred on to SS Elbe, which had been chartered for the task on the 10th.

Robert Byron

Robert died aged 35 in 1941 after his ship, the SS Jonathan Holt, was torpedoed by U-97 a Type VIIC submarine in the North Atlantic.

Royal Daffodil

SS Royal Daffodil, originally a Mersey ferry named Daffodil, gained the Royal prefix after the Zeebrugge Raid on 1918

Royal William

SS Royal William, Canadian ship launched in 1831 and the first ship that crossed the Atlantic Ocean almost continually under steam power 1833.

Souda Bay

In 1916 the British liner SS Minnewaska, requisitioned by the British Army as a troops carrier, struck a mine and was beached at Souda Bay.

SS Abessinia

SS Abessinia (1900) was a 5,633 ton passenger/cargo ship launched on 16 June 1900, by Palmers', Jarrow, England.

SS Belgic

SS Belgic (III) was launched as the freighter "SS Mississippi" on the 15 Dec 1902 for Atlantic Transport Line and transferred on 7 July 1906 to the Red Star Line as "SS Samland" .

SS Cathay

SS Cathay, launched in 1942 as Empire Archer, renamed Cathay in 1959 and operated by the Cathay Shipping Corporation, Panama and scrapped in 1963.

SS Christopher Columbus

In 1915, the SS Eastland capsized while docked in the Chicago River, with the loss of over 800 lives.

SS City of Los Angeles

SS City of Los Angeles (1918), laid down under this name but became USS Victorious (ID-3514) for the United States Navy in World War I; sailed as SS City of Havre from 1931 to 1938; sailed as SS City of Los Angeles (1938) until 1940; became USS George F. Elliot (AP-13) for the United States Navy in World War II; bombed and sunk at Florida Island in 1942

SS Donau

SS Donau (Rostock, 1922) was a 2,575 ton cargo ship completed as the Osterndorf for the Vinnen Bros in June 1922, by Neptun AG in Rostock, Germany.

SS Donau (1882) was a 1,513 ton cargo ship launched on 18 July 1882, by Thompson, R. in Southwick, England for A.C. Mohr & Son.

SS Matsonia

SS Matsonia (1932), originally named the Monterey, then renamed in 1957, before being sold and becoming the Lurline and then the Britanis for Chandris Lines, operating as a cruise ship for the until 2000, when she was sold for scrap and sank on her way to Indian ship breakers.

SS Michelangelo

Originally they were to be only slightly larger than SS Leonardo da Vinci, which was still being built, but the jet aircraft had not had a notable effect on the Mediterranean area at the time and a pair of genuine superliners seemed like an attractive idea, not only from a commercial point of view but also from the point of view of providing jobs to sailors and shipyard workers.

SS Oria

SS Oria (1920) was a 2,127 ton cargo ship launched on 17 June 1920, by Osbourne Graham of North Hylton, United Kingdom.

SS Oria (1890) was a 2,167 ton cargo ship launched on 20 March 1890, by Thompson, R., Southwick, England.

SS Pfalz

SS Pfalz (1893) was a 3,849 ton passenger/cargo ship launched on 31 July 1893, by Wigham Richardson, Low Walker, England.

SS President Grant

SS President Grant originally the 1903 Servian, purchased by Hamburg Amerikanische Paketfahrt Actien-Gesellschaft renamed the SS President Grant in 1907, interned and seized on U.S. entry into WW I, served as USS President Grant(SP-3014), transferred to U.S. Army and renamed USAT Republic alternately served Army and Navy as USS Republic (AP-33) and again as USAT Republic until sold for scrap 1952.

SS Selma

SS Selma (1871) was a 1,172 ton cargo ship launched as the Elf on 19 August 1871, by William Doxford & Sons, Pallion, England.

SS Selma (1921) was a 1,746 ton cargo ship launched on 17 June 1921, by Howaldtswerke in Kiel, Germany.

SS Westfalen

SS Westfalen (1912) was built as the 170 ton minesweeper FM-29 in 1919, by Nobiskrug in Rendsburg, Germany.

Summertime Dream

The album shot to popularity on the back of the haunting ballad, "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald", which told the story of the final hours of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald which had sunk on Lake Superior in November 1975.

Temple Dickson

Mrs. Dickson was one of the survivors of the SS Andrea Doria, the Italian passenger liner that sank in the North Atlantic in 1956.

Thomas William Bowlby

Lord Elgin and Baron Gros were his fellow passengers in the steamship SS Malabar, which sank in Galle harbor on 22 May 1860 after being beached in a severe storm; his report of the shipwreck was considered one of his best pieces of work.

USS O'Brien

See also: SS Jeremiah O’Brien, a Liberty ship, which served during World War II.

Valour-class frigate

The 4230-gross-ton (GRT) passenger ship SS Mendi was ferrying the mostly-Pondo 5th Battalion, SA Native Labour Corps (SANLC) from Britain to France when the steamer collided with the 11,000 GRT liner SS Darro during the early hours of February 21, 1917.

Wreck diving

For technical divers there are fewer wrecks that have attracted widespread popularity, although for years the SS Andrea Doria was regarded as the "Mount Everest" of wrecks to challenge the diver.


see also