Borinquen (1930)

Last updated
('Borinquen', Puerto Rico) (8365169914).jpg
History
Flag of the United States.svg United States
Name
  • Borinquen
  • Puerto Rico (1949)
  • Arosa Star (1954)
  • Bahama Star (1959)
  • La Jenelle (1969) [1]
Namesake Borinquen—alternate local name for Puerto Rico
Owner Atlantic, Gulf & West Indies Steamship Inc. (AGWI), Bull Line, Arosa Line
Operator
RouteNew York to San Juan, Puerto Rico and Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
BuilderBethlehem Steel Company, Quincy, Massachusetts [1] [2]
Laid down20 January 1930
Launched24 September 1930
Completed20 February 1931 [1]
FateGrounded, 13 April 1970
General characteristics
Tonnage7,114  GRT [2]
Length413 ft 7 in (126.1 m) [2]
Beam59 ft 8 in (18.2 m) [2]
Draft23 ft 2 in (7.1 m) [2]
PropulsionOil fired tube boilers driving single, impulse-reaction type, reduction geared turbines for about 6,500hp
NotesCapacity for 1,289 troops as USAT Borinquen [3]

SS Borinquen, the Taino language name for Puerto Rico, was a passenger liner launched 24 September 1930 and delivered to the Atlantic, Gulf & West Indies Steamship Lines (AGWI) in 1931 for operation by its subsidiary the New York & Porto Rico Line. The line operated the ship until it was requisitioned by the War Shipping Administration (WSA) the last day of 1941 for service as a troop transport. The line then operated the ship as agent for the WSA until 6 May 1944 when operation was transferred to the United States Army for support of the Normandy landings with the ship arriving off the beaches on 7 June 1944. Borinquen continued service post war until redelivered to the owners 14 June 1946. The ship was sold in 1949 and became the Arosa Star. After further sales and change in the cruise ship regulations the ship was again sold and grounded as La Jenelle on the California coast in 1970.

Contents

Construction

Borinquen, designed by Theodore E. Ferris, was laid down at the Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation's Fore River Shipyard in Quincy, Massachusetts 20 January 1930, launched 24 September 1930 and completed in 1931 with delivery 20 February 1931. [1] [4] [5] The ship's name comes from the Taino language name, Borikén, for the island of Puerto Rico. [6] [7] Borinquen was delivered to the Atlantic, Gulf & West Indies Steamship Lines (AGWI) for operation by AGWI's subsidiary, New York & Porto Rico Line. [5] Borinquen was similar in characteristics and design to the line's earlier ship, SS Coamo (1925) with the Lloyd's Register, 1930–31 [8] showing the ship as ordered for the New York & Porto Rico Steamship Company with an original date of 1930, both stricken, with a new date 1931 and "Coamo S.S. Corp" with New York & Porto Rico Steamship Company as manager. [5] [8] [Note 1]

The ship was propelled by single, impulse-reaction type, reduction geared turbines furnished with steam by oil fired tube boilers for about 6,500 horsepower. [5]

Commercial operation

The ship arrived in New York 22 February 1931 and began her working career with a maiden voyage from New York to San Juan, Puerto Rico and Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic which would become her regular scheduled route. [5] [9]

World War II operation

During World War II she was requisitioned from Agwilines, Inc. by the War Shipping Administration on 31 December 1941 with Agwilines as the operator. [10] On 6 May 1944 Borinquen was transferred to direct War Department operation by the Transportation Corps under bareboat charter as the USAT Borinquen until returned to Agwilines 14 June 1946. [10] She had a capacity for 1,289 troops and 404 medical patients. USAT Borinquen was one of the Army transports at Normandy. [3] [11] [12]

Beginning on 15 January 1942 the ship's operations centered on the North Atlantic with overseas ports in Iceland and Scotland until 10 May, when she departed Scotland for Freetown and began a period of operation involving African ports. In June she began a voyage from Cape Town to Aden and Suez before returning to West African operations. After a return to New York on 10 August she began operations beginning in November from Belfast and Liverpool involving North Africa and Britain with Oran, Casablanca and Algiers as usual ports before making port in Palermo, Sicily on 31 July 1943. After a return to New York on 22 August 1943 operations were between ports in the United States and Britain until on 5 June she departed Swansea, with the destination being listed as Port en Bessin, France, that was the arrival off Normandy invasion beaches on 7 June 1944. She made one more trip to Belfast, returning to Grandcamp, France, 9 July before beginning a shuttle service largely between Belfast and Liverpool until a return to New York 25 October 1944. After departure from New York 3 January 1945 she again began a routine shuttle between Southampton and Le Havre until a run to Marseille in August and a return to New York on 31 August 1945. [13]

Sale and subsequent names

On 25 April 1949, [10] she was sold to the Bull Steamship Company and renamed the SS Puerto Rico.

In 1954 she was purchased by the Arosa Line (Compañía Internacional Transportadora – owned by Nicolo Rizzi, a Swiss-Italian financier) and operated as the extensively rebuilt Arosa Star until 1958. [14] As the Arosa Star she was the third largest ship of the Arosa Line, a Swiss cruise line, operating in the mid-1950s. The 2 larger ships in the fleet were the flagship Arosa Sky, and the older Arosa Sun – originally the French-built liner Felix Roussel. Then came the Arosa Star, with Arosa Kulm bringing up the rear. The Arosa Star was a ship which traveled several different routes, with many crew on board. At one time Kurt Ebberg was master, Alex Von Blessingh was first officer, Ernest Kuehne was chief engineer, Karl Nahrath was chief purser, and Hasso Wolf was the doctor of the ship.

During at least part of this period, she transported immigrants from northern Europe to Canada and the United States, with regular ports of call at Halifax, Quebec City, Montreal and New York City. With the advent of affordable air travel, the market for hauling immigrants quickly disappeared and the Arosa Line went bankrupt.

In the years 1959–69, she was operated for Eastern Steamship Lines as the Bahama Star, sailing primarily between Florida and the Bahamas. During this period, the Bahama Star managed to rescue 489 people from the burning SS Yarmouth Castle, another cruise ship; 90 people perished in the blaze. In an ironic twist of fate, this accident led to changes to the maritime regulations pertaining to such ships at the Geneva Convention of 1964, outlawing the operation of passenger vessels with wooden super-structures. The cost of complying with the new regulations proved too expensive, so the ship was sold to the Western Steamship Company.

She was renamed again, this time to La Jenelle. The new owners brought her to Port Hueneme, California, where they intended to sell her. Some say that plans were underway to make her a floating restaurant/casino. Others claim she was to be sold to an Indonesian shipping firm, but neither plan materialized. By 1970, she was anchored outside the harbor to avoid expensive docking fees while efforts were made to find a buyer. On April 13, her luck ran out. That particular day was blustery, with a northwest gale ripping the tops off the waves. Seas broke everywhere, and nearly everyone was in port. La Jenelle's starboard anchor – the only one out – began to drag. There were only two crewmen aboard, and they were unable to stop her drift. Only 23 minutes later, she struck the sandy beach west of the Port Hueneme breakwater, her stern just missing the rocks. La Jenelle began to list as she took on water. The crew stayed aboard, attempting to pump her dry so she could be righted, but the seas were pouring in from many smashed portholes and windows making their efforts fruitless. A helicopter arrived to rescue them as the ship settled further into the sand. [15] [16]

Wreck of the La Jenelle off Silver Strand Beach, California La Jenelle Shipwreck.jpg
Wreck of the La Jenelle off Silver Strand Beach, California

The La Jenelle proved to be quite an attraction. Crowds flocked to Silver Strand Beach to see the stranded behemoth. Surfers paddled out to the stricken ship to wander among passageways canted at impossible angles, reminiscent of the film, Poseidon Adventure. Salvers picked over her bones, tearing away loose brass hardware and anything else of value. Her plates began to buckle under the incessant pounding of the surf as one compartment after another was destroyed. [17] A fire, perhaps started by vandals, gutted her interior. La Jenelle became a real hazard in time, for it was impossible to keep people off her. Eventually a souvenir hunter fell from the wreck and was drowned. By then, the owners had faded from the scene during the litigation that follows such an incident. A United States Navy team cut the top off the ship and brought in rocks to fill in the carcass. La Jenelle was transformed into a new arm for the Port of Hueneme breakwater. [18]

Notes

  1. ↑ Ship ownership may be a separate entity, for example a holding company, and "Coamo S.S. Corp" may have been such a holding company associated with AGWI.

See also

Related Research Articles

Coamo, Puerto Rico Town and municipality in Puerto Rico

Coamo is a town and municipality founded in 1579 in the south-central region of Puerto Rico, located north of Santa Isabel; south of Orocovis and Barranquitas; east of Villalba and Juana Díaz; and west of Aibonito and Salinas. Coamo is spread over 10 barrios and Coamo Pueblo – the downtown area and the administrative center of the city. It is both a principal city of the Coamo Micropolitan Statistical Area and the Ponce-Yauco-Coamo Combined Statistical Area.

Military history of Puerto Rico From the 16th century to the present employment of Puerto Ricans in the US Armed Forces

The recorded military history of Puerto Rico encompasses the period from the 16th century, when Spanish conquistadores battled native Taínos in the rebellion of 1511, to the present employment of Puerto Ricans in the United States Armed Forces in the military campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq.

USS <i>Orizaba</i> United States Navy transport ship

USS Orizaba (ID-1536/AP-24) was a transport ship for the United States Navy in both World War I and World War II. She was the sister ship of Siboney but the two were not part of a ship class. In her varied career, she was also known as USAT Orizaba in service for the United States Army, and as SS Orizaba in interwar civilian service for the Ward Line, and as Duque de Caxias (U-11) as an auxiliary in the Brazilian Navy after World War II.

Baños de Coamo Puerto Ricos only thermal springs

The Baños de Coamo, located in the municipality of Coamo, are one of Puerto Rico's thermal springs.

Seatrain Lines

Seatrain Lines, officially the Over-Seas Shipping Company, was a shipping and transportation company conducting operations in the Americas and trans-Pacific regions. Seatrain Lines began intermodal freight transport in December 1928 by transporting entire loaded railroad freight cars between the United States and Cuba. The specially designed ship Seatrain, built in England, was followed in 1932 by two larger ships built in the United States and in 1939 by two additional ships. By the outbreak of World War II the company was operating five ships that became important in the war effort and basis for the design of fifty new ships for military use. A series of business setbacks amid the rise of containerized shipping left the company in perilous financial condition in the 1970s. Seatrain Lines shut down in 1981 after filing for bankruptcy.

USS <i>Hugh L. Scott</i> (AP-43)

USS Hugh L. Scott (AP-43) was a Hugh L. Scott-class transport ship. She was built in 1921 and spent 20 years in merchant service as a passenger and cargo liner. In July 1941 the ship was delivered to the United States Department of War for Army service as the United States Army Transport Hugh L. Scott operating in the Pacific. In August 1942 the ship was transferred to the United States Navy for conversion to an attack transport, served as a troopship in Operation Torch in November 1942, and was sunk by a U-boat four days later. 59 crewmen and soldiers died during the sinking.

SS <i>Munargo</i> (1921)

SS Munargo was a commercial cargo and passenger ship built for the Munson Steamship Line by New York Shipbuilding Corp., Camden, New Jersey launched 17 September 1921. Munargo operated for the line in the New York-Bahamas-Cuba-Miami service passenger cargo trade. In June 1930 the United States and Mexican soccer teams took passage aboard Munargo from New York to Uruguay for the 1930 FIFA World Cup. The ship was acquired by the War Shipping Administration and immediately purchased by the War Department for service as a troop carrier during World War II. Shortly after acquisition the War Department transferred the ship to the U.S. Navy which commissioned the ship USS Munargo (AP-20). She operated in the Atlantic Ocean for the Navy until returned to the War Department in 1943 for conversion into the Hospital ship USAHS Thistle.

USS <i>General C. H. Muir</i> (AP-142)

USS General C. H. Muir (AP-142) was a General G. O. Squier-class transport ship for the U.S. Navy in World War II. The ship was crewed by the U.S. Coast Guard until decommissioning. She was named in honor of U.S. Army general Charles Henry Muir. She was transferred to the U.S. Army as USAT General C. H. Muir in 1946. On 1 March 1950 she was transferred to the Military Sea Transportation Service (MSTS) as USNS General C. H. Muir (T-AP-142). She was later sold for commercial operation under the names SS Chicago and SS San Juan, and was scrapped some time after 1985.

SS <i>Monterey</i>

SS Monterey was a luxury ocean liner launched on 10 October 1931. The ship was completed April 1932 and is shown in registers as a 1932 ship. Monterey was the third of the four ships of the Matson Lines "White Fleet", which were designed by William Francis Gibbs and also included SS Malolo, SS Mariposa and SS Lurline. Monterey was identical to Mariposa and very similar to Lurline. During World War II Monterey was used as a troopship operated by Matson as agents of the War Shipping Administration (WSA). Monterey was a large, fast transport capable of sailing independently and was allocated to serving Army troop transport requirements. The ship was involved in an attack on a convoy near Cape Bougaroun.

SS <i>American Legion</i>

American Legion was built for the United States Shipping Board (USSB), one of the planned World War I troop transports converted before construction into passenger and cargo vessels, the Emergency Fleet Corporation Design 1029 ships. The ship was laid down as Koda and perhaps assigned the name Badger State at one point, but renamed American Legion before launch and one of only a few of the design not taking a state nickname. Originally operated by the USSB's agents and the Munson Steamship Line the ship saw commercial service until laid up 13 March 1939.

Ward Line American shipping company

The New York and Cuba Mail Steamship Company, commonly called the Ward Line, was a shipping company that operated from 1841 until liquidated in 1954. The line operated out of New York City's Piers 15, 16, and 17—land which later became the site of the South Street Seaport and also the Manhattan terminal of the IKEA-Red Hook ferry route. The company’s steamers linked New York City with Nassau, Havana, and Mexican Gulf ports. The company had a good reputation for safety until a series of disasters in the mid-1930s, including the SS Morro Castle disaster. Soon after, the company changed its name to the Cuba Mail Line. In 1947, the Ward Line name was restored when service was resumed after World War II, but rising fuel prices and competition from airlines caused the company to cease operation in 1954.

SS <i>Empire Bittern</i> World War II merchant ship of the United Kingdom

Empire Bittern was a steamship, built as a livestock-carrying cargo ship in 1902 at Belfast, Ireland as Iowa for the White Diamond Steamship Company Ltd of Liverpool. The ship was sold to the Hamburg Amerika Linie and renamed Bohemia in 1913.

USNS Short Splice (T-AK-249) was a US Maritime Administration (MARCOM) C1-M-AV1type coastal cargo ship, originally planned as an Alamosa-class cargo ship. Constructed as Short Splice for MARCOM, completed in August 1945 and placed in operation by the War Shipping Administration during the closing period of World War II. However, the war ended, and she was transferred to the US Army as USAT Short Splice who kept her in service until transferred to the US Navy in 1950.

USAT J. W. McAndrew was a Type C3-P&C troop ship for the United States Army during World War II.

<i>SS Shawnee</i> US and Yugoslav ship

Shawnee was a passenger steam turbine-powered ship built in 1926-1927 by Newport News Ship Building & Drydock Co. of Newport News for Clyde Steamship Company, a subsidiary of Atlantic, Gulf & West Indies Steamship Lines with intention of operating between New York and southern ports of the United States. During the World War II the liner was requisitioned by the US Government, and served as the United States Army Transport from September 1942 to March 1946 in the Atlantic, Mediterranean and Pacific. Following the end of the war, the ship was sold to a Portuguese company and renamed City of Lisbon, and subsequently resold to Yugoslavia, becoming Partizanka operating with the shipping company Jugoslavenska Linijska Plovidba until 1949 when the steamer burned while in drydock and was declared a total loss.

RMS <i>Lady Hawkins</i> Canadian mail ship sank by Germany in World War II

RMS Lady Hawkins was a steam turbine ocean liner. She was one of a class of five sister ships popularly known as "Lady Boats" that Cammell Laird of Birkenhead, England built in 1928 and 1929 for the Canadian National Steamship Company. The five vessels were Royal Mail Ships that CN operated from Halifax, Nova Scotia and the Caribbean via Bermuda. In 1942 the German submarine U-66 sank Lady Hawkins in the North Atlantic, killing 251 of the 322 people aboard.

SS Haiti was a passenger and freight ship built for the Colombian Mail Steamship Company built at Newport News Shipbuilding, Newport News, Virginia and delivered 15 December 1932. The ship was renamed briefly Puerto Rico in 1938 and Monterey in 1939 to operate for the New York and Cuba Mail Steamship Company until requisitioned with transfer of title to the War Shipping Administration (WSA) on 25 September 1942. The ship was then allocated to the U.S. Army for operation under a bareboat agreement as USAT Monterey. In 1943 the ship was assigned to the command at Trinidad to supply bases in Brazil and Ascension Island. After layup in the reserve fleet the ship was sold to Turkey.

USAT <i>Cuba</i>

USAT Cuba was the passenger ship Cuba of the Peninsular & Occidental Steamship Company built by William Cramp & Sons Shipbuilding Company, Philadelphia in 1920 and placed into operation in 1921 for scheduled passenger and freight service between Tampa, Key West and Havana.

Agwilines Inc Passengers and Shipping Company

Agwilines Inc was a passenger and cargo shipping company of New York City. Agwilines is short for Atlantic, Gulf & West Indies Steamship Inc. AGWI Lines group operated four main lines in the 1910s, 1920s and 1930s:

A. H. Bull Steamship Company American passengers and shipping company

A. H. Bull Steamship Company was a shipping company and passenger liner service founded in New York City in 1902 by Archibald H. Bull (1848-1920). Service started with shipping between New York and Florida. His fleet of ships then added service to other Eastcoast ports. The company is also often called the Bull Lines and the Bull Steamship Line or A. H. Bull & Company. While founded in New York, Bull soon move its headquarter to Peir 5 in Baltimore, Maryland. Bull Lines main Eastcoast ports were: Baltimore, Charleston, Philadelphia, Tampa and Norfolk, Virginia. Oversea ports: Porto Rico, Antwerp, Bordeaux, Hamburg, Bremen, Copenhagen, and West Africa. Bull Steamship Line supported the US war effort for both World War I and World War II, including the loss of ships.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Colton, T. (July 6, 2011). "Bethlehem Steel Company, Quincy MA". ShipBuildingHistory. Archived from the original on 16 May 2014. Retrieved 10 August 2013.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Lloyds (1931–32). "Lloyd's Register" (PDF). Lloyd's Register (through PlimsollShipData). Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2014. Retrieved 10 August 2013.
  3. 1 2 U.S. Army Transportation Museum (15 May 2013). "OPERATION MULBERRY (D-Day 1944)". Archived from the original on 2012-03-30. Retrieved 4 March 2014.
  4. ↑ Pacific Marine Review (1931). "Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation, Fore River Plant". Consolidated 1931 issues (February). 'Official Organ: Pacific American Steamship Association/Shipowners' Association of the Pacific Coast: 85. Retrieved 20 September 2014.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 Pacific Marine Review (1931). "New York—Caribbean Vessel Completed". Consolidated 1931 issues (March). 'Official Organ: Pacific American Steamship Association/Shipowners' Association of the Pacific Coast: 126. Retrieved 20 September 2014.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  6. ↑ "Tribal Government of the Jatibonicu Taino People of Puerto Rico". Tribal Government of The Jatibonicu Taino Tribal Nation. March 28, 2015. Retrieved 3 June 2015.
  7. ↑ La Prensa. "Latino History—Why Do Puerto Ricans Call Their Island Borinquen?". Latino History. La Prensa Newspaper. Retrieved 3 June 2015.
  8. 1 2 Lloyds (1930–31). "Lloyd's Register" (PDF). Lloyd's Register (through PlimsollShipData). Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2014. Retrieved 10 August 2013.
  9. ↑ Maritime Timetable Images (April 2, 2011). "Porto Rico Line (New York & Porto Rico Steamship Co.)". Maritime Timetable Images. Retrieved 10 August 2013.
  10. 1 2 3 Maritime Administration. "Borinquen". Ship History Database Vessel Status Card. U.S. Department of Transportation, Maritime Administration. Retrieved 31 May 2014.
  11. ↑ Grover 1987, p. 7.
  12. ↑ Smith 1956, p. 414, Note 60.
  13. ↑ World War II U.S. Navy Armed Guard (2014). "The USAT Borinquen and its Voyages (Transport Commander's list of voyages)". World War II U.S. Navy Armed Guard and World War II U.S. Merchant Marine. Retrieved 10 August 2013.
  14. ↑ Cruising the Past
  15. ↑ La Janelle Archived June 25, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  16. ↑ Kit Bonner; Carolyn Bonner (2003). Great Ship Disasters. p. Chapter 4. ISBN   0-7603-1336-9.
  17. ↑ Thompson, Doug (August 27, 2016). "Silver Strand shipwreck back in the spotlight". Ventura County Star . Retrieved 27 August 2016.
  18. ↑ Wreck site

Bibliography

Coordinates: 34°08′40″N119°12′59″W / 34.1445°N 119.2163°W / 34.1445; -119.2163

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.