Old postcard of this ship, now partly sunk in a Mexican harbor:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... otohosting

The post card is of the "Avalon." This was a ship that once ran on the Great Lakes before coming second hand to the San Pedro - Avalon (Catalina Island) operation.

It is the "Catalina," built new at San Pedro (Los Angeles harbor) for the run to Catalina Island, that is on the bottom, partly sunk at Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico.

Yes, the Avalon. Need to read the fine print. This update of January 2006, shows not much has happened at Ensenada. The hoped-for movie work for the boat was cancelled, but the development for the harbor that would have seen the ship scrapped has stalled also.

http://www.sscatalina.org/saloon/index. ... 06,%202006

This was posted to the sscatalina group on Yahoo on Apr 16, 2007, no confirmation or additional news has been recieved from Mexico.



Will let the forum know if I learn anything more. But, it looks like it is fixing to go the route of the Norway/France, Nobska, and other recent losses.

-James Hefner
Hebrews 10:20a

Surviving World Steam Project

International Stationary Steam Engine Society

The Catalina has been mostly sunk in Ensenada harbor for many years. This is a salt water harbor. There are sea lions living aboard... (and you have never seen destruction or smelled something rotten until you have experienced a sea lion habitat.) There is just not very much to save.

Unfortunately, I think the Catalina was really lost years ago. Like many objects, including many pieces of railroad rolling stock, neglect and weather have destroyed the object. There is still a corpse, but that corpse is dead. We remember what it was, and talk and hope to resurrect it, but those resurrections are few and far between.

The Catalina sat in the outer Long beach harbor for a period of time. While there souviner hunters paid regular visits (by boat) to the Catalina and removed much of the collectable stuff. The engine room was fairly well stripped.

This effort impresses me as being far too much like the effort to save the S. S. Nobska after it had been gutted for a failed restaurant conversion and then neglected for many years. A marine restoration is difficult and expensive enough without trying to bring back something that has been completely picked over and partially sunk. If you want to help support a really well run marine restoration, with a ship that has been brought back as if from a time machine, I would suggest donating to the USS SLATER.

MX (Obviously Not My Real Name)

MX,

you are quite right; the Slater is a fine example of what can be done by dedicated volunteers with good leaders.

We had a guy restore some WWII radio equipment for the SF Maritime Park, now he is doing some radio work for the destroyer escourt, all the way across the country!

Ted Miles

But if you look at the preserved vessels, they are dominated by military ships. The list of well-maintained, preserved ships is primarily military ships. Passenger or merchant ships, which really reflect the history of our daily life, are mostly rusting away or endangered. The list of preserved military ships is composed mostly of World War II ships, adding further bias.

I am very frustrated to see valuable ships like the wooden Wapama rotting on a barge while we have maybe 4+ aircraft carriers preserved.

At least we have these treasures still around
http://www.muskokasteamships.com/mss-ships.htm

Steve brings up a good point, there is indeed an abundance of preserved military ships, but I don't think it is really a case of bias, it is a case of economics. Military vessels sometimes get donated, while commercial vessels almost always get sold. Military vessels are usually retired when they are still structurally sound, while commercial vessels frequently run till they are totally wasted or no longer meet Coast Guard regulations.

Then you have the contribution and volunteer situation. If the popularity and history of a commercial vessel attracted volunteers and support, then the M/V ISLANDER would have been grabbed by a preservation group the instant she came out of service with the WHMV&N Steamship Authority. Just look how popular that vessel was with affluent islanders for all those years. See anybody trying to save it? Heck no.

Why does the USS SLATER have several teams of crew volunteers who pile into vans and drive halfway across the United States to spend several weeks at a time working on the ship?

One reason, because most of them are veterans, and it takes them back to a very exciting time of their lives when they were young, and if they enjoy working on the ship for that reason alone, it is a great thing.

But one other reason is because the USS SLATER is an exceptionally well managed restoration that is making very visible progress year after year, and everyone associated with it can see that, and they feel that they are contributing to something very worthwhile. When you go on board that ship there is a tangible air of enthusiasm and excitement that you seldom see in other places. That is one of the reasons that I often point out the USS SLATER as a project worthy of support, and beyond that, an extremely valuable example of how a restoration should be managed and conducted.

MX (Obviously Not My Real Name)