TO CARIBBEAN SEAS & ISLES OF JUNE: U.S.M.S. MUNARGO

She is said to be the speediest and most elegantly furnished vessel of her type built in an American shipyard. It is noteworthy that she is the first large ship built in an American shipyard for private ownership and operation under the American flag since the war and will have the distinction of being one of the few American vessels which ever held a mail contract with a British colony. Plying out of New York, she will serve three different nations.

The Baltimore Sun, 5 January 1922

She was the first passenger liner built in an American yard for private owners since the end of the First World War. And one of the pioneering U.S. flag cruise ships.  Owned by one of the Nation’s oldest steamship lines, she played an important role in the development of the Port of Miami as well as the inter-war commerce and tourism of the Bahamas and Cuba.  This was a ship whose peacetime routine seldom found her more than three days away from the sunny and sybaritic pleasures of 1920-30s Nassau, Havana and Miami.  And, like so many American liners of her era, one that performed varied and valuable duty in the Second World War.  Close to her centenary, time to recall an all but forgotten vessel that was in the vanguard of the 1920s revival of the American Merchant Marine: Munson Line’s U.S.M.S. Munargo.

Munargo in Havana harbor, like the line for which she was built, Cuba figured throughout her peacetime career.  Credit: Shipscribe.com

MUNSON & MOLASSES

Forty-eight years ago Father Neptune knocked at the door of Walter D. Munson, then living in Cuba because of his interest in oil refineries and other commercial projects, and called him to the sea. The chance presented itself to found a line of sailing vessels from Cuba to American ports, and Mr. Munson, father of the present head of the Munson Lines, took it, starting an enterprise which has grown out of all recognition from its humble beginnings in Havana in 1872.

The Nautical Gazette, 1 January 1921

Walter D. Munson

Barely remembered today, Munson Line was once one of the largest shipping enterprises on the U.S. eastern seaboard.  It was founded by Walter D. Munson (1843-1908) who, following service in the Union Army, emigrated to Cuba in 1866 and got a job in the crude oil trade. This led in 1878 to acquiring his first ship, the barque Antonia Sala, and by the time he returned to the United States, and settled in Brooklyn in 1882, Munson owned four vessels.  A regular line was established from New York to Cuba in 1892 carrying bulk oil southbound and Cuban molasses back and the first steamship added next year. Munson originated the idea of carrying a principal cargo, Cuban molasses, in shipboard tanks rather than barrels, revolutionizing its shipment.

Munson Line route map c. 1899: no other American line served more of Cuba's ports, although most of its agricultural trade was centered on the eastern side with  Nuevitas the terminus of the New York route.  Credit: worthpoint.com

The ensuing Spanish-American War liberated Cuba from the Spanish Empire but it was also a shotgun wedding with the island to American commerce, tourism and exploitation. On 4 February 1899 the Munson Steamship Line was incorporated and on 24 March the first export shipment of Cuban sugar since the War was landed at New Orleans on the Munson steamer Helios. That year, the company began to actively promote passenger business through a limited number of berths (approximately 30 each) on its steamers Lauenburg, Curityba and Olinda.

First advertisement for Munson Line passenger services, 18 December 1899  

Upon the death of Walter Munson in 1908, his was the largest cargo shipping line on the Atlantic Coast with a fleet numbering 60 vessels.  His son, Carlos, assumed the Presidency  and then in 1916, Cuban-born Frank C. Munson (1876-1936) took over.   That year, the line commissioned its first newly built vessel...the 3,440-grt, 80-passenger Munamar (to be covered in a forthcoming article) which made her maiden voyage from New York to Eastern Cuba on 31 December 1915.

Frank C. Munson (1876-1936)

Munson Line brochure, September 1916, featuring its first passenger ship, the 3,440-grt Munamar introduced that year. Credit: Collection of Björn Larsson

America’s participation in the First World War transformed the Nation’s merchant marine by massive government involvement including the creation of the U.S. Shipping Board which leased government-owned vessels, both wartime built standardized ones and ex-German vessels, to private owners to operate on set overseas cargo and passenger routes.  Frank. C. Munson served on the U.S. Shipping Board from 1917-1918 and was one of the leading exponents of a progressive and expansive American Merchant Marine after the War.

In 1919 Munson Line was awarded the contract for the New York to Rio de Janeiro, Montevideo and Buenos Aires route.   This was inaugurated on 27 December 1919 by Moccasin, one of the five former German liners Munson initially operated.  They were replaced in 1921-22 by a quartet of the Shipping Board standard “535s”: American Legion, Southern Cross, Pan America and Western World.

c. 1923 brochure for Munson's New York-South America service operated for the U.S. Shipping Board from 1919-25 and then on its own account until 1938.  Credit: Collection of Björn Larsson.

THE ISLES OF JUNE

Nassau, "Isle of June,", invites you to a holiday filled with outdoor enjoyment, far from cold and storm, amid scenes of verdant tropic beauty undamaged by summer hurricanes. A bit of Britain in summer seas.  Bathing, fishing, championship tennis courts, seaside golf courses, dancing, boating. No passports.

Munson Line advertisement, November 1926

Munson next turned to tapping the booming Prohibition era American tourist trade to the Bahamas.  The “Isles of June” as the advertisements called them, had enticed American travelers and winter refugees since the late 1700s owing to their proximity, idyllic winter climate, welcoming people and the good order of a British West Indies colony.

It was none other than Samuel Cunard who, under a five-year contract with the Bahamian Government, provided the first monthly steam mail service from New York in 1859 followed by the construction of the first hotel in Nassau, the 90-room Royal Victoria the next year.   The real impetus for tourism was the 1880s Florida development boom by oil magnate and owner of the East Coast Railway, Henry M. Flagler.  Governor of the Bahamas, Haynes Smith, negotiated with Flagler to include Nassau, just an overnight crossing away, in his growing Florida-based empire.

The Bahamas Hotel and Steamship Act of 1898 contracted Flagler to establish a winter Miami-Nassau service by his Florida East Coast Steamship Co.  Flagler then bought the Royal Victoria Hotel in February 1898, took delivery of the 1,741-grt, 16-knot Miami from Cramps and built the 500-room Colonial Hotel in Nassau which opened in 1900. Thus the new century ushered in a new era for Bahamas tourism.

Nothing revitalized the economy of the Bahamas more than the Volstead Act of 1919.  Prohibition put the islands at the epicenter of the “rum-running” trade and garnered enormous profits.  More conventional and legitimate business… tourism…  also burgeoned as Americans flocked to the warm and still  “wet” islands.   This prompted Munson to add a call at Nassau in both directions to the existing New York-Eastern Cuba run and construct a new ship to join Munamar on it.

MUNSON BAHAMAS BOUND

The Munson Line and the hotels under its direction have been responsible for the great development in the Bahamas during the past decade, the weekly sailings from New York throughout the winter season making Nassau readily accessible as a winter resort to Americans and Canadians.

The Gazette (Montreal), 12 January 1932

Marine Engineering of March 1920 reported that "plans for passenger ships...[for] the Munson Line… are nearing completion… Little information can be obtained regarding the two vessels for the Munson Steamship Line. It is generally understood they will be designed to meet tropical requirements… The plans for all six ships are being drawn up by Theodore Ferris, according to shipbuilders.”

Theodore E. Ferris (1872-1953), America's most prolific naval architect and designer of the new Munargo.  

On 2 May 1920 Munson Line placed a $3 mn.  order for a 6,000-ton, 15.5-knot  passenger-cargo liner with New York Shipbuilding Corp. to the plans of Theodore Ferris, “whose name has been become identified with the resurrection of the American merchant marine,”  and who had designed Munamar.   

Laid down on 30 September 1920 as no. 263 at Camden, the new Munson liner was the first privately owned passenger ship American-built since the end of the War.   It was reported that she “will be used on the West Indies route and on the South American run where German liners converted by the Shipping Board are now being employed” and she was given the cruising range and speed to do so if needed.

Munargo on the ways at Camden just before launching. Credit: Marine Engineering. 

The new ship’s name was announced on 18 August 1921: Munargo following the “Mun” naming protocol for all the line’s vessels except for Walter D. Munson.  “Frank C. Munson, President of Munson Line, stated "that the name of Munargo had been chosen because it had a double significance. He pointed out that the Argo was the name of the ship in which Jason went in search of the Golden Fleece and that it was also the name of a constellation in the Southern skies."

Christened by Mrs. Della Munson Coyle, before her brother Frank C. Munson and Munson Line executives, Munargo was launched at 3:10 p.m. on  17 September 1921.

In November 1921 the Bahamian House of Assembly voted a £20,000 subsidy to Munson Line for a regular mail, passenger and freight service from New York to Nassau throughout 1922.  On the 30th Frank C. Munson announced the establishment of a New York-Bahamas-Eastern Cuba service by the new Munargo and Munamar.  The weekly service, calling at Nassau and the Cuban ports of Nuevitas and Antilla, would commence with Munamar from New York on 31 December followed by Munargo, on her maiden voyage, 7 January 1922. Saturday sailings from New York would get travelers to Nassau by Tuesday morning.

Early advertisement for Munson's new Bahamas & Eastern Cuba Service, 11 December 1921

At the time, plans for a sister ship to Munargo had been precluded by high construction costs and instead there was consideration towards converting Walter D. Munson (b.1917) into a passenger ship. This never materialized and Munargo proved to be the second and last passenger vessel built by the line.

MUNSON MASTERPIECE

Special attention was given to her passenger equipment, and she was pronounced by her builders the best equipped ship of her class ever turned out for the American flag.

The Marine Journal, 7 January 1922

Dwarfed by many of the ex-German liners suddenly infusing the U.S. Merchant Marine, not the least was the 59,956-grt Leviathan, the little 6,484-grt Munargo was nonetheless an impressive beginning to a new generation of American-designed and built passenger ships and doubtless the best equipped and furnished of any ship of her size at the time. 

Designed by the prolific Theodore E. Ferris, Munargo showed all of his hallmarks in her handsome, foursquare lines.  Her amidships open superstructure was the classic Ferris design with enough staunch framing to impart a truss bridge like quality.  With nary a trace of rake, her masts and funnel added to her business-like lines.  Munargo’s livery with attractive funnel colors of bright blue, white band and black top and vanished teak bridge and superstructure front facings gave her a smart appearance.

Measuring 6,484 gross tons (4,994 deadweight and 3,970 net), 437.8 ft. overall and 57.8 ft. beam, Munargo was the largest newly-built American U.S. East Coast liner since the war. And very much the combination cargo-passenger liner, a type that came to characterize American merchantmen.  Two holds forward and two aft had a bale capacity of 299,060 cu. ft. or 325,110 cu. ft. (grain) in addition to 180,000 gallons of Cuban molasses in bottom tanks.  In the classic American “Shelter Decker” tradition, she also had four side cargo ports between the Second and Upper Decks and another four between the Upper and Shelter Decks on each side.

The hull was divided by seven watertight bulkheads extending up to the Upper Deck and the collision bulkhead up to the Shelter Deck.  All of the deck houses were made of steel except for the wheelhouse, charthouse and wireless room which were traditionally sheathed in vanished teak.  All outside decking for passengers as well as the forecastle deck was teak.

Munargo in the Delaware River. Credit: Marine Engineering. 

The single-screw vessel was powered by one set of cross-compound Parson type turbine with double-reduction DeLaval gears developing 5,800 shp and supplied by five single-ended oil-burning Scotch type boilers working at 200 psi.  This gave Munargo a 15.5-knot service speed, but she made in excess of 17 knots on trials.  Her block co-efficient of 0.658 was quite fine for a vessel of her type (and the same as that of Nieuw Amsterdam of 1938 by comparison).  A 1,910-ton bunker capacity was sufficient for a 10,000-mile steaming radius so she could be employed, if needed, on the South American run and do a roundtrip without refuelling.

Line issue postcard for Munargo: well-proportioned but workmanlike, she exemplified a Ferris designed vessel. Credit: Author's collection

Munargo First Class Deck Plan c. 1939

Boat Deck. Note that except for the green-shaded cabins (denoting private facilities), all the standard cabins open directly out onto the deck.  Credit: courtesy Frank H. Imgrund

Upper Promenade Deck.  Note the expanded Smoking Room aft now incorporating the original Veranda and dating from 1939 when this plan was printed.  Credit: courtesy Frank H. Imgrund

Lower Promenade Deck.  Credit: courtesy Frank H. Imgrund

Main Deck.  Here, the cabins except for the 'midships ones with private facilities (shaded green) are arranged on the "Bibby system".  All of Munargo's cabins, including Second Class, were outside ones.  Credit: courtesy Frank H. Imgrund

The First Class for 172 was impressive for a vessel of this size and the public rooms were beautifully fitted out with an abundance of Cuban mahogany paneling and adequate open and covered deck and promenade space.

The public rooms are numerous, light, airy and exquisitely finished. They include a social hall, lounge and music room, smoking room, library and writing rooms, entrances and galleries. A sun and dancing deck for first-class passengers has been provided for on the boat deck over the smoking room. The dining saloon is located on the shelter deck, over the center of which is located a large dome and light well opening into the music room. 

Pacific Marine Review

Over the dining saloon in the way of the lounge and music room is a light well. The well opening over the dining saloon is trimmed with mahogany to match the finish of the dining saloon. Above is an ornamental glass dome. From the vestibules to the dining saloon at each side is a stairway leading up to the entrance at the lounge. The newel posts are of mahogany. All the exposed surfaces of the stairways are of mahogany, and the inside finish is in mahogany panel work. The treads of the stairways and landings are covered with tiling. The balustrades are metal grille work. Leading up from the first class lounge and music room is a forward upper stairway of similar design.

The dining saloon is trimmed with mahogany and fitted with ornamental figured glass windows. This room is finished up to the wainscoting line in mahogany with baseboard and large panels with special mouldings. Above the wainscoting line are similar large panels finished in ivory paint. White mahogany furniture is installed in the first-class library, writing and reading rooms. Fumed oak is used in the first-class smoking room. The deck veranda is finished in teak.

Marine Review

In addition to the two suites with full private bath, there were two cabins with private toilet facilities.  All cabins had hot and cold running water, electric fans, wardrobes and dressing tables and, so important on her tropical run, all were outside and those on the Upper and Lower Promenade Decks had windows instead of portholes.

First Class Dining Room. Credit: Author's collection.

First Class Club.  Credit: Author's collection.

First Class Writing Room.  Credit: Author's collection.

First Class Social Hall.  Credit: Author's collection

First Class state room.  Credit: Author's collection

Munargo interiors from a 1936 brochure. Credit: Collection of Björn Larsson

The 56-berth Second Class was traditionally sited in the aft deck house.  On the After Upper Promenade Deck were the Lounge, Music Room, Smoking Room and barber shop with accommodation on the After Lower Promenade Deck and After Deck with additional lounge space arranged inboard of the all outside cabins on Lower Promenade Deck and the dining saloon inboard of the cabins on After Main Deck. The Second Class cabins were all outside, had wash basins, wardrobes and most were two-berths.

Munargo cost her owners $3,211,436.95 and ushered in a heyday for Munson Line. 

Munargo in New York Harbor 17 August 1923, Byron photo.  Credit: Museum of the City of New York

Advertisement in the National Geographic, January 1922 for the initial sailings of Munargo.

MUNSON MAIDEN VOYAGE

When the new Munson liner Munargo sails from New York today for Nassau, a new mark will be established in pleasure travel to these parts. Today's departure will be the maiden voyage of the Munargo which will be the fastest and most luxurious steamer to this popular resort and is the first large ship to be built by American owners in an American shipyard since the war.

The Baltimore Sun 7 January 1922

Munargo went to Chester for drydocking and hull painting before Christmas.  Following trials in Delaware Bay on 29 December 1921 on which she made 17 knots, Munargo left Camden on New Years Eve for New York.

The delivery voyage was arranged as a gala celebration of the company, its new ship and ringing in the New Year.  Among those the 100 invited guests were her designer Theodore E. Ferris, Frederick Watson, Consul General from Great Britain at New York, Felipe Taboarda, Consul General of Cuba at New York, executives of New York Shipbuilding, L&W Railroad, Erie Railroad, Cuba Northern Railway and American Sugar.

First postcard for Munargo showing the ship on her delivery voyage and flying her name pennant from the foremast.  Author's collection

On 3 January 1922 Munargo docked at the Munson Pier 9 East River, New York.  She was officially handed over the next day.   For the ship, it was beginning of a 19-year career that spanned the whole of the inter-war period, boom times and depression, and for the American Merchant Marine, she was in vanguard of its remarkable renaissance during the same period.

At 3:00 p.m. on 7 January 1922, Munargo, commanded by Capt. Andrew Asborn, cast off on her maiden voyage calling at Nassau (10th) and Antilla (12th) and sailing northbound on the 14th at 11:00 a.m.

Munargo's first master, Captain Andrew Asborn

Munson Line announced on 31 January 1922 that Munargo would drop her Cuban calls and maintain the weekly service to Nassau single-handed, leaving Munamar to the Eastern Cuba trade. Beginning 4 February, Munargo sailed on Saturdays from New York, arriving Nassau on Tuesday and departing for New York the same day to return on Friday. 

Munargo anchored off the Nassau Bar: for the first decade, she had to anchor offshore as she was too deep draft to enter the then very inadequate port.  It was not until 1932 that a deep-draft pier was constructed.  Credit: eBay auction photo. 

The new routine was tested when Munargo docked at New York a day late on at 9:00 a.m. 11 February  1922 owing to a severe storm encountered on the northbound passage.  By setting one of the best turnaround records for the Port of New York at the time-- unloading 4,000 pieces of cargo, provisioning and embarking 140 passengers—she sailed, right on schedule, at 4:00 p.m. the same day.

The spectacular fire that destroyed the Colonial Hotel in Nassau on 1 April 1922 as reported in the Miami Herald, 2 April 1922.

In an astonishing stroke of bad fortune for the new Munson service and the Bahamas, the Colonial Hotel was destroyed by fire on 1 April 1922.  The blaze, which began at 6:00 a.m. in the laundry, spread with terrifying speed although the 150 guests all escaped without injury. By equal chance, most of the guests were scheduled to depart that very day on Miami for Florida and Munargo for New York. 

With 194 passengers, many of whom were survivors of the fire, Munargo docked at New York on 3 April 1922. She sailed the next day, numbering among her passengers actor John Barrymore and Mr. & Mrs. Theodore E. Ferris and son Nathan.  It was reported that Mr. Ferris was making the trip to “investigate the efficiency of the vessel he designed.”

The New Colonial Hotel and Munargo on a menu cover. Credit: eBay auction photo.

With a £443,000 loan from the Bahamian Government, Munson built, in just six months, a new fireproof steel and masonry 310-room New Colonial Hotel on the same site.  Like the Munson Building in New York, it was designed by Kenneth M. Murchison.  On 29 June 1922 Harry Edward Spiller Cordeaux, Governor of the Bahamas, sailed from New York for Nassau in Munargo after closing contracts for the new property.  With materials rushed in from Miami and 1,700 mostly Cuban laborers working round the clock, the New Colonial Hotel was opened on 12 February 1923.

Upon return to New York on 1 November 1922, Capt. Andrew Asborn announced that Munargo had been the first American passenger ship to complete a voyage without a helmsman and was steered with the new automated Gyro-Pilot or “Metal Mike” devised by Elmer A. Sperry, inventor of the gyroscope. It was first deployed southbound on 20 October and except for harbor maneuvers was used for the whole of the voyage.

Munargo docked at New York a day late on 10 March 1923 after stripping the blades off her low pressure turbine a day out of Nassau and all the worse, in the middle of a gale.

During the April-November “off season” for the Bahamas  trade, Munargo resumed calling at Eastern Cuba after Nassau.  It proved an unfortunate return for, on 6 November 1923, she grounded on a mudbank off Nuevitas.  Her passengers were taken off by tender when initial efforts failed to free her and tugs were dispatched from Havana.  She was stuck for three weeks and only after a canal was dug through the mudbank was she finally refloated by Merritt, Chapman & Scott, without damage on the 27th. With a cargo of sugar, she sailed for New York and resumed regular service on 7 December.

Salvage efforts by Merritt, Chapman & Scott in November 1923 to get Munargo off the mud bank off Nuevitas, Cuba.  Her cargo and fuel were offloaded as well as her lifeboats to lighten the ship. Note the salvage tug Relief in the left background.  Credit: Mystic Seaport Museum

Close up of Munargo during her salvage at Nuevitas.  Credit: Mystic Seaport Museum.

In the end, it was necessary to dredge a channel through the mudbank to finally free the vessel after three weeks.  Credit Mystic Seaport Museum.

On 28 August 1924 Munargo finally reached New York after battling what Capt. Asborn called the worst storm he had ever encountered when she brushed the southern edge of a hurricane.  The ship was pummeled from the afternoon of the 23rd through the morning of the 27th and hardly anyone aboard managed to sleep for most of the storm.

Designed for such contingencies, Munargo first filled-in on the Company's New York-South America run with her 5 June 1926 sailing from New York for Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires (where she arrived on the 22nd) via intermediate ports.  Northbound, she sailed from Buenos Aires on 1 July and Rio on the 5th and arrived back at New York on the 20th.

Advertisement for Munargo's first cruise to the Canadian Maritimes. Credit: Brooklyn Daily Eagle, 23 May 1926.

During the summer Bahamian “off season,” Munson experimented with alternate itineraries for Munargo.  On 20 June 1926 it announced that she would make two 12-day cruises to the Canadian Maritimes and St. Lawrence from New York on 6 and 20 August.  On 13 August she left Quebec on the return portion of her first such cruise which beginning in New York, took her up Long Island Sound and the coast of Maine to Halifax for the day.  She then proceeded to Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. After Quebec, she cruised via Saguenay and made another call at Halifax before returning to New York.

On 29 November 1926 Munargo docked at New York with a typical cargo of 21,700 bags of Cuban sugar except that two of them contained two Portuguese stowaways who, upon discovery, were taken into custody by Immigration authorities.

“With 113 storm shaken and wave weary passengers… festooned with ice, its portholes and skylights shattered by pounding seas" (The Standard Union), Munargo limped into New York on 4 March 1927, 24 hours late.  She was the first ship to reach port after a storm had swept the Atlantic for two days.  The gale hit the vessel on the 2nd with such force as to break stateroom windows, flooding seven cabins, one of which was occupied by Ring Lardner and his wife. Captain Thomas Simmons reported 40-ft. waves and 90-mph winds.

After Western World grounded at Bahia, Brazil, and was drydocked for repairs, Munargo was detailed to take her 4 June 1927 voyage from New York to Brazil and La Plata.

Advertisement for Munargo's second season of Canadian Maritime cruises. Credit: The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, 16 June 1927. 

Aerial photo of Munargo in Canadian waters during one of her 1927 cruises. Credit: BAnQ Québec.

Summer 1927 saw Munargo reprise her Canadian cruises with three 12-day trips from New York 29 July (Boston 30th), 12 August and 26 August to Halifax, Charlottetown, Quebec (three-day call) and Saguenay.

MUNSON & MIAMI

First ad for Munargo's sailings from

Miami, Miami Herald, 31

October 1927

A new era for Munson, Munargo and Miami was announced on 23 October 1927 with a new series of 12-day round trips from New York to Nassau, Miami and Havana 28 October-20 December.  It introduced what would become the ship’s staple itinerary and would mark a milestone in the development of The Port of Miami.

The new schedule had Munargo sailing from New York on 28 October 1927 and arriving at Nassau on 31st and then Miami 1 November, departing late that afternoon for Havana.  She would return to Miami on the 5th and sail for New York via Nassau that afternoon. The schedule will be repeated every two weeks.  The round voyage was thus turned into a cruise allowing passengers to visit Nassau, Miami and Havana with stopover options at any of the ports.  After 20 December and the official start of the Nassau winter season, Munargo would revert to the direct New York-Nassau weekly service.

Hitherto, vessels with greater than an eight-foot draft had to anchor off Miami Bar and land their passengers and cargo by tender.  A progressive program of dredging the approach channel and creating  turning basins would accommodate deep draft vessels.  Munargo would, in fact, be the  first such ship to dock alongside at Miami, but as the dredging work was ongoing, on her maiden call at the port, the 22-ft draft (light) 25-ft (loaded) vessel would still have to anchor off and on her second call two weeks later she would come alongside.

In the event, days of bad weather in the Bahamas played havoc with her first such voyage.  Her departure from Nassau was delayed and it was not until 3 November 1927 that Munargo made her maiden arrival at Miami, anchoring off Miami Bar at 7:00 p.m. and sailing at 3:00 a.m.  She left Nassau on the 7th with the first export shipment of Bahamian tomatoes for New York. Munargo was now so behind schedule that Munorleans took her scheduled New York sailing on the 11th.

Work continued on improving the Port of Miami and on 15 November 1927, the Miami City Commission authorized creating a turning basin for deep water ships north and east of Pier 1 and south and east of Pier  3 which entailed excavating 44,000 cu. ft. of rock. Munargo left New York on 9 December for Nassau and Miami where she entered the harbor a day after the official opening of the 25-ft. deep channel on the 14th and docked at Munson’s Pier 3. City officials attended a celebratory dinner aboard.  Munargo sailed late that evening for Havana and Nassau before returning to New York.

Munargo's perhaps lasting claim to fame is that she was the very first deep draft, ocean going passenger ship to dock alongside in the Port of Miami on 14 December 1927, just a day after the new channel was dredged.  Credit: Miami Herald, 15 December 1927.

MUNARGO MEANDERINGS

Line issue card for Munargo from the early 1930s.  Credit: Author's collection. 

After her usual winter season on the direct New York-Nassau run, Munargo sailed on 13 April 1928 for Nassau, Miami and Havana.  But wider horizons beckoned, albeit briefly.  On 1 May it was announced that she had been chartered to George W. Crowley Tours of Philadelphia for a 100-day "On to Australia" world cruise departing New York 5 July and Philadelphia a day later.  This was built around the Eucharistic Conference in Sydney 6-9 September and the routing would be via the Mediterranean, Holy Land, Hong Kong, Manila, Australia, New Zealand, Lima and Havana.  In the event, there were only 50 reservations for the cruise and  the unfortunate Mr. Crowley, who collected only $50,000 towards the $400,000 charter price, was forced to cancel the charter, forfeiting his initial $35,000 payment to Munson and had to declare bankruptcy that July.

Advertisement for the ill-fated plans to send Munargo on a 100-day world cruise in July 1928. Credit: Philadelphia Inquirer, 3 June 1928.

Meanwhile, Munson had announced on 6 May 1928 that Munargo would again undertake a special voyage on its South America route, departing 12 May for Rio de Janeiro, Santos, Montevideo and Buenos Aires.   She arrived at Buenos Aires on 7 June and on the homeward passage she called at Trinidad.  With the cancellation of her world cruise charter, she again sailed for South America on 21 July and 29 September.

The apogee of the Munson tourist empire in the Bahamas was reached in December 1928 when it acquired The Royal Victoria Hotel in Nassau and chartered Clarke Steamship Co.’s New Northland for a regular bi-weekly Miami-Nassau service that winter.

Resuming her New York-Nassau-Miami-Havana voyages on 7 December 1928, Munargo docked at Miami 1:30 a.m. on the 15th, becoming the first ship to use the new channel at night.  After one more such voyage on 21 December, she went on her direct winter Nassau service on 4 January 1929.

Photo feature in the Miami Herald of 7 February 1932 showing Munargo alongside the Prince George's Wharf in Nassau.

Major improvements were made in Nassau Harbour.  There, too, Munargo had hitherto been unable to go alongside and had to anchor off shore.  The Bahamian Government contracted the McNamara Construction Co. Ltd. (Toronto) to widen and deepen the entrance channel, create a turning basin and construct a new terminal quay.  The £400,000 project was one of the largest and most expensive yet attempted in the British West Indies.  The Prince George’s Wharf was completed in time for 1929 season.

This was still very much the time of Prohibition and Munargo’s 5 April 1929 sailing from New York was delayed more than an hour when customs men discovered more than 900 bottles of liquor in her hold.  Twenty-five customs agents descended on the ship and the line was fined $2,700 or $3 a bottle.

Munson Line announced that beginning 12 April 1929 Munargo would undertake 12-day summer cruises to Nassau, Bahamas, Havana and Miami.  She stayed on this route until 3 January 1930 when she reverted to the direct New York-Nassau winter service.

In summer 1929 Munargo introduced what would become her hallmark itinerary: a 12-day voyage from New York Nassau, Miami, Havana, Miami, Nassau and back.  Credit: Miami Herald, 28 July 1929.

On 13 June 1930 Munargo filled-in, once again, for a voyage on the South American run to Bermuda, Rio de Janeiro, Santos, Montevideo and Buenos Aires.   Among her passengers was the United States team and that of Mexico (which sailed from Vera Cruz to New York in Pan America to connect with Munargo) bound for Uruguay and the first FIFA World Cup match in history.  The American team coach, Bob Millar, complained on arrival at Montevideo on 1 July, that Munargo had been ''a steamer not only too small and without an open deck for exercising, but also with very poor bathrooms.''  Notwithstanding these apparent hardships, the U.S. Team went on to place Third in the competition, the best showing yet by an American team in the World Cup. They sailed for home on 20 August aboard Southern Cross.  Munargo returned to New York on 30 July.

Munargo  resumed the New York-Nassau-Miami-Havana run on 1 August 1930. In what was said to the first transfer of its kind in New York Harbor, Sir Charles Orr, Governor of the Bahamas, arrived in Berengaria the evening of 1 August and transferred by launch off Quarantine to Munargo outbound for Nassau.  Remarkably, a second such transfer was effected on 5 December  when George Washington, carrying Lord Chief Justice Beatty and Lady Beatty of the Bahamas, was a day late arriving in New York from Southampton.  It was arranged for them, too, to be transferred by boat to the waiting outbound Munargo so as not miss their connection.

Her steering gear disabled, Munargo was brought into Pier 9, East River, on 19 November 1930 at 12:30 p.m. by seven tugs after fighting tides, currents and three broken hawsers.  The trouble developed with her rudder motor shortly after she left Quarantine, but was repaired in time before her next scheduled departure.

Munargo offered her 12-day itinerary once in winter 1931 sold as a "Swimming Cruise". Credit: Brooklyn Daily Eagle, 15 February 1931.

More steering gear problems put Munargo on a sandbank coming into Nassau on 2 February 1931.  The tide was already falling and with no hope of refloating her until the next high tide, her passengers were landed by the tug Potter.  After about 350 tons of cargo was taken off by lighters, she was refloated undamaged at 5:30 a.m. the next day under her own steam and sailed to Miami and Havana at 9:00 a.m.

In February 1931, Munson Line shifted its New York facilities from Pier 9 East River to Pier 64 North River where Pan America and Munargo are shown in this photo. Credit: New York York Public Library Digital Collections. 

With the repeal of Prohibition, no ship’s arrival in Miami was more eagerly anticipated than that of Munargo which docked on 6 May 1933 with the first shipment of beer from Havana.  On the 28th she unloaded another 100,000 bottles of Bacardi beer from the brewery in Santiago, Cuba.

Munargo sails from Miami 17 August 1933 for Havana with Cuban political exiles returning home after the Revolution which toppled President Gerardo Machado.  Credit: Historicimages.com

As these press photos show, it was fortunate Munargo was shifting berths without any passengers aboard when Deutschland rammed her dead amidships causing substantial damage extending below the waterline.  Credit: (left) Daily News, (right) The Brooklyn Citizen.

In the most serious incident to befall the ship, Munargo and the HAPAG liner Deutschland collided off the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor at 5:42 p.m. on 17 November 1933.  The inbound German liner, with 299 passengers aboard, rammed the Munson liner which was shifting with only her 120-man crew aboard from Pier 64 North River to Erie Basin, Brooklyn, to discharge her cargo of Cuban molasses.  Deutschland upon seeing Munargo, sounded three signals of two blasts to indicate she was going to port, but the American ship did not respond and crossed her bow.   The HAPAG liner rammed Munargo slightly forward of amidships on the port side penetrating about 5 feet in the underwater hull plates and about 12 feet in the Upper Deck of the superstructure. Deutschland’s bow was stove in about six feet above the waterline and she stood by for 20 minutes to ascertain if assistance was needed and then proceeded to her North River berth.   As a precaution, Munargo was deliberately grounded on the mudflats off Bedloe’s Island.

Munargo, still grounded on the mudflats off Bedloe's Island, the morning after the collision showing the damage.  Credit: Daily News.

On 19 November 1933 Munargo was pushed off the mud flats at high water by five tugs and taken to Robins dry dock, Brooklyn, to be repaired alongside Deutschland.   The German liner was able to sail on time on the 22nd, ironically her last crossing before her entire forepart was to be lengthened.

Munargo and Deutschland were reunited in a more constructive fashion at Robins Dry Dock in Brooklyn for repairs.  The Munson liner was out of service for the rest of the year. Credit: Daily News.

Munargo was out of service for some time and on 24 November 1933 Munamar arrived at New York from Miami and took her next scheduled sailing. On 3 December Munson announced that Western World would replace Munargo on two 10-day cruises from New York to Nassau, Miami and Havana.

Fully repaired, Munargo sailed from New York on 5 January 1934 and with Pan America would maintain weekly sailings that winter on the New York, Miami, Havana and Nassau run.

Winter 1934 saw Munson offering weekly sailings from New York to Nassau, Miami and Havana in Munargo and the '535' class Pan America.  Credit: Miami Herald, 21 January 1934.

Munargo pulls into the North River, c. 1931, with the Furness Bermuda liner Queen of Bermuda in the stream behind her. Credit: Shipscribe.com

MUNSON HARD TIMES

The Great Depression hit Munson Line especially hard with a collapse in the Cuban sugar trade and diminished passenger traffic to Nassau after the repeal of Prohibition.

Munamar arrived at New York on 2 December 1933 after filling in for Munargo and was laid up at Hoboken.  She was eventually sold in 1937 for scrap.

In late 1933 rumors abounded that Munson was going to sell majority control to the International Mercantile Marine.  On 2 January 1934, IMM’s P.A.S Franklin and Frank C. Munson announced plans for the IMM acquisition of Munson Line.  It would be biggest corporate change in American shipping since IMM bought United States Lines in 1930.  Frank C. Munson announced on the 7th that services will continue as usual "under the contemplated merger with the International Mercantile Marine.”

That was the last heard of the proposal and with problems of its own, IMM walked away and by April 1934 three Munson creditors had already filed petitions in bankruptcy court.  On 12 June Munson was the first steamship line to take advantage of the new Bankruptcy Act and filed a petition to reorganize under its provisions.  Munson listed $18.5 mn.  in debt and its assets, as of 1929, were $38 mn.  It then owned 24 ships and controlled 20 subsidiaries.  Gross earnings for the line had dropped from $22.9 mn. in 1920 to $8.3 mn in 1933.

Munargo outward bound in the Lower Bay, New York Harbor, 15 December 1934.  

The company’s hold on the Bahamas route, too, unraveled. On 30 September 1934 it was reported that the Bahamas Development Board had signed a contract with Cunard for weekly New York-Nassau sailings from 26 January-13 April 1935. This cancelled Munson’s $50,000 a month contract with the Bahamian Government.  That year, too, Florida developer Col. Henry L. Doherty purchased the Colonial Hotel and Paradise Beach from Munson.  After renovation, the hotel re-opened on 15 January 1935 as the British Colonial.

Starting in 1935, Munson put Munargo permanently on 12-day cruises from New York to Nassau, Miami and Havana. Credit: Brooklyn Daily Eagle 3 February 1935.

On 11 January 1935 Munargo began a year-round schedule of 12-day roundtrips from New York to Nassau, Miami, Havana, Miami and Nassau every fortnight.  Stayover packages were offered for Nassau (at the still Munson owned Royal Victoria Hotel) and Havana.

Effective with the 22 March 1935 sailing of Munargo, Munson changed its New York terminal from Pier 64 North River to Pier 48 North River.

Munargo began to offer "name entertainment" on her 12-day cruises starting in summer 1935. Credit: The Miami Herald, 5 May 1935. 

Frank C. Munson arriving at Miami aboard Munargo on 29 January 1933. Credit: Miami Herald.

On 24 September 1936 came the news of  Frank C. Munson’s death from injuries sustained after his car crashed into a light pole at Rye, New York, in heavy fog while returning from a meeting of the governors of the American Yacht Club near Rye to his home at Byram Shore, Greenwich, Connecticut.  He was aged 60 and at least did not live to see his company and its fleet dismembered. His brother, Carlos W. Munson, assumed the presidency of the line.  

MUNARGO BECOMES A LINE

When Joe Kennedy took charge [of the U.S. Maritime Administration], early in 1937… he suggested that the Munson line be merged into the United States lines.  This was the first government-inspired attempt to put the company out of business. The Munson line was to turn over all its assets-- including $3,000,000 cash-- to United States line and received, in exchange, U.S. line preferred stock of distinctly dubious value. Munson interests objected vigorously, and the deal fell through.

Then the administration apparently decided to starve Munson line to death. It and the Dollar line were the only American companies with foreign schedule which were not offered differential subsidies to replace the cancelled ocean mail contracts. In the Munson case, the pretext was that the concern was in receivership. The obvious backstage hope was that company would soon fold up.  

Late last year, Munson sold its Bahama liner Munargo and other properties to United Fruit for cash, and raised enough working capital to continue operations for some without a subsidy.

James McMullin, Arizona Daily Star (Tucson) 30 March 1938

On 23 January 1938 it was reported that negotiations were underway to sell Munargo and terminal properties at Havana and Nassau to United Fruit Co. for $1.6 mn.  United Fruit was mainly interested in the route rights and terminal facilities and planned to operate the ship “as is” by Munargo Line Co., a subsidiary of the United Fruit Co.  On 15 April 1938 Federal Judge Alfred C. Coxe approved the sale of Munargo, a warehouse and pier in Havana and several barges to United Fruit Co.  for $2,050,000, of which Munargo brought $750,000.

The South American operations of the line, embroiled in the creation of the Federal Maritime Commission, ended with the foreclosure by the Government of the four “535s” in May 1938.  Service resumed under receivers until September when the new American Republics Line began operations with Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay, the former Panama Pacific ships.

Notice of the change of ownership of Munargo in Miami News, 2 May 1938

The Munson Line thus passed into history.  For Munargo, it was business as usual and unchanged save for the repainting of her funnel in plain black, she sailed from New York on 30 April 1938 for the first time under her new owners.

Her 1 June 1938 sailing was cancelled for the installation of power winches on lifeboat equipment.  She resumed service on the 11th. Going forward, the only operational connection with United Fruit’s own ships was that one of them would fill-in for Munargo, on a cargo-only basis, during the ship’s annual drydocking.

United Fruit Co. ownership of Munargo  initially gave her a rather boring all-black funnel but also finally a color postcard, from a painting by R.H. McQuesten.  Credit: author's collection

Munargo enjoyed some dream publicity when she and two lady passengers figured in a four-page spread of Life magazine 21 February 1939: "Two Little Girls on a Cruise".  

Pages from the Life magazine article.

Munargo in New York Harbor, 1 April 1939 with her revised red and black funnel. Credit: Mariners' Museum. 

MUNARGO IN 

A NEUTRAL CORNER

The outbreak of the European War in September 1939 brought with it the almost immediate horror of the torpedoing, without warning, of the British passenger liner Athenia bound from Britain to Canada, but also boom times for neutral American lines which filled the gap in many cruise and holiday plans.

Indeed, the war interrupted the newly inaugurated Cunard weekly New York-Nassau service by Lancastria and Munargo benefited from the lack of competition.   The Bahamas, even if technically a belligerent British colony, and neutral Cuba, enjoyed increased American tourism. In 1938, a record 57,294 visitors had been recorded and this was exceeded in 1939 and 1940.

For the 1939 season, to lighten her interiors, most of Munargo's lovely mahogany paneling was painted over in light pastel shades and lighter fabrics introduced, all more in keeping with her cruise ship role.  In addition, her aft Smoking Room was enlarged by absorbing the aft facing Deck Veranda.  By 1940, her plain black funnel was repainted red with a black top.

Munargo sailed from Miami on 9 September 1939 with a spotlight shining on the Stars and Stripes flying from her stern.   Later, large American flags were painted on the hull.

On 30 December 1939 the Bahamas Development Board announced that Munargo would make bi weekly calls at Nassau, sailing every other Wednesday from New York at 3:00 pm and arriving Nassau 67 hours later (Saturday morning) and depart Nassau every second Thursday at 4:00 pm and arrive New York  Sunday morning.

A "linen" finish postcard of Munargo and showing her funnel repainted red and black c. 1940. Credit: Author's collection.

The Bahamas enjoyed considerable notoriety in July 1940 when the Duke of Windsor was appointed Governor, arriving in the Canadian National liner Lady Somers from Bermuda on 17 August.  Munargo was due to dock that day and to the considerable disappointment of her 146 passengers, she idled off the harbor until the couple had landed before proceeding into port.

The Duchess of Windsor lavishly redecorated Government House and on 23 November 1940 Munargo docked at Nassau with a large consignment of furniture and decorative objects and Manhattan decorator Isabel Pierce Bradley who would oversee the redecoration.

It had been planned for the Duchess of Windsor to sail to Miami in Munargo on 9 December 1940 for dental surgery in Miami, but owing to a delay in the ship’s arrival in Nassau, she instead sailed in the yacht Southern Cross belonging to Swedish industrialist Axel Wenner-Gren.

Munargo had been one of those American ships that provided a welcome escape from what was still a “European War”.  But the United States was not completely neutral in it, especially after the June 1940 fall of France, nor naïve to believe it would not foreseeably be drawn into it.  In March 1941, the Lend Lease Act was signed providing substantial American aid to Britain and part of a major build-up of American defense preparedness.  This included a substantial increase, through the requisition of commercial vessels, of the country’s transport ship fleet.

MUNARGO MUSTERED

For the past 20 years the Munargo had carried the major share of American exports to the Bahamas, most of it shipped by way of New York. She was the only vessel of the former Munson Line fleet that had always operated at a profit. The United Fruit Co. acquired the Munargo a few years ago at the liquidation of the Munson interests because it had to buy the ship to get the valuable Munson dock at Havana for the use of its own banana boats.  Although the Munargo did not fit into the picture of the United fruit ship operations, she was kept running as a paying side-line until the navy bought her.

The Miami News, 19 March 1941

On 14 March 1941, Munargo sailed from New York on an otherwise routine 12-day voyage, but the following day it was reported this was to be her last such and upon return would be taken over a transport.  She would be fourth passenger ship “called up” for Army service in three weeks, following Orizaba, Kent and Irwin, and her requisition was overshadowed by that of United States Lines’ Washington the same day.

Final advertisement for
Munargo 2 March 1938

She was more than a name or a certain vessel of so much tonnage and passenger capacity when the Munargo left her dock Friday afternoon and passed out of the channel on her last run to Nassau and New York before she is turned over the war department to become an army transport.

Each ship is a sentient being to waterfronters and has her own identify. The Munargo had a very special relation to Miami.

It was about 12 years ago that she started to included Miami in her runs. The 25-foot channel was finished just one day when she made her first trip into this port.

Another distinction for Miami is that she brought in the all-expensive cruise passengers. Figuring conservatively, she has brought some 100,000 of them to this city in her time. Another example of what such a vessel means to Miami is the fact she has spent more than $500,000 in this city for fuel alone, not to mention other stores, laundry and the like.

Capt. E.F. Beyer, who has had command since she has been under the United Fruit management, said she had a full complement of about 150 passengers and a full cargo of sugar from Cuba on this last voyage. She took no cargo aboard here.

The Munargo was built in 1921, and in her day was the Queen of the West Indies. Her passenger list in those days ranged the whole gamut from J.P. Morgan to Duke and Duchess of Sutherland, to Maxine Elliott and Bebe Daniels. Her original cost was around $3,500,000 and at the time she was the last word in marine insurance risks, having been specially design to reduced all hazards to a minimum.

Grover Theis, The Miami Herald, 22 March 1941

Credit: Miami News, 22 March 1941

"As the 6,336-ton liner nosed into her pier, the ship's orchestra played "Auld Lang Syne" and 158 passengers and the crew of 141 under Capt. Edward F. Beyer of Brooklyn, sang the words." So reported the Daily News of 26 March 1941 a day after Munargo docked at Hoboken on her last voyage.

U.S.S. Munargo, after her initial troopship conversion in Measure 1 camouflage. Credit: Shipscribe.com

U.S.S. MUNARGO (AP-20)

On 27 March 1941 Munargo was turned over to the War Shipping Administration at Pier 4, Army Base Brooklyn.  Originally intended to be an Army transport, in May it was proposed she be renamed Arthur Murray (after the Army General not the dance instructor!).

The ship’s acquisition coincided with plans to occupy part of Greenland with U.S. troops.  When the Navy advised none of its existing transports could be spared owing to the two-month layover required for the ships on arrival at Greenland before facilities could be established ashore, Munargo was one of 26 Army transports transferred to the Navy.  The operation was to have commenced on 19 May but delayed owing to conversion of Munargo.

The ship was converted for her transport role by Bethlehem Steel’s New York yards with berths for 1,113 troops and a crew of 254, mostly from Navy reserve divisions from the St. Louis and Chicago areas.  Initially she was armed with one single 5 in dual purpose gun mount, two 3 in guns and eight 50 cal. machine guns and her wood wheelhouse and bridge were reconstructed in steel. Commissioned on 4 June 1941 as USS Munargo (AP-20) under Commander Harold F. Ely, her initial naval service took her to regions and climes as far removed from those of her peacetime career as imaginable.

On 19 June 1941 Munargo  and USAT Chateau Thierry with 469 officers and men of the occupation force departed New York bound for Argentia, Newfoundland, for refueling. Departing Argentia 30 June, they arrived off Narsarssuak, Greenland, on 8 July.  Upon return to New York, Munargo underwent another 10 days of refitting at Atlantic Basin, Brooklyn.  She then made a second trip to Greenland in September with men and supplies under command of Berndt Balchen, the Byrd explorer, to establish polar air bases in the north of the Island.

Following another refit at Robins Dry Dock, Erie Basin 10 November-8 December 1941 which added a two gun tubs aft with two 3” guns and enlarged the tubs for the .50 cal. anti-aircraft guns, Munargo was assigned to the Naval Transportation Service, Brooklyn. Returning to more familiar waters and climate, she sailed on the 16th with personnel for St. George’s, Bermuda, San Juan and Trinidad before returning to New York on 5 January 1942.

U.S.S. Munargo sails from the New York Navy Yard, 11 December 1941.  Credit:  U.S. National Archives, courtesy Shipscribe.com.

Destined again for northern waters when U.S. forces relieved the British garrison on Iceland, Munargo sailed from New York on 15 January 1942 arrived at Reykjavik on 25 January 1942.  She sailed again from New York with Borinquen on 19 February and arriving Reykjavik on 3 March. The final detachment of troops were landed at Reykjavik on 17 April in Munargo, Oriziba and Borinquen.  The same ships then returned the relieved British garrison to Gourock, Scotland.

Munargo at Halifax, 10 April 1942. Credit: Nova Scotia Archives.

Munargo was among the first transports to incorporate “double bunking” to pack in even more troops per trip. Essentially, the men occupied bunks in rotation with two meals only a day and 24-hour mess operations.  On 31 May 1942, 8,018 troops were packed aboard Munargo, Thomas H. Barry (formerly Oriente) and Siboney for the first such voyage to Britain under these conditions.

U.S.S. Munargo at New York 26 May 1942 in Measure 12 camouflage. Credit: U.S. National Archives, courtesy Shipscribe.com.

U.S.S. Munargo at New York, 26 May 1942. Credit: U.S. National Archives, courtesy Shipscribe.com.

Munargo returned to Boston on 27 June 1942 and then had a four-month refitting in New York.  This changed her armament to four 3” guns and eight Oerlikon 20 mm.

Now Pacific-bound, Munargo left New York on 30 December 1942 for Trinidad and Brazil, from which she sailed through the Panama Canal to San Francisco, arriving 18 March 1943. From there she sailed on to Noumea,  New Caledonia with troops and made a second voyage there arriving 18 July. Homeward-bound from Samoa on 27 July via Hawaii and Guantanamo Bay, she arrived at New York.

On 21 June 1943 Munargo was one of three Navy transports requested by the Army to be converted into hospital ships.  On 18 October she was decommissioned as a U.S. Navy vessel.

U.S.A.H.S. Thistle arriving at Charleston, S.C. Credit: U.S. Army Signal Corps., courtesy Shipscribe.com

U.S.A.H.S. THISTLE

From 18 October 1943-31 March 1944, Munargo was converted at the Atlantic Basin Iron Works, New York, into a hospital ship for the U.S. Army.  This included an extension to her forward superstructure, removal of her armament and gun tubs, provision of modern surgical theaters, wards and berths for 456 patients.  On 29 November 1943 she was officially designated as a military hospital ship under the terms of the Hague convention and renamed Thistle following Army convention to name hospital ships either after nurses or flowers.

U.S.A.H.S. Thistle on 8 April 1944. Credit: U.S. Coast Guard photo, courtesy Shipscribe.com

In April 1944, Thistle made her first voyage from New York to Gibraltar, Naples and Oran, returning to Charleston, S.C. which would henceforth be her base of operations for the Mediterranean Theatre of Operations.  She went on to complete nine round voyages to Naples, Marseilles, Livorno, Gibraltar and Oran with her last such returning to New York.  From there, she made two round trips to Marseilles the first of which brought 450 patients home on 2 July 1945 followed on 12 August with 447 aboard.

U.S.A.H.S. Thistle. Credit: eBay auction photo.

U.S.A.H.S. Thistle.  Credit: U.S. Navy photo, courtesy Shipscribe.com

In September 1945, Thistle was re-assigned to the Pacific, sailing via the Panama Canal and Hawaii to Manila where she arrived in November.  From Leyte, she returned to Los Angeles, via Honolulu, and was one of 16 ships arriving at San Pedro on 15 December with 13,215 troops home for Christmas.  On 25 January 1946 she was decommissioned as a hospital ship.

U.S.A.T. Thistle at Fort Mason port facilities, San Francisco, 23 July 1946. Credit: U.S. Army photo, courtesy Shipscribe.com

U.S.A.T. THISTLE

Beginning in March 1946 Thistle was at Consolidated Steel’s San Pedro yards undergoing her final conversion, this time into a “dependent carrying vessel” with a passenger capacity of 318.  This work was completed in June and the vessel was variously engaged on the San Francisco-Hawaii, Seattle-Alaska and finally Seattle-Japan routes.

On 19 June 1946 Thistle departed Honolulu to San Francisco with 340 passengers but returned the next day after experiencing engine troubles.  A blower for the boilers was disabled and it was not until the 25th that she was underway again.

U.S.A.T. Thistle. Credit: The Mariners' Museum.

U.S.A.T. Thistle’s first voyage from Seattle to Alaska was on 3 October 1946 and she stayed on this route until she arrived at San Francisco on 27 June 1947 and then sailed for Japan.  Ensuing voyages to Japan were from Seattle.   A typical arrival at Yokohama on 21 June 1948 debarked   220 dependents, 38 enlisted men, three officers , 11 school teachers and ten DACs (Dept. of the Army Civilians) after a 17-day voyage from Seattle. Her final voyage was from Seattle on 1 September 1948 to Yokohama where she docked on the 15th.  Upon return to Seattle, she was declared surplus to the Army and returned to the Maritime Commission.

U.S.A.T. Thistle in her final configuration and with a grey hull. Credit: Danterr9 via Flickr. 

Laid up in the National Defense Reserve Fleet, Astoria, Oregon on 1 November 1948, Thistle was destined never to return to service. On 19 February 1957 the former Munargo was sold to the Learner Company for $216,000 for scrapping and delivered on 13 March.   By 20 January 1958, she had disappeared under the breakers torches.   Thus passed the last former Munson Line ship.  A century ago the United States Mail Ship Munargo represented the aspirations of her owners and a new beginning for the American Merchant Marine.

Munargo as best remembered: morning arrival at Nassau, Bahamas BWI

U.S.M.S. MUNARGO

Built by New York Shipbuilding Corp., Camden, New Jersey, Yard no. 263
Gross tonnage
USMS Munargo:  6,484 grt
USAHS Thistle:    7,882 grt
USAT Thistle:       6,336 grt
Length: (o.a.)        432 ft.
              (b.p.)         413.8 ft.
Beam:                     57.5 ft
Machinery: one Parsons turbines double reduced geared to single screw. 5,800 shp. Five oil-burning Scotch boilers 200 psi.
Speed:                  15.5 knots service
                              17 knots trials
Passengers
USMS Munargo: 172 First, 56 Second, 50 steerage
USS Munargo:    1,113 troops
USAHS Thistle:  456 patients
USAT Thistle:     318 one-class

Officers & Crew
USMS Munargo: 119
USS Munargo:     254

BIBLIOGRAPHY

American Passenger Ships, The Ocean Lines and Liners, 1873-1983, Frederick E. Emmons
Dictionary of American Fighting Ships
Hospital Ships of World War II: An Illustrated Reference, Emory Massman
The Changing face of Nassau: the impact of tourism on Bahamian society in the 1920s and 1930s.  New West Indian Guide 71 (1997)
Troopships of World War II, Roland Charles, 1947

American Shipping
Marine Engineering
Marine Review
Pacific Marine Review
The Marine Journal
The Nautical Gazette

Baltimore Sun
New York Herald
New York Tribune
Stars & Stripes
The Daily News (New York)
The Brooklyn Daily Eagle
The Gazette (Montreal)
The Miami Herald
The Miami News

Newspapers.com
Shipscribe.com (Stephen S. Roberts)

© Peter C. Kohler