The new Minnewaska and Minnetonka, a pair of remarkable sisters. No other ships on the North Atlantic have ever resembled them.
J.H. Isherwood, Sea Breezes, April 1975.
With active careers of but ten and nine years respectively, Minnewaska and Minnetonka's short lives were still as rich and varied as any of that marvelous 'twenties heyday of the Atlantic Ferry, featuring often in the shipping, society and sporting sections of newspapers reflecting their unique dual purpose: their holds and stalls carrying celebrated racing horses, polo ponies, circus elephants and exotic animals, record cargoes of apples or advanced racing planes and their unique all First Class accommodation booked by E.J. Mitchell and the British Schnieder Cup air racing team, J.P. Morgan, Jr., Wilhelm Furtwängler and Yehudi Menuhin among others.
On this, the Centenary of Minnewaska's maiden voyage (1 September 1923), discover the ultimate trans-Atlantic "combi" ships...
s.s. MINNEWASKA (1923-1934)
s.s. MINNETONKA (1924-1934)
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| Minnetonka/Minnewaska in the Channel by Charles Dixon. |
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| Minnetonka at Boulogne by Charles Dixon. Credit: Bonhams |
Founded in 1887 at Baltimore, the Atlantic Transport Line, it is pointed out, had been one of the most substantial and progressive in the transatlantic trade in both passenger and freight traffic and its passenger service between New York and London gained the distinction of being termed 'the comfort route.'
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 16 September 1923
One hundred years ago-- amidst the "Roaring Twenties," America had a new President, Calvin Coolidge, and Britain a new Prime Minister, Stanley Baldwin; Clara Bow was the "It Girl" of the Jazz Age and King Tut's tomb was opened-- and, rather more obscurely, the largest liner British-built since the Great War, Minnewaska of Atlantic Transport Line, departed London on her maiden voyage on 1 September 1923. The largest new British liner since the war was American-owned and by a line largely forgotten today.
The theme of American endeavour and capital creating shipping enterprises employing foreign vessels, officers and crews was introduced following the Civil War. The Age of Steam in America translated into the opening of the West to settlement by transcontinental railroad not vying for a share of the ocean highways and the greatest overseas migration that followed was largely in "foreign bottoms" as the U.S. merchant marine entered a long and dismal decline.
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| "Our merchant marine, the Rip Van Winkle of the sea (1911)" by Udo Keppler (1872-1956). Credit: artvee.com |
If a nadir for American shipping, The Gilded Age was an apogee for American Capitalism--unfettered, unregulated and voracious-- and shipping as a business and source of profit would not be as nearly neglected as American seafarers or shipyards. Thus was conceived the idea of "the flag of convenience" by which an American company would operate, though contrivances of corporations, holding companies, foreign agents, etc., shipping lines wholly American in management and capital, with vessels built, manned and officered elsewhere. At a stroke, the national identity and pride long associated with overseas shipping was removed and replaced by the vessel as merely the means to the end, an economic unit rather than "ship of state."
What thrives today in the shipping and cruise trade as a business model has its roots in Clement Griscom's Red Star Line dating from 1871, a Belgian and British-flagged operation owned by his International Navigation Co. of Philadelphia. Another early example, less well known certainly today, was the Atlantic Transport Line. This owed its creation to Bernard N. Baker (1854-1918) of Baltimore who, by the 1880s, was one of the city's leading businessman with interest in banks, chemical companies and manufacturing as well as shipping, including being president of the Baltimore Storage & Lighterage Co., steamship agents and ship brokers.
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| Bernard N. Baker, c. 1909. Credit: Wikipedia |
Baltimore was fairly booming at the time, a centre of industry, shipbuilding and already one of the busiest ports on the Eastern Seaboard, and with excellent rail connections. All this inspired Baker to found, in 1881, the Atlantic Transport Line to give it another direct link with Britain, but the fact that American ships and crews cost about 30 per cent more than British ones, caused Baker to realise his ambitions under a "flag of convenience." At the time, there were no restrictions or indeed much interest at all concerning American investment in or anything to do with the merchant marine, but British law then prevented direct foreign ownership of British ships. Baker got around this by engaging Alfred S. Williams, a shipping agent, to head the Atlantic Transport Co. Ltd, headquartered in London and leased the British registered ships to the American firm. Atlantic Transport was well capitalised with 80 per cent of their shares held by Americans (Baker owing 50 per cent) and among the foreign investors was Harland & Wolff.
The line's first ships, the Hartlepool-built single-screw, 300-ft Surrey, Sussex and Suffolk were delivered in 1881-83 to Hooper, Murrell & Williams, the agents, and leased to ATL. Surrey begin sailing to Baltimore by mid June 1881 although occasionally chartered to other lines as well.
For an excellent account of the early days of Atlantic Transport, the reader is recommended to:
https://earlofcruise.blogspot.com/2017/07/history-atlantic-transport-line.html
Desiring a more direct hand in the London management, in 1886 Baker created a new agency there, headed by Alfred S. Williams and assisted by two Americans, Thomas F. Field and Charles F. Torrey (1858-1927), the latter figuring prominently in the affairs of ATL for most of their existence and who married into the Berwind coal fortune which was a source of investment capital in the line as well. With American management, out went the original British country names for ATL ships and the first ships ordered under the new firm, Maryland and Montana, established the trademark "M" names, all of North American origin.
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| First advertisement for ATL's passenger service from New York to London, listing Manitoba's departure on 27 July. Credit: Baltimore Sun, 15 July 1892. |
Business was good and in addition to cargo, ATL from the onset did a roaring trade in livestock: cattle, horses and became especially known for the carriage of valuable racing stock and polo ponies not to mention exotic circus animals. By 1891, ATL were running a weekly service between London and Baltimore and the following year New York was added as was a limited passenger trade from London (Tilbury) with the Harland & Wolff-built 5,670-grt Massachusetts, Manitoba, Mohawk, Mobile and Minnewaska (1894) carrying 60 saloon passengers each.
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| A very early ATL passenger list, 21 August 1896 for Mohawk. Note the original ATL houseflag that resembled the U.S. Navy jack. Credit: eBay auction phone. |
The purchase of the once famous National Line by ATL was consumated in January 1896, the first taste of a foreign line acquisition for Baker and Torrey.
The Spanish-American War in 1898 showed the strength of the U.S. Navy and the weakness of the U.S. merchant marine after years of neglect. Waging a maritime war and invading islands on both oceans without the ships to carry the troops and material led to the immediate charter or purchase of anything that floated, and ATL could not say no to the price ($4 million!) and sold, on 16 July, seven of their 10 ships, and leased another for use as a hospital ship.
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| Mesaba, ex-Winifreda, one of the five brand new 6,800-grt steamers bought by ATL from Wilson's & Furness-Leyland in 1898. Credit: clydeships.com |
Flush with cash, ATL immediately purchased the almost brand new ships and the rights to their London-New York route from Wilson & Furness-Leyland Line. So immediate that there was no gap in sailings between the old and new fleets and Winifreda, Cleopatra, Victoria, Boadicea and Alexandria were soon running for ATL as Mesaba, Mohegan, Manitou, Marquette and Menominee respectively. The 6,800-ton single screw steamers had fine accommodation for 120 passengers, although Mohegan was wrecked off the Manacles in October 1898, with a loss of 106 souls.
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| The year 1898 brought a new fleet, a new corporate structure and a new houseflag for Atlantic Transport Line. Credit: eBay auction photo. |
It was a busy year and before 1898 was over, a new corporate entity, Atlantic Transport Company, had been incorporated in West Virginia and assumed the assets of ATL Ltd. and the company was now completely American although the fleet remained British in flag and manning. The creation of the U.S. entity, too, anticipated possible favourable government legislation to revive the moribund merchant marine with subsidies or mail contracts.
… the Atlantic Transport Line in its heyday provided a London-New York service far superior to any which had gone before. Minneapolis of 1900 and her consorts were fast freighters berthing 250 or more passengers in spacious quarters. They are perhaps best described as 'First Class Only' versions of their White Star contemporary, Celtic.
British Passenger Liners of the Five Oceans.
The new organisation invested heavily (and wisely) in a newbuilding programme at the turn of the century with the placing of orders with Harland & Wolff for two new ships, the 13,448-grt Minneapolis and the 13,443-grt Minnehaha, both 600 ft. x 65.5 ft), with twin-screw, quadruple-expansion engines giving a 16-knot speed and a unique combination of enormous cargo capacity and excellent all First Class accommodation for 250. They were instantly and enormously popular the moment they were introduced on the London-New York route in May and August 1900, the service, now sold as "The Comfort Route," thrived. The company which carried 5,643 passengers in 1899, had 8,821 fares in 1901 and In 1902, a third "Minne," the 13,440-gt Minnetonka, entered service.
It was around this time that the booming economy built on low tariffs, no income tax, little regulation and not a little greed mixed with much enterprise and risk, led to the era of the "trusts" and the creation of monopolies to guarantee huge profits from the infusion of limitless capital. There was a steel trust, an oil trust, a sugar trust and Clement A. Griscom, whose International Navigation Co., formed in 1871, to operate the Belgian-flagged Red Star Line to from New York and Antwerp and in 1884 took over American Line and two years later, the British Inman Line, certainly evidenced the right inclinations of creating a shipping trust. Griscom's ideas of a wider combine of trans-Atlantic steamships were shared by and with ATL's Bernard Baker whose own efforts to effect a merger with Ellerman's Leyland Line had failed in 1900.
As with so much of American private enterprise in those days, J.P. Morgan, whose bank Drexel & Co., handled INC's finances, was the man with the money and the ego to realise a shipping trust just as he had with other whole swaths of business and banking and now had two sound shipping men, Griscom and Baker, eager to accomplish it.
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| IMM brochure, c. 1903. Credit: National Museum NI. |
The International Mercantile Marine (IMM) was founded in early 1902 and had as their first acquisitions, the International Navigation Co. (Red Star Line and American Line) valued at $14,205,000 and Atlantic Transport Line ($13,716,000), the sale of the latter formalised on 25 November. It marked the end of Baker's direct involvement in running ATL although he remained on the IMM Board and P.A.S. Franklin, ATL Vice President, assumed the same role within IMM. Of course, IMM went on to acquire White Star, Dominion and Leyland Line, a controlling interest in Holland America Line and in perhaps the biggest outcome, achieve a noncompetitive agreement with NDL and HAPAG. Unintentionally, it also revived the moribund Cunard Line and prompted eventual British Government subsidy to build two new ships.
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| ATL sailing list, September 1909. Credit: eBay auction photo. |
What did all this mean to Atlantic Transport? In 1902, they took delivery of the third Minne, Minnetonka, but the fate of the fourth ship was a cautionary tale when after being laid down in mid 1902, the contract was assumed by White Star and she was launched at Harland & Wolff on 18 December as Arabic. Before the takeover, it was decided to broaden ATL's fleet to include two American-flagged and built "M"s, laid down at Camden by New York Shipbuilding as Minnekahda and Minnelora, but in another change, IMM sold their contracts to Pacific Mail for whom they were completed as Manchuria and Mongolia. So it was that nine years after the first of the Minne quartet was completed, was the fourth-- Minnewaska-- commissioned. At 14,317-grt and with 340 passenger berths, she was an impressive and very popular ship. But clearly, ATL like all the component lines of IMM, were not the master of their own destiny under the new regime.
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| The 14,317-grt Minnewaska of 1909. Credit: Mariners Museum. |
In the end, IMM was one of Morgan's great failures, conceived at the absolute apex of shipping profits and capitalised accordingly, IMM simply paid far more for their component lines than they would ever be worth again. White Star alone cost $51 millions, and having paid too much, too much of IMM's attention was expended on it, at the expense of the other companies, notably American and Dominion Lines. Atlantic Transport, as it turned out, fared the best of all at least until the outbreak of the First World War.
The two great events of August 1914-- the opening of the Panama Canal and the start of The Great War-- also changed the fortunes of the IMM and global shipping. As a neutral, American-flag ships were never in more demand or more profitable and IMM had, if anything, done little to encourage the development of the U.S. Merchant Marine and as American Line showed, worked against it. The Panama Pacific Line was created by IMM to start a new trans-Canal service between New York and San Francisco, and henceforth the combine sought ways to increase its American tonnage.
The other great self-inflicted wound on the fortunes of American shipping was the enactment of Sen. LaFollette's "Seamen's Bill" in August 1915 which required 75 per cent of the crew of a vessel to speak English. At a stroke, the entire trans-Pacific services of Pacific Mail and Great Northern were ended, as their stokers and galley staff were almost entirely Chinese and it was prohibitively expensive to replace them with whites. In possibly the greatest transfer of tonnage outside a merger or buy-out, Atlantic Transport acquired the 11,280-grt Korea and Siberia, the 13,369-grt Manchuria and Mongolia (ironically of course as they had been laid down for ATL) and Great Northern's huge 20,602-grt Minnesota. Acquisition of the later required ATL's existing Minnesota to be renamed Mahopac. With the Panama Canal still closed owing to mudslides, all had to be sailed around the Horn to New York. They were put on the London route but Korea and Siberia were soon sold to the Japanese TKK line and the Stars and Stripes vanished from the trans-Pacific ocean highway.
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| Ordered in April 1913, Minnekahda was completed in late 1917 as a transport without her superstructure. Here, she is photograped in New York Harbor in 1918. Credit: National Museum of American History. |
And like all IMM lines, ATL had a vessel, their largest and finest to date, underway when war broke out: the 17,221-grt Minnekahda, the first of the line's ships powered by H&W triple-screw "combination" machinery, which had been ordered in April 1913. At 620.5 ft x 66.4 ft., she was rather larger than Minnewaska and indeed, the longest ship ever built for the line. After lanquishing on the ways, she was finally launched on 3 August 1917 and completed, without her superstructure, as an austerity transport.
The Great War was devastating to Atlantic Transport Line and indeed, no line, even Anchor, suffered as high a loss of tonnage proportionate to its pre-war size. Astonishingly, all four of the Minnes… Minneapolis (torpedoed and sunk off Malta in 1916), Minnehaha (torpedoed off Fastnet, 1917), Minnetonka (torpedoed off Malta, 1918) and Minnewaska (mined in Suda Bay, Crete in 1916)… were lost. In all the company lost five ships totalling 35,665 tons. In the last year of the war, Bernard Baker passed away with the company he built at low ebb. As it was his personal wealth, largely in the form of shares in IMM which were now worth 10 cents to the dollar, was all but wiped out by the IMM buy-out.
A FAMILIAR LINE.—A sign that the war is over is found in the resumed advertisements relating to the sailing of vessels of the Atlantic Transport Line from Tilbury to New York and Philadelphia.
Kent Messenger & Gravesend Telegraph, 21 December 1918
The first ATL post-war arrival at New York from London is credited to Talthybius on 7 January 1919. There was no resumption, however, of the passenger service and no effort made to rebuild Minnekahda to her original plans as a combi liner and she was kept on transport service much longer than first anticipated, not making her first ATL voyage (as a freighter) until late March 1920.
Clearly, IMM had bigger plans for Atlantic Transport Line. When Baltic sailed from New York on 15 November 1919 one of her passengers was Charles F. Torrey, London manager of Atlantic Transport who, according to the New York Times, "sailed with plans for the five 20,000-ton, oil burning, geared turbine passenger liners which are to be built for the rejuvenation of the service between New York and London." This was the first and indeed only mention of such plans in the press.
Few shipping enterprises better controlled news and information on their various lines than did the IMM. Announcements and press releases occured when beneficial to the organisation and often with no time relation to events. It was just as well immediately following the end of the First World War when, in late 1919, Cunard placed their massive orders for some 19 newbuildings for themselves, Anchor and Donaldson Lines and P&O, Orient and others also contracted for new tonnage. IMM were far more circumspect, content to first digest their share of the reparations extracted from the vanquished Germans, already adept at the constant interchage of tonnage between their lines and wary of a very uncertain immediate post-war shipping climate.
Atlantic Transport Line were unique among the IMM lines in that their entire cargo-passenger fleet had been sunk during the war and their unique vessel requirements could not be satisifed by seized German tonnage. Late in 1919 IMM ordered two newbuildings from Harland & Wolff for ATL to restart passenger carriage on a fortnightly basis followed by a proposed second pair to resume weekly service. These were assigned yard nos. 613 and 615 and falling between no. 612 (a new Statendam for Holland America Line) and no. 615, a replacement for the lost Laurentic, for White Star-Dominion Line. Given those bookends (Statendam not being completed until 1928) and no. 615 cancelled), the ATL pair were fortunate in their eventual outcome although not with their own delays and drama that were typical for era and especially for IMM and Harland & Wolff.
Harland & Wolff have begin the construction of a large vessel for the Atlantic Transport Company's service between London and New York. This will be one of the 'Minne-' type, almost all of which have come from Belfast.
Shipbuilding and Shipping Record, 13 January 1921
Yard. no. 613 was laid down at Harland & Wolff on 11 November 1920 amid turbulent times. In June, "The Troubles" arose in Ireland that ultimately led to partition and Belfast was the secene of riots in early autumn. The early part of the decade, too, was a dismal period for British industry, especially shipping and shipbuilding. Inflation in wages and materials was staggering. Shipbuilders were paying a wartime bonus wage rate until mid 1921 and steel prices were high. Moreover, these vessels were built on a "cost plus" basis rather than a fixed priced contract so that their completion costs, caught up in ever escalating labour and material inflation, became prohibitive. Overall, there was an astonishing 300 per cent increase in replacement costs of ships between 1914-1920. Then there were the strikes and a crippling and protracted joiners strike that began in November 1920 and impacted most British yards. The worldwide shipping situation, too, was dire with high tariffs depressing trade, freight rates plummeted and there was a glut of secondhand wartime tonnage on the market.
Revival of the Atlantic Transport Line's New York to London passenger service is being considered by the International Mercantile Marine Company. A passenger ship is under construction for the line at Belfast, and will be put into the London service, it is thought likely.
New York Herald, 3 December 1921
While it is probable that such a revival cannot take place within a year, and with such ships as the line formerly operated, in less than two years, there is a distinct promise of its coming in the announcement that a passenger ship for the Atlantic Transport Line is in process of construction at Belfast.
The Gazette, 19 December 1921
By the end of 1920, Cunard had already taken the unprecedented step of ordering work to be paused on the fitting out of four of their newbuildings, other lines postponed laying down of ordered ships or delayed placing further orders. By mid 1921, what little progress had been made on no. 613 was halted, one of but many H&W projects that were cancelled or at best, put off until conditions improved. Passage of the Northern Ireland Loans Guarantee Act in April 1922 provided essential capital for yard improvements and to resume some construction. Harland & Wolff's Viscount Pirrie finally prevailed on IMM to resume construction on Doric (no. 573) which was duly launched on 8 August 1922 and within a week, the keel of no. 614 for Atlantic Transport was laid on the same North Yard slipway after IMM secured a £400,000 loan under the Loan Guarantee Act. Work, too, resumed in earnest on no. 613. No. 614 proved to be the second to last new ship laid down at Belfast by IMM.
There is something decidedly fascinating about the names selected by the Atlantic Transport Line for its new liners. We are told that, in the language of the Dakota Indians, the name Minnetonka means 'Big Water,' and that in the Indian tongue Minnewaska means 'White-capped water.' The names are particulary appropriate since the signing of the liquor treaty between the United States and Britain. It does not require very much imagination to apply 'White-capped water,' to those rare beverages which naturally have a 'collar,' and, of course, 'Big Water' might easily be a paraphrase of the words that frequently lurk around the lips of the very thirsty travelers. Perhaps before long we shall hear passengers on transatlantic liners asking the steward to bring 'Two Minnewaska's and one Minnetonka.' After all, it is a pity to let such a picturesque language die out.
The Nautical Gazette, 31 May 1924.
As if on cue, there finally appeared a flurry of newspaper and trade journal articles on the impending revival of Atlantic Transport Line's passenger service from London and the new ships already being called Minnewaska and Minnetonka, honouring their predecessors lost in the War.
There is no doubt about the fact that the Atlantic Transport Line intend to come back into the British passenger trade at full strength and without any reservation, and it must be confessed that the London River can very well do with the weekly service that they suggest for next year. The Minnetonka and Minnewaska have been held up so long on the slips at Belfast that they have been very apt to slip one's memory and drop out of calculations made as to the future of the Atlantic Ferry. The builders will have to get all their organisation to work if they are to be finished by the date the line proposes to start its weekly service, but, of course, no doubt need be entertained that the organisation is ample for the purpose.
The most interesting at the moment is which ships are to be put the service beside them until the second pair are completed. Under the British flag there is only the Poland available with passenger accommodation, and although her sea speed of 12 knots is none too high for the purpose, she is an excellently consistent steamer, and would manage quite tolerably well. Unfortunately, 'at the she is only fitted with emigrant accommodation, and the installation of new cabins would be rather an expensive business if she is only to be a stop-gap for a short If one considers the possibility of borrowing from one of the other British units of the International Mercantile Marine the question becomes so ill-defined that it is not worth pursuing.
The most natural ship to be brought back to the Thames service, for which she was originally designed, is undoubtedly the Minnekahda, the 17,000-tonner which was laid down shortly before the war to complete the old Atlantic Transport fleet. After the Armistice we allowed her to be transferred to the U.S. flag as a special exception to the regulation, and since then she has been trooping running on the steerage service from Germany. On this it is to be feared that she is more or less wasted, for she is one of the finest emigrant ships afloat, and many of her passages are made with scarcely any passengers on board, while far inferior German ships have many more owing to the national feeling. Her passenger accommodation is at the moment limited to the third class, well over 2,000 berths in all, but it would not be a difficult matter to give her cabin class quarters, and as a ship she is very well worth it. Whether the state of feeling towards British shipping on the other side of the Atlantic would cause difficulties to be raised regarding her retransfer to the Red Ensign it is impossible to say, but it is scarcely likely. If she brought back she could maintain a very much more than tolerable service with the two new packets, and the date of completion of the fourth and fifth units would not be nearly so important.
Meanwhile the United States Line is forging ahead, and there is certainly considerable advantage in if being able to establish itself on a weekly schedule so many months before the Atlantic Transport can possibly manage it. Five of the 10,000-ton 'State' liners—we have not yet been able to get used to the new President tallies—will make a considerable fleet with which to compete, but it is yet to be seen whether the increased sailing's will give them a greater share of popular favour than they have hitherto enjoyed. The two companies will do much to bring Father Thames into his own again.
Liverpool Journal of Commerce, 3 July 1922
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| Credit: American Shipping. |
We learn that the Atlantic Transport Company is preparing to resume its services between London and New York next season. The company expects then to have available two large sister ships which are now being built for it by Messrs. Harland and Wolff. These ships will be 600 ft. long, of more than 21,000 tons gross, and are to burn oil-fuel. They are designed to provide accommodation to carry some 320 passengers in the first class saloon and about 17,000 tons of cargo, and to make the page in rather less than nine days. The two liners are to be named Minnewaska and Minnetonka, after two of the ships which were destroyed by enemy action during the war. The intention is that the two new liners shall be reinforced by two more large ships of similar type. In the meantime, the two new passenger ships, together with the three fastest of the company's present fleet, will provide a regular weekly service for cargo between London and New York.
The resumption of the Atlantic Transport passenger services will be welcomed by many travellers. Before the war the company maintained the only passenger service between London and New York. The line was well supported by many who were not in an extreme hurry, but were content to make the passage in comfort. at a moderate cost. Its fleet at the outbreak of war represented 122,945 tons. The company had a fine war record for the transport of troops, horses, and munitions, but part of the price paid was the destruction by the enemy of ships aggregating 72,600 tons. Its four ships—the Minnetonka, Minnehaha, Minneapolis and Minnewaska—were destroyed by the enemy, but not until they had rendered notable service as hospital ships and transports. A fifth ship—the Minnekahda, of 17,200 tons—was under construction as a passenger and carrier at the outbreak of war, but under Government orders, in the national emergency, she was put into service in an unfinished state as a large cargo carrier. She has since been fitted for the Continental North Atlantic passenger and cargo trade and is now being employed there successfully.
Evening Mail 5 July 1922
On 13 July 1922 the Liverpool Journal of Commerce reported that "people who have at heart the prosperity of the port of London will be gratified to hear of the great progress that has been made with the magnificent Atlantic Transport Line steamers, the Minnewaska and Minnetonka, which are at present building at Belfast." It was added that "it is anticipated the Minnewaska will commence her maiden trip at the end of February 1923, with the Minnetonka following close upon her heels."
In the first official announcement, IMM finally confirmed in New York on 21 July 1922 that the Atlantic Transport Line's passenger service between New York and London would be resumed the following spring "with two 21,000-ton ships, the Minnewaska and the Minnetonka, which are now building at Harland & Wolff's, Belfast, Ireland." The ships would be 600 ft. long, accommodate 320 first class passengers and 17,000 tons of cargo and would cross in eight days.The Gazette (24 July 1922) added "this is the first definite statement to be issued concerning the resumption of this service, which for many years prior to the war enjoyed a high reputation for comfort at moderate rates." Of the first two vessels, "fine sturdy ships, 600 feet long, of 21,000 gross tons each, and are oil burners. They are the forefront of a new fleet of four practically identical ships to replace the famous 'Minnie' class of ships sent to the bottom by torpedoes in the war."
Another IMM announcement on 11 August 1922 stated that the New York-London passenger service of the Atlantic Transport Line "is to be resumed in February or March of next year" and that Minnewaska and Minnetonka "are to be supplemented by two more as soon as their construction can be completed."
The Philadelphia Inquirer of 11 September 1922 reported that "word has been received that the keel has been laid at Belfast for the new Atlantic Transport Line's steamer Minnetonka. The craft is scheduled to be finished next July."
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| Minnewaska on the ways by Charles Dixon. Credit: The Ocean Ferry. |
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| Minnewaska on the ways the morning of her launching at Harland & Wolff, 22 March 1923. Credit: Harland & Wolff Collection, National Museums NI |
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| Stern view on the ways, note the stern anchor bosing and "Belfast" as her port of registry. Credit: Harland & Wolff Collection, National Museums NI |
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| Minnewaska entering the Lagen and her port screw turning as it enters the water. Credit: Harland & Wolff Collection, National Museums NI |
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| Minnewaska safely afloat and taken in hand by tugs. Credit: Harland & Wolff Collection, National Museums NI |
It was a welcome and busy period for Harland & Wolff who, from the delivery of Belgenland (following her rebuilding as a passenger liner) on the 17th to the handing over of Veendam on the 29th, had handed over five steamers totalling 93,000 grt. The same day Minnewaska was launched, Harland & Wolff delivered Oroya to the Pacific Steam Navigation Co. and Drechdijk to Holland America Line.
...such activity in a time of general depression is remarkable, but it does not indicated that there is all-round revival, as it affects mainly only the ship-finishing departments.
Liverpool Journal of Commerce, 29 March 1923
At her launching, Minnewaska's maiden voyage was still set for 18 August 1923 but on 9 April the Gazette reported she was now to depart London on 4 August (the ninth anniversary of the beginning of the Great War), but on 27 May it was back to the 18th.
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| July 1923: one of the most impressive funnels in ocean liner history, Minnewaska's epic but perfectly proportioned stack leaves the shop on Queens Road to begin its journey to the fitting out basin and installation. Credit: Harland & Wolff Collection, National Museums NI |
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| August 1923: Minnewaska's unique profile is achieved by the installation of her enormous single funnel. Credit: Harland & Wolff Collection, National Museums NI |
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| One of the greatest ships Belfast-built in the 1920s, Minnewaska features in an H&W advertisement. Credit: Liverpool Journal of Commerce, 6 September 1923. |
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| Minnie Magnificent: Charles Dixon was the height of his talents when the ATL Sisters were introduced and he painted half a dozen or more superb portraits of them for postcards, travel agency framed prints, posters and, as above, the cover of the 1930 sailing list. |
Another conspicuous pair of liners seen regularly in service between London and New York were the Minnewaska and Minnetonka They were owned by the now long-defunct Atlantic Transport Line and were advertised as London's largest liners and were among the world's largest cargo-carriers Besides accommodating almost first-class passengers they were capable of loading 17000 tons of cargo on a draft approaching 37 ft. When I first saw these ships off the coast of Kent they were newly-built and few ships imparted the same impression of power as they did. Except for a rather large funnel they were more like a warship than a passenger ship of the day
Capt. Fred J. Bullock, Isle of Thanet Gazette, 19 June 1987
In appearance they were magnificent, with a great air of nobility and steady power, tremendously impressive, while the ATL colouring was extremely smart: a deep red funnel with black top and a red line round the hull at upper deck level. They looked rather more than their size.
J.H. Isherwood, Sea Breezes, April 1975
Conceived and constructed during a period of considerable upheaval in trans-Atlantic passenger and cargo traffic, Minnewaska and Minnetonka were literally built at the wrong time and their astonishingly brief careers reflect that. Intended to be a quartet, built as a pair and perhaps best not constructed at all, they remain impressive and indeed unique liners of the inter-war period. Yet they derived from a lineage of "Big Ship" design, originated by Harland & Wolff at the turn of the century and built upon what had been a most successful combination of high capacity cargo and high class passenger space that their owners pioneered. By their proportions, power and presence, Minnewaska and Minnetonka were unique on the ocean highway between the wars, their like never to be seen again on the North Atlantic and only repeated once again on other seas, by Dominion Monarch.
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| Few liners of any size or pretension were as powerful and purposeful in appearance as the ATL Sisters. Proving the point is this photo of Minnewaska sailing from New York, London-bound and looking... utterly magnifcent! Credit: www.titanicbelfast.com |
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| A reminder that they looked no less impressive in Red Star livery at the end of their short careers: Minnetonka in the Scheldt. Credit: https://dams.antwerpen.be/ |
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| Minnetonka sailing from New York showing the bridge and wheelhouse above the Boat Deck (an arrangement later retrofitted to Minnewaska) and her increased glass-enclosed Promenade Deck. Credit: shipnostalgia.com |
At once magnificent and distinctive, Minnewaska and Minnetonka were unlike any other liners on the North Atlantic Seaway in the 1920s yet natural evolutions of Minneapolis of 1900 which set the pattern for Atlantic Transport Line's ships for the enusing quarter of a century. If Oceanic the same year was the supreme example of Harland & Wolff "Long Ship" (defined by a length=beam x 10 quotient) as the then world's largest liner, the first of the "Minnies" proved a more enduring template and were among the first of a completely different H&W concept: "The Big Ship" whose design was dictated not by speed but capacity, either deadweight or passengers or, as more often, a combination of both in a hull of extreme beam and moderate speed.
Minnewaska and Minnetonka represented the last examples of The Big Ship whose antecedents date back to Pennsylvania (1897/12,261 grt) for HAPAG and developed progressively into the 18,074-grt President Lincoln and President Grant (originally intended for Leyland Line) of 1907 and a high class passenger "Big Ship," Amerika (22,622 grt) introduced in 1905. Another foreign buyer of the concept was Holland America Line whose Nieuw Amsterdam of 1905 (16,967 grt) was easily the largest vessel owned by the line to date and followed by H&W's magnificent Rotterdam (24,149 grt) three years later.
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| The 12,261-grt Pennsylvania (HAPAG) of 1897, first of H&W's "Big Ships" and surely the least attractive! Credit: Harland & Wolff Collection, National Museums NI |
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| The pacesetting Cymric of 1898 was one of the most important ships in White Star history, setting the pace for the line's ships for the next 30 plus years. Credit: Merseyside Maritime Museum. |
For White Star Line, H&W's Big Ship was their core design for their entire 20th century existence (and predating acquisition by IMM in 1903), starting with the 12,552-grt Cymric of 1898 which had originally been designed to combine 100 First Class berths with huge cargo capacity and ability to carry 830 head of cattle and horses, but after launching, substituted Third Class accommodation for the livestock space. Her success inspired the famous "Big Four"-- Celtic (1901/20,904gt), Cedric (1903/21,035 grt), Baltic (1904/23,876grt) and Adriatic (1907/24,541 grt) and when introduced, Celtic was both the first ship to exceed 20,000 grt and the world's largest. And not be forgotten, Ceramic of 1913 which at 18,481 grt and 655 ft. was the largest ship trading to the Antipodes until Dominion Monarch of 1939, the ultimate Big Ship and last of her kind.
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| The first of a memorable quartet of Minnies that introduced Atlantic Transport Line's unique combination of First Class passenger accomodation with epic cargo and livestock carrying capacity, Minneapolis leaves Belfast in March 1900. Credit: Robert John Welch photograph, Harland & Wolff Collection, National Museums NI |
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| The Minnie's offered truly First Class accommodation and were unique at the time for having one-class only. Credit: Robert John Welch photographs, Harland & Wolff Collection, National Museums NI |
But it was Atlantic Transport's Minnie quartet-- Minneapolis (1900/13,401 grt), Minnehaha (1900/13,403 grt), Minnetonka (1902/13,398 grt) and Minnewaska (1908/14,317 grt) (the gap between the last two ships being explained by the original Minnewaska of 1902 being taken over on the stocks by White Star Line and completed as Arabic in 1903)-- which perhaps best exemplified the Big Ship concept with excellent all-First Class accommodation for 228 (Minneapolis/Minnehaha), 250 (Minnetonka) and 326 (Minnewaska) and enormous cargo capacity including 676 head of cattle and 200 horses. They were enormously successful in all respects and established ATL's reputation on the North Atlantic Ferry at the onset of their entering the passenger trade.
So it was the two generations of Minnie's provided the bookends to one of the single greatest design concepts of British shipbuilding of the early 20th century and if barely remembered today, Minnewaska and Minnetonka were also among the most notable Harland & Wolff ships of the inter-war era.
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| Belfast Built: Minnewaska leaves the shipyard 25 August 1923. Credit: Harland & Wolff Collection, National Museums NI |
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| A profile unlike any on the North Atlantic, Minnewaska on departure from Belfast on 25 August 1923. Credit: Harland & Wolff Collection, National Museums NI. |
Built on the eve of The Motor Ship Look that Harland & Wolff introduced with Asturias of 1925, Minnewaska and Minnetonka were among of the last ships with the classic and sublimely proportioned H&W steamship funnel and theirs were the greatest of all, imparting an imposing presence which dominated their equally characteristic boxy Belfast Built superstructure and balanced the massively beamy and high freeboard hulls.
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| Minnewaska (left) and Minnetonka (right) at launching showing the differences in the siting of their bridges and amount of glass-enclosed forward promenade deck. |
They were not exact sisterships with the principal differences being that Minnetonka's wheelhouse and bridge were raised one deck above Boat Deck when it was found that sightlines from her bridge were impared by the long foredeck. The older ship would be rebuilt with the arrangement in due course. Another more enduring difference was the Minnetonka had rather more glass-enclosed area to the side of the forward Promenade Deck. In the engine room, alterations were made in Minnetonka to give more head room around certain machinery.
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| This stern view of Minnewaska in the Thames gives a good impression of just how big she and her sister were. Credit: https://gallica.bnf.fr |
With principal measurements of 21,716 grt (Minnewaska) and 21,998 grt (Minnetonka), 13,518 tons (nett), 625 ft. length (overall), 600 ft. length (bp), a beam of 80.4 ft. and a loaded draught of 36.9 ft. (!), the new M's were actually shorter than the pre-war Minnekahda (625 ft. overall) but was their much greater beam (compared to Minnekahda's 66.4 ft) that made them record breakers. They were, in fact, the largest pair of combination cargo-passenger liners ever built and exceeded only by the solitary Dominion Monarch (27,155 grt) of 1939. They were even larger than Minnesota (20,602 grt) and Dakota (20,714 grt) of 1904.
It is worth recalling that Minnewaska (21,716 grt) and Minnetonka (21,998 grt) were not only the largest ships built by IMM following the Great War but rank among the two largest built and completed by Harland & Wolff in 1920s, only exceeded by Asturias (22,071 grt) and Alcantara (22,181 grt) and indeed, were the largest British-built merchantmen of the decade save the RMSP pair and Giulio Cesare (21,848 grt) and Duilio (24,281 grt), laid down before the war. The ATL pair were, in fact, greater in tonnage than any of the Cunard, Anchor, P&O, Orient, Canadian Pacific and Union-Castle ships built in the decade. And even bigger than IMM's trio for Panama Pacific Line: California (20,235 grt), Virginia (20,773 grt) and Pennsylvania (20,526 grt) which were modelled after the ATL pair in hull design and dimension. Exemplars of the immediate post-war "single funnel" profile, Minnewaska and Minnetonka were the largest single-funnelled liners until the motorship Saturnia (23,940 grt).
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| A striking view of the cruiser stern and stern anchor these ships had, specifically for use in the narrow reaches of the Thames. Credit Fox photos. |
Minnewaska and Minnetonka had four overall decks: Shelter, Upper Middle, Lower plus a Forecastle Deck and Orlop Deck and in the superstructure, Lower Promenade, Upper Promenade and Boat Decks. The double bottom extended right fore and aft, and there were 14 watertight bulkheads shelter deck dividing the vessels into 15 watertight compartments.
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| Minnewaska fore deck showing that cargo was indeed king with these ships and taken from the wheelhouse, showing why it was raised one deck on her and designed that way with Minnetonka. Credit: Harland & Wolff Collection, National Museums NI. |
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| Minnewaska aft deck. Credit: Harland & Wolff Collection, National Museums NI. |
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| Chart showing the distribution of 1,054,771 cu. ft. of cargo space per hold. |
First and foremost, Minnewaska and Minnetonka were cargo carriers of epic capacity and varied capability without equal on the North Atlantic at the time or indeed any ocean. They were, in fact reckoned to be the largest freighters in the world. Total cargo capacity worked out to 1,054,771 cu. ft. or equal to 19,890 tons with 45,773 cu. ft. of refrigerated space. Total bunker capacity was 3,878 tons. There were 10 holds in all, five forward and five aft and worked by an impressive six pair of epic kingposters which were worked by 36 electric winches. One of the criticisms cited for their early demise was that the dimensions of the hatches were not large enough to enable fast working and indeed it was always a challenge to handle this volume of cargo during their short five-day turnarounds.
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| Inside one of the Minnie's capacious horse stalls. Credit: Fox photos |
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| The dedicated cattle and horse stalls on Upper (D) Deck aft and the adjoining accommodation for horse grooms and the horse foremen. Credit: U.S. National Archives. |
Atlantic Transport Lines had, from the onset, figured in the carriage of horses, cattle and even circus elephants and other livestock. Indeed, they carried more "VIP" race horses, famed stallions and polo ponies than any liners. Minnewaska and Minnetonka had extensive accommodation for this trade, quite unique among liners of the era, for 187 horses or cattle in 2 ft. 6 in. stalls on Upper (D) Deck aft as well as dedicated adjacent accommodation on D Deck for 37 grooms and horse foremen. They were doubtless the most famous race horse and polo pony carrying ships ever and this carriage would be one of their hallmarks during their short careers.
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| Minnewaska port turbine in the H&W engine shop. Credit: Harland & Wolff Collection, National Museums NI. |
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| Minnewaska's starboard turbine with the upper casing removed to show the gearing. Credit: Harland & Wolff Collection, National Museums NI |
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| Plan of machinery spaces in Minnewaska. Credit: U.S. National Archives. |
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| Minnewaska, cross section through boiler room. Credit: U.S. National Archives. |
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| Minnewaska, cross section through engine room. Credit: U.S. National Archives. |
These were the first geared turbine steamers built for ATL and among the first and few commissioned by IMM, preceded only by White Star's Vedic and Doric. The propelling machinery consisted of a two-shaft arrangement of Brown-Curtis geared turbines, arranged with single reduction gear. An astern turbine was incorporated in the exhaust casing of each low-pressure turbine, the whole of the power of the turbines being transmitted to the propeller shafts through double helical gearing. Steam was generated in 12 water-tube boilers, arranged for oil burning, working under assisted natural draught, and having a working pressure of 215 1b. per square inch, at 100 degs. F. superheated. The total normal shp produced was 15,000 giving a service speed of 16.5 knots, but both could exceeed this by two knots. At service speed, they burned 165 tons of oil a day and were reckoned by the standards of the day to be efficient, economical and reliable steamers and avoided the gearing issues which plagued earlier Brown-Curtis geared turbine installations.
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| Minnewaska's four-cylinder emergency generator. Credit: Harland & Wolff Collection, National Museums NI. |
The electrical installation consisted of four 400 k.w. direct current generators, each coupled directly to a steam turbine. The dynamos ran in parallel, and are each capable of giving output ot 1,818 amps, 220 volts. In addition, there was one emergency 75 k.w. dynamo directly coupled to a Diesel oil engine situated well above the water line for supplying current. There were well over 2,000 lights installed on each vessel, in addition to 36 electrically driven winches, two boat winches, funding machine, refrigerating machinery, and service machinery, comprising the following-- dough mixer, potato peelers, dish washer, knife cleaner, and a printing machine.
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| The classic Harland & Wolff Boat Deck: Welin davits and wood clinker-built 26-foot boats. Minnewaska's starboard Boat Deck looking aft. Credit: Harland & Wolff Collection, National Museums NI |
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| Minnewaska's port Boat Deck looking forward. Credit: Harland & Wolff Collection, National Museums NI |
Boatage comprised five 26-ft lifeboats on each side of the Boat Deck, the aft pair carried over a 26-ft. collapsible, and a pair of 26-ft. boats on the poop deck house, and at Welin quadrant davits.
S.S. MINNEWASKA
General Arrangement Plans & Profile
credit: American Bureau of Ships Collection, U.S. National Archives
(LEFT CLICK on image to view full size scan)
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| General Arrangement Side Profile. |
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| Flying Bridge and House Tops. |
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| Boat Deck. |
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| Upper Promenade (A) Deck. |
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| Lower Promenade (B) Deck (full). |
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| Lower Promenade (B) Deck (detail). |
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| Shelter (C) Deck (full). |
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| Shelter (C) Deck (detail). |
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| Upper Deck (D) (full). |
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| Upper Deck (D) (detail). |
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| Middle Deck (E). |
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| Lower Deck (F). |
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| Orlop Deck (G). |
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| Tank Tops. |
S.S. MINNEWASKA/MINNETONKA
Red Star Line deck plan c. 1933
credit: https://dams.antwerpen.be
(LEFT CLICK on image to view full size scan)
full file:
https://dams.antwerpen.be/asset/sRiOKSfLickFNoMXjMC0fShu/embed?profileId=-1
The new vessels form not only the largest pair of ships operated out of the port of London, but also represent the latest features of construction in a large combination of freight and passenger carriers. Their passenger quarters in point of lavish equipment entitles them to be classed as luxury liners. There is solid elegance about the Minnetonka that makes a strong appeal to conservative good taste.
Colour has been sparingly employed in the decorative scheme, but so effectively that ship's whole interior strikes one as being usually bright, light, and cheery. English oak, finished in warm tones, has been employed in panellings in many parts of the ship. In the smoking rooms there is a variation to be expected in the employment of brighter tinted cedar, a colour of old port wine, and furniture of walnut.
Western Morning News, 28 April 1924
First Class Passengers Only Carried As Atlantic Transport Line ships carry first class passengers only, and the number being limited to 369, it follows that these ships present to the traveler certain features not to be found on other vessels. The deck space available to passengers for sports, promenading or lounging in the sun is much larger, proportionately, than on other ships. Passengers have the full run of the main deck, from bow to stern and above that are three other decks devoted solely to passenger accommodation, as is also the main deck. Owing to the great beam of the ship--more than 80 feet--the promenades are wonderfully generous. The main promenade is glass-enclosed. Public rooms are as large as on vessels carrying a far greater number of passengers. It follows therefore that a greater amount of space per passenger is available. Staterooms are arranged also to give the passenger a maximum amount of space for his money.
Northern Whig, 23 March 1923
Accommodation was for 369 first-class passengers only. It was spread over four decks amidships and was extremely spacious and comfortable, without the superfluous luxury of the express mail steamers. The public rooms on the promenade deck had a headroom of 10 and 12 ft. and the saloon on the upper deck seated 322 people. These ships, it seems, provided the most comfortable and pleasant means of crossing the Atlantic at reasonable rates at that time.
J.H. Isherwood, Sea Breezes, April 1975.
In a decade of "cabin boats," and "tourist third," Minnewaska and Minnetonka were remarkable not only for being one-class ships but offering undiluted First Class accommodation throughout. This was in no way inferior to that in far largest ships yet, owing to the ships' 16.5-knot service speed, the Minnies were rated "9" by the Transatlantic Passenger Ship Conference and consequently, their First Class tariffs were the cheapest on the Atlantic and at minimum rate, comparable to Second Class on express steamers. This and their acknowledged superb seakeeping owing to their great beam and especially when fully laden, made the post-war pair every bit as popular as the pre-war quartet.
Solid comfort is the characteristic of the new ship. The extensive use of oak panelling without pictures or much ornamentation produces rich and restful effect. Great care has been bestowed in designing ship that will have steady carriage in the water.
Shields Daily Gazette, 28 August 1923
The Minnewaska should appeal strongly to travellers who, weary of flamboyant display and overexuberant luxury, are yet understanding and appreciative of refined surrounding and undiluted comfort. The smoking-room is quietly suggestive of peace, the pipe, and poker —or bridge. It has cedar walls, and roomy walnut furniture—writing and card tables—upholstered in dull blue leather. The several other public rooms are more insinuatingly gay in tone. Their delicate tintings, chiefly light blues and pinks, will form attractive settings, for frocks and gowns. In the cabins, arranged on three decks, are all the devices calculated to ensure comfort—from fans and radiators to innumerable, and intricate lighting effects.
Pall Mall Gazette, 28 August 1923
While the rococo style of ornamentation and florid mural decorations of some of the great express liners are lacking, there is a solid elegance about the Minnetonka type of vessel that makes a strong appeal to conservative good taste and is also distinctively British.
Liverpool Journal of Commerce, 29 April 1924
Much was made of the "solid comfort" and lack of pretension of these latest Minnies and their passenger profile reflected that and indeed their famous race horses or polo ponies figured more in the news of the day (during a decade when The Ocean Liner figured more in public attention than any other period) than their human passengers.
One abiding first impression of these public rooms public rooms on the Minnewaska is that of generous size and perfectly dignity. Fine natural wood panellings and white walls are the keynote of the principal decorations. The lounge room is finished in American sycamore; reading-room in white; the smoking room is panelled cedar' entrance halls in oak; the dining saloon and the adjoining reception room in white and oak.
The Evening Mail, 16 October 1923
As with all Harland & Wolff vessels, the interior decoration and furnishing of Minnewaska and Minnetonka was by Heaton Tabb & Co. who were a subsidary of shipbuilders. The relationship ensured consistency, efficiency and sensibility as to maritime requirements, but at the same time, earned Belfast-built liners the reputation of a certain dull "sameness" inside that whilst putting an Olympic at a distinct disadvantage against an Aquitania or Imperator, was ideally suited to the intentionally middle class modesties of a pair of 16.5-knot combi liners. That there was a lot of linoleum decking, flat white enamel and wicker furnishings was more in keeping with the ATL pair's intentionally honest sensibilities than more pretentious products of Harland & Wolff in which they figured no less prominently.
For a detailed description of Minnewaska and Minnetonka's public rooms, one can do no better than quote the remarkably fulsome coverage afforded by IMM's public relations department which follow in italics, and going from lower decks up.
The entrances the ship are all lined floor to ceiling with oak panelling, which carries back to time when Dutch William brought from his Continental home love of indoor comfort which not to be found in the cool plaster-covered walls common just before his time. Ease and quiet dignity are the here, and promise of more quiet and cosy homeliness in the rooms found later on.
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| Reception Room. Credit: Red Star Line Museum Antwerpen. |
The entry spreads into reception-room, from the after end of which rises the staircase, and on the forward end, set in middle the oak wail, is a panel tapestry like painting which represents King James deer hunting, surrounded by his dogs and huntsmen, a subject taken from an old engraving dating from 1611. The walls here are slightly more elaborate than those of the other entrances, fluted pilasters appearing between panels and a carved plaster frieze over the woodwork running around the room. The light and comfortable furniture is made of cane and upholstered in figured silk, which lightens and lends air cheerfulness the sober dignity of the apartment. An organ and a grand piano are provided for entertainment, and the floor is of oak parquetry specially arranged for dancing.
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| Credit: Shipbuilding & Shipping Record. |
Through the glazed doors we pass to the dining saloon, which, arranged to seat 322 persons, is 10 feet high, and extends the whole breadth of the vessel. Here the walls, still plainly panelled in the Georgian fashion, are all white, and means of a cove lead gently to the plain white beamed ceiling which covers the room. A sparing use is made of ornamental carving over the back of the sideboards which are made of oak, as are also the chairs, with their cabriole legs, curved stretchers and graceful backs. The triple windows arranged at the sides of the saloon are glazed with plain white leaded glass, their tops opening so that that refreshing sea breezes ciriculate freely through the room without producing the distressing draughts which would interfere with the comfort of the passengers.
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| Lounge. Credit: Harland & Wolff Collection, National Museums NI. |
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| Lounge. Credit: Harland & Wolff Collection, National Museums NI. |
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| Lounge. Credit: https://dams.antwerpen.be/ |
Returning to the reception room, we ascend the oak staircase, and observe as we go the broad-topped handrail framed to the great square newels and the strong graceful pilasters. Arriving on the upper deck, above us rises a milky white glass dome, which lights up the whole of the stairway, and before us glass doors in a glazed screen lead at once into the lounge. This pleasant room is panelled in a style which was popular in England in the middle the 17th century, though sycamore—a wood rarely used then—is here employed. The doors and screen are partly glazed with leaded white glees of two kinds, a simple pattern rough being imposed upon a clear glass background.
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| Drawing Room. Credit: Harland & Wolff Collection, National Museums NI. |
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| Credit: Shipbuilding & Shipping Record. |
In the reading and drawing room new note is struck, the walls being white, the only colour on them being supplied by the small engravings embodied in the walls’ panelling, each division of which is separated by ornamental pilaster, after the fashion of the Brothers Adam at the close of the 18th century; while here again arrangement of writing tables affords privacy for correspondence, and a plentiful supply hooks from the ship's library can be enjoyed the comfortable easy chairs in this apartment. The fire, around which ladies will delight to gather, the curtained windows, the gay covering the chairs and sofas all lend an air elegance to the room.
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| Smoking Room. Credit: https://dams.antwerpen.be/ |
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| Smoking Room. Credit: https://dams.antwerpen.be/ |
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| Credit: Shipbuilding & Shipping Record. |
Leaving the reading room we come to the smoke room, which is usually occupied by men alone. There is more solidity here, though no less comfort, and the cedar walls and walnut furniture, with dull blue leather coverings, all seem proclaim the sex for which they were provided. The settles built into the walls recmind us of the days when Johnson and Goldsmith foregathered in just such a room to enjoy each others conversation, and here are writing and card tables to enable passengers to vary the monotony of the voyage with smoking, card playing, or reclining at their ease.
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| Promenade Deck. Credit: https://dams.antwerpen.be/ |
In keeping with the custom of the day, the Promenade Deck lived up to its name with an exceptionally wide, walkround covered deck which was glazed forward and to the sides; here Minnetonka differed having rather more of the forward sides glassed in than her sister. There was also open promenade space on Boat Deck although quite narrow in spots due the width of the deck house which accommodated the deck and engineering officers.
The accommodation, for a total of 370 berths, was impressive, all 127 cabins being outside, all amidships and all with hot and cold running water which, in 1923, was a comparative luxury. In addition, six cabins including two suites with sitting room, had private bath and toilet. Being one-class, a range of accommodation was offered and of the regular non facility cabins this comprised 45 four-berth, 48 three-berth, 18 two-berth and 16 single-berth cabins with the less expensive ones being on the Bibby pattern and the best cabins and suites on the Lower Promenade (B) having windows not portholes.
On these ships all passenger quarters are amidship, and above the upper deck (D). There are four decks devoted exclusively to passenger accommodation. Deck A is given over entirely to public rooms, while deck B is occupied principally by suites and the larger staterooms. Two suites here consist of sitting room, bedroom and bath, while 10 semi-suites, consisting of bedroom with bath, besides various connecting bedrooms. There are 39 baths altogether and every bedroom has an abundant supply of running hot and cold fresh water available at all hours. Each bedroom is heated and has direct and indirect ventilation, with electric fans for use when required. All B deck rooms have rectangular windows, as in a dwelling. Special study has been given to the design of beds for the staterooms. Each principal stateroom has a bedstead, and some have two. These are fashioned of either mahogany or oak, fitted with cheerful chintz curtains and valances, and with special reading lights set in the wall at the head of the bed, having a dimmer attachment, converting the lamp into a night light at the touch of a switch.
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| Suite sitting room. Credit: Harland & Wolff Collection, National Museums NI |
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| Suite sitting room, view from bedroom. Credit: Harland & Wolff Collection, National Museums NI |
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| Concealed wash basin in sitting room opened up. Credit: Harland & Wolff Collection, National Museums NI |
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| Suite bedroom looking towards sitting room. Credit: Harland & Wolff Collection, National Museums NI |
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| Suite bedroom. Credit: Harland & Wolff Collection, National Museums NI |
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| Suite bedroom looking towards sitting room. Credit: Harland & Wolff Collection, National Museums NI |
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| Lower Promenade Deck two or three berth cabin. Credit: Harland & Wolff Collection, National Museums NI |
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| Lower Promenade Deck two or three berth cabin. Credit: Harland & Wolff Collection, National Museums NI |
The staterooms on the lower promenade deck are situated in a large deckhouse, and have private and semi-private bathrooms. The walls and ceilings are framed, panelled, and finished white, and the furniture is oak. The rooms are fitted with metal enamelled cot bedstead and upper folding berth and sofa. There are two suite sitting and bed room, also on the lower promenade deck, the sitting rooms being framed and panelled in oak, and the bedrooms in hard wood, finished white. The sitting rooms are fitted with Pullman sofa, berth, writing table, wardrobe, electric heater, and easy chair; there is also concealed wash-basin, having the appearance of writing table and bookcase. The bed rooms are arranged with two cot bedsteads, dressing table, electric heater, and wardrobe.
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| Shelter Deck single berth cabin. Credit: Harland & Wolff Collection, National Museums NI |
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| Shelter Deck two or three berth cabin. Credit: Harland & Wolff Collection, National Museums NI |
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| Shelter Deck two or three berth cabin. Credit: Harland & Wolff Collection, National Museums NI |
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| Shelter Deck two or three berth cabin. Credit: Harland & Wolff Collection, National Museums NI |
On the shelter and upper decks the staterooms are built on the tandem system, the furniture being of mahogany, except in the single berth rooms on the shefler deck, where it is of oak. Provision for electric heating will made in ell first-class staterooms and suite sitting-rooms, and independent fans are installed in each cabin, in addition to the main ventilation. These staterooms are all appropriately supplied with the latest furniture and conveniences, and no expense has been spared in the arrangement and furnishing of the staterooms throughout.
The officers' accommodation was excellent and concentrated amidships on Boat Deck in all outside cabins with captain's office and bedroom and those of the chief and principal deck officers forward and adjacent to the wheelhouse and bridge. Junior officers and engineers were quartered amidships to aft with a engineers amidships.
Crew accommodation, considered excellent for the day, had quarters for greasers and firemen on Upper Deck (D) Deck aft with separate messing, and far aft, for seamen, boys, cooks and carpenters and again with their own mess. On Middle E Deck had a unique accommodation for "cattlemen" right aft, stewards and bandsmen amidships.
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| Poster by Charles Nixon (1870-1934). |
Resumption by the Atlantic Transport Line of its direct passenger service between New York and London will be an outstanding event in ocean steamship travel for 1923. As experienced ocean travelers know, the Atlantic Transport Line, founded in 1887, built up its enviable reputation with a unique service for first class passengers only, on ships distinguished for great steadiness at sea, excellence of cuisine and service and solid comfort of accommodations. Ships and service appealed to persons who appreciated a restful ocean voyage in an atmosphere of well-regulated social life together with unexcelled arrangements for personal comfort. The Atlantic Transport service reached its full tide of prosperity in the decade preceding the Great War, with the "Minne" class ships-Minnewaska, Minnetonka, Minneapolis and Minnehaha. No ships, we are safe in saying, ever had a more devoted following than these.
American Shipping, May 1923.
The old 'Minnie' ships established great reputation among the travelling public before the war, and were highly esteemed for their comfort and steadiness; but when hostilities commenced they were turned from their peaceful avocations, and ended their careers on active service. On August 4th next, the ninth anniversary of the beginning of the Great War, this vessel—the first of the new 'Minnie' fleet—will resume the service that was familiarly known as the 'Comfort Route,' and surely no more fitting date could have been chosen.
Hampshire Advertiser, 9 June 1923
If not departing, as initially anticipated on the ninth anniversary of the start of the First World War, Minnewaska's maiden voyage, instead, commenced on 1 September, as it so happens, would be the start of the Second. One hundred years ago, the first of the greatest pair of combination cargo-passenger liners ever built entered service. For IMM, 1923 was a high water mark during a inter-war period that had few of them, with White Star's Doric introduced, Red Star's Belgenland finally completed as a luxury liner and Minnewaska and Minnetonka which would prove to be the largest ships laid down and commissioned by IMM after the War. Their careers would be short but summon up the Atlantic Ferry both during its Roaring Twenties heyday and its Depression depths.
New York and London, then the two greatest cities in the world, and its two greatest ports, defined The North Atlantic Ferry, the most intense, frequent and competitive of all ocean highways. Yet, whilst one could step off the gangway of a liner along a North River pier and be in Times Square in about ten minutes by taxi, circumstance had conspired to put London, despite its standing as a port, hours distant by train from Liverpool, Southampton or Plymouth, always the principal landing points for liners. So it was from the beginning one of the chief selling points of Atlantic Transport Line to sail directly into the British Capital and provide it with its first sustained and first class direct North Atlantic service. That American Transport were an American company operating British ships forged links of communication and commerce into "Hands Across the Sea" friendship and fidelity, connecting the two greatest English speaking cities.
Direct New York-London Service According to Atlantic Transport Line practice, the itinerary of the new ships will be the same as that of the old, namely, New York-London, London-New York direct, without stops at intermediate ports of call. This eliminates the delays incident to entering ports en route to pick up or leave passengers. The ships will sail from Pier 58, near the foot of 16th Street, New York City, on their eastward voyages, and from the new King George V docks, directly at the door of the world's metropolis when westbound. Travelers by these ships may drive in a few minutes direct from hotel to pier in either New York or London without worry about baggage transfers. Throughout the entire journey from hotel in New York to that in London, or the reverse, one need never leave the protection of an individual conveyance, covered pier or sheltered decks.
ATL brochure.
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| An early c. 1923 leaflet for Minnewaska's maiden season showing the special coach and car transport provided from King King George V Dock to central London. Credit: eBay auction photo |
Before the war, ATL ships used Tilbury as their London terminus, but it, too, was really not in the metropolis but another, but rather shorter, railway journey away from the quayside to Fenchurch Street Station. Now with Minnewaska and Minnetonka, ATL would land travellers right in the heart of London's dockland and use the recently opened (1921) King George V Dock, the last of the Royal Docks to be completed. This had its own large graving dock and ship repair facility operated by Harland & Wolff. Now it would have its own direct link with the Port Of New York. The West End of London was but a taxi ride away and ATL went one step further:
A new feature in shipping service will be introduced by the Atlantic Transport Line when their new Minnewaska, 21,400 tones, the largest steamer using the Port of London, enters their direct servuce to New York on September 1 next. This will be a regular saloon motor service to convey passengers from the King George V Dock to destinations within a four-mile radius of Charing Cross, and to places outside that area by special arrangement.
Western Mail 14 July 1923
The voyage direct from New York to London is one of interesting views and impressions. The traveler, knowing there are to be no transfers, trips by tender or rail trips after landing to vex him on his journey to his destination, is just in the right mood for sight-seeing. For one entire day the ship skirts the historic southern coast of England. The American bound direct to London passes within sight of such storied headlands as The Lizard, Start Point, Portland Bill and Beachy Head. Off Dungeness the steamer halts to take on a Trinity House pilot. The town of Folkestone is passed within view. Next comes Dover and its cliffs, the famous South Foreland, Goodwin Sands, marked by many lightships, the town and pier of Deal, the North Foreland (Isle of Thanet), the Nore Lightship, in waters intimately associated with brave tales of earlier naval days, and finally Gravesend, and the docks lying below the Metropolitan area of London.. King George V docks, where the ship enters her berth, are but half an hour's motor drive from the hotel section. Arrangements can be made by passengers in advance for private motor conveyances to meet them at the ship or they may reserve seats in comfortable saloon motors carrying a limited number of passengers each, in which the trip to central London may be made quickly and at a very moderate charge.
ATL brochure.
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| Log abstract from a Minnewaska eastbound crossing in June 1929. |
"The Comfort Route" and the "Minnies" that maintained it quickly developed an enviable reputation for solid, sensible convenience in what was at the time, an exclusively all-First Class passenger experience. This was not some diluted "cabin class" or dowdy freighter accommodation but a true First Class which was further enhanced in Minnewaska and Minnetonka. The fares charged were the same as for First Class in the Adriatic-class. The service, too, was top-notch and most of the staff were veterans of the pre-war ships. An orchestra was carried. Understated, convivial and comfortable as a London club, the eight-day passage broke no records but bad sailors appeciated every minute on what were rated as the steadiest ships on the North Atlantic.
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| Typical Farewell Dinner menu, Minnewaska, 15 June 1929. |
On ships of the "Minne" type, highest class service is always available. Stewards and heads of departments with years of Atlantic Transport Line experience minister to the wants of passengers like trusted servants in home or club. Most careful attention is given to the cooking and serving of meals. Only the choicest supplies are carried. With high-class refrigerating equipment, it is possible to keep perishable foods fresh from shore to shore. Cooks and their assistants are experienced, carefully trained Atlantic Transport Line men, who know the tastes of the line's patrons, and create meals that are as distinctive as the ships themselves. Small tables predominate in the dining saloon, which is a bright, cheerful apartment, and as the passenger list never exceeds the seating capacity of the room, it is always possible to make seating arrangements satisfactory to individuals, couples, families or parties.
ATL brochure.
The newest Minnies had it all, it seemed… except there were not sufficient of them to maintain the essential weekly service. Indeed, Minnewaska would be alone on the route for 1923 and her passenger carryings reflected a unique service that was simply not frequent enough to attract a following initially. Moreover, the turnarounds in New York and London had to be the absolute minimum just to keep to the timetable which, as it proved, impacted cargo carrying. But all that came later… it's late summer 1923 and The Comfort Route is about to be revived, the Minnies are back and The Capital of the British Empire is soon to enjoy its finest ocean link with New York, Capital of the Roaring Twenties and Jazz Age.
1923
Captain Thomas F. "Giggles" Gates got his nickname from his cheery, infectious laugh. Equally famed was his powerful voice. He never used a megaphone when docking his ship, and many a sailor used to say no ship needed a foghorn so long as "Tommy" Gates was on the bridge. Sociable, he was known to many & many a passenger as a pipe-smoking, teetotaling skipper who danced two hours every night of clear weather. During the War he saved the lives of 1,800 troops and seamen by beaching the original Minnewaska on the Island of Crete after she had struck a mine in Mudro Bay. For that her master was decorated with the order of Commander of the British Empire by King George himself.
Time, 26 November 1934
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| Capt. Thomas F. Gates. Credit: Shipbuilding & Shipping Record. |
On 2 August 1923 Capt. Thomas F. Gates (1862-1937), "the senior shipmaster in the Atlantic trade," was appointed master of Minnewaska. Joining ATL in 1883 as Third Officer of Missouri, Gates took part the following year in the epic rescue at sea of the 735 emigrants aboard the sinking Danmark in the middle of the Atlantic. He was captain of the old Minnewaska when she was sunk by a mine in Suva Bay in 1916. Other appointments announced on the 24th included Dr. E. Seton-Pattison as Surgeon and Mr. H. Bowden Smith as Purser, Alex. Gentle as Chief Engineer; A.V. Kitcher, Assistant Purser, and Charles Bennett, Chief Steward.
The Atlantic Transport Company had a large party of guests on the Minnewaska for her trial trip from Belfast during the week-end, and on Sunday they found she rode Atlantic swell with a motion scarcely perceptible.
Shields Daily Gazette, 28 August 1923
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| Credit: Shipbuilding & Shipping Record, 30 August 1923. |
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| Credit: Shipbuilding & Shipping Record, 30 August 1923. |
Minnewaska left Belfast the morning of 25 August 1923 for her trials in Belfast Lough. The owners' representatives and guests during the trials included the following: Sir Arthur Clarke, Mr. C. F. Torrey. Colonel H. Concanon, OBE,. Mr. W. R. Roberts, Mr. Eric Torrey. Mr. J. F. Horncastle, Mr. C. Hipwood, Mr. R. J. A. Shelley, Mr. I. Crighton, Mr. B. P. Fielden, Captain Bickford, Mr. E. Pearce, Sir Samuel Kelly, CBE, Mr. C. Payne, CBE, Mr. F. E. Rebbeck. as well as many representatives of the Press.
Following the trials, Minnewaska proceeded to London where she docked at King George V Dock, London, on the afternoon of the 27th. On her delivery voyage, she achieved a top speed of 19.8 knots
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| The largest vessel to come into the London Docks to date, Minnewaska in the Thames, 27 August 1923. Credit: shipsnostalgia.com |
There arrived the Port of London last night the biggest liner that ever been berthed in King George Dock. Her name is Minnewaska and she is brand new from Messrs Harland and Wolff’s shipyards at Belfast. Her owners are the Atlantic Transport Company, and on Saturday she will make her maiden voyage from London to New York. This direct service between the two great cities is not new. The Atlantic Transport Company ran it before the war and a Minnewaska was one of their fleet. But that ship and all her sisters in the Minne family were lost in the war. Now the service is to be resuscitated, and Minnewaska (the word means ’'clear water') is the first ship of the new fleet. She came into the Thames yesterday dressed all over with flags, for a festive celebration of victory of peace. Minnewaska is a luxury ship, but in a sense rather different from that used in reference to some of the larger and swifter Atlantic greyhounds. She provides for first class passengers only 369 of them, each paying rates varying front the minimum of £40/15/0 for a berth in a four-berth cabin, to £212 for the use of a private suite.
Shields Daily Gazette, 28 August 1923
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| With 10 ft. to spare on either side, Minnewaska passes through the locks to King George V Dock. Credit: fineartstorehouse.com |
Aboard s.s. Minnewaska, Monday Evening. With a number of perky, snorting tugboats in close attendance, the new Atlantic Transport liner Minnewaska, reputed to be the largest ship ever docked in London, slid this evening unobtrusively to her berth in the King George V Dock after a successful trial trip from Belfast.
Pall Mall Gazette, 29 August 1923
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| Credit: Daily Mirror 1 September 1923. |
LONDON'S PRIDE. LARGEST THAMES LINER SAILS FOR NEW YORK. Shipping history was made yesterday on the Thames when London's largest Atlantic liner, the Minnewaska. sailed from George V Dock, Tilbury, for New York.
Never before has a vessel of 21,000 tons left the Thames wharves, while the Minnewaska is the first liner to sail from the Port of London direct to the American port since the war.
She had a full complement of passengers, 95 per cent. of whom were American businesss men, representing every State in the Union, returning from 'doing Europe.' There was no formal send-off, but the sirens and other river craft sounded a note of salutation as the vessel was towed down the Thames.
Weekly Dispatch, 2 September 1923
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| Minnewaska's maiden arrival at New York. Credit: Pomona Progress, 20 September 1923. |
Minnewaska arrived at New York on 9 September 1923, docking at 5:00 p.m. and landing 238 passengers. On the 13th the ship hosted 1,500 steamship agents, freight shippers and other business men hosted by P.A.S. Franklin, R.H. Farkey, traffic manager; A.C. Fetterolf, freight manager and F.W. Ridgway, general manager. "Luncheon was served in the dining saloon, the beauty of which elicited much praise," (Gazette).
An interesting sidelight on the loyalty of employees to the old and popular Atlantic Transport Line is afforded by the arrival at New York yesterday, of the new 21,400-ton Minnewaska, of that line, with 60 percent of her crew who were on the original Minnewaska, which was destroyed by a mine in the great war.
Of the percentage of the officers were taken separately, it would be more than 80. From Capt. Thomas F. Gates, every one of the old-timers is proud of the distinction that comes from serving in the first successor of the famous old "Minne" boats. As soon as they heard that a new Minnewaska was to be built to head a new class, to replace the four "Minne" boats lost in the war, they lost no time in filling applications for jobs on the new ships.
Many of these old employees have been employed all their days at sea under Capt. Gates in Atlantic Transport duty. Purser H. Bowden Smith has been with him 14 years. Chief Steward Charles Bennett has been with the Atlantic Transport Line since boyhood, and many years with Capt. Gates, while the ship's surgeon, Dr. E. Seton Pattison, has been on the Atlantic Transport Line since 1907. Chief Engineer A. Gentil comes from the Mississippi, one of the Atlantic Line freighters.
Old cooks are back on the job of getting up the same kind of menus that made the old Minne boats famous, and they declare it was of the high spots of their existence when she ship's passengers-- she carries only first class-- sat down to their first meal on her initial voyage, after leaving London for New York on Sept. 1.
Many of the room stewards knew prominent Atlantic Transport travellers by name before the war, and these veterans were delighted to find several of their former passengers on board the Minnewaska for her first trip
The Boston Globe, 12 September 1923.
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| Advertisement for the maiden eastbound crossing of Minnewaska from New York on 15 September 1923. Credit: Courier Journal, 4 September 1923. |
On her maiden eastbound crossing, from New York on 16 September 1923, Minnewaska had only 16 passengers and her London-bound sailings the remainder of her inaugural season were equally lightly patronised: 13 October (15 passengers), 10 November (13), 8 December (13), doubtless owing to being late in season and only a monthly frequency with a single ship.
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| Minnewaska at London. Credit: Fox photo. |
The new steamship Minnewaska, of Atlantic Transport Line, is carrying the pick of the four footed passengers between New York and London. Specially designed for transportation of valuable live stock of all kinds the Minneswaska's great width of eighty feet of equipment of bilge feet insure steadiness in the worst of weather while her live stock comciousness ventilation and extreme height of deck.
Altoona Tribune, 26 October 1923
For a line that carried more celebrity horses than "VIP" passengers, the new Minnewaska "made the papers" on her 9 October 1923 arrival at New York when Stefan the Great, "the famous stallion recently purchased in England by Joseph E. Widener, the Philadelphia sportsman," completed his crossing "in splendid condition, having stood the journey well." The stallion was on his way to a Kentucky stud farm and his last five yearlings fetched $6,000 each. Minnewaska had another ten thoroughbred horses aboard in additional to 103 human and less newsworthy passengers.
It was announced on 10 October 1923 that Minnewaska would, on her homeward crossing beginning from New York on the 13th, call at Halifax and depart there on the 15th direct for London. Before the war, Halifax had been regularly service by ATL and this would be the first passenger sailing from the port.
Minnewaska's second departure from New York, on 13 October 1923, was marred when she collided with the Dutch steamer Luna (inbound from Curacao) anchored off the Ambrose Lightship, but was able to continue on her way and damage to Luna was confined to several dented plates and stanchions. The ATL ship had aboard 54 polo ponies of the British Army, Indian Tiger and Hurlingham polo teams which had been touring the United States but all of 13 passengers with another 7 embarking at Halifax.
Every person who was privileged to board the new Atlantic Transport liner Minnewaska, Captain T. F. Gates, OBE, as she lay berthed on the south side of Pier 2, North Terminals, yesterday, acclaimed her one of the finest examples of modern shipbuilding and without doubt the most modern freighter in every detail to ever visit this port. The Minnewaska arrived here from New York early yesterday morning to complete loading cargo.
The Evening Mail, 16 October 1923.
With the "advent of the steamer marks an era in the trade of the city, but it also marks development of a foreign trade of Nova Scotia. The steamer is the largest and fastest trans-Atlantic liner that has yet been placed at disposal of shippers to Great Britain from this country," Minnewaska's arrival at Halifax the morning of 15 October 1923 was afforded considerable interest, the ship hosting a lunch aboard for officials and trade officials. The real reason for the call was to load 25,000 barrels of apples. Minnewaska, which sailed on the 16th, arrived at London in record time on the 24th.
It was reported on 13 October 1923 that the IMM had made an offer to the U.S. Shipping Board for the liners President Roosevelt and President Harding which planned to put the two ships on the London service with the new Minnewaska and Minnetonka.
Shipbuilding and Shipping Record of 22 November 1923 reported that the launching of Minnetonka would now not take place until January.
IMM announced that Minnewaska would make another departure from Halifax, en route from New York to London, on 10 December 1923 to cater to the demand for Christmas crossings that season, but in the event, she embarked but one passenger there and arrived Lonon on the 18th.
When Minnewaska docked at New York on 3 December 1923, her officers and passengers (13 in all!) recounted to reporters a thrilling mid-sea rendevous with the White Star Line's Baltic and an emergency operation that saved the life of eight-year-old Eleanore Fairchild on Thanksgiving Day. The dramatic episode was detailed in the IMM's magazine The Ocean Ferry:
The ss. Baltic turns back in mid-ocean and sends surgeon for consultation in a critical case on board the Minnewaska, some 70 miles away. On November 29, when in latitude 46° 25' north, longitude 41° 56' west, Captain John Roberts, in the White Star liner Baltic, bound from Liverpool for New York, received the following radio message from Captain Thomas F. Gates, in the Atlantic Transport liner Minnewaska, also bound west: Captain Baltic. Serious operation necessary save a child's life; intestinal obstruction. My doctor urgently requires another opinion. My position at 8.40 Greenwich mean time latitude 46° 25′ north, longitude 41° 56' west. Gates." In a few minutes Captain Gates received a reply from Captain Roberts, stating that the Baltic's doctor might offer helpful suggestions if symptoms were sent. The message concluded, I am 70 miles west of you.'
In a short time a message outlining the symptoms in the case was handed Captain Roberts, followed by another message from Captain Gates stating that he was steering a certain course to close on your track,' and suggesting that the Baltic slow down until the Minnewaska could come up. This was followed quickly by another message: 'Imperative that assistance be rendered at once. Suggest that you turn around and meet me.' this Captain Roberts replied: Turning around; setting course; full speed. The course was given. At 9.50 Greenwich time, or one hour and ten minutes after the Baltic's commander had received the call for help, an entry was made in the Baltic's log: Sighted Minnewaska.' Shortly after ten o'clock this entry followed: Boat from Minnewaska alongside Baltic, which embarked Dr. W. Graeme Robertson, Baltic's surgeon, and proceeded immediately back to Minnewaska, arriving 10.10 a.m. Rough sea. As Dr. Robertson proceeded below, to meet Dr. E. Seton Pattison of the Minnewaska, the two ships resumed their course for New York, steaming side by side, at some little distance from one another.
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| Baltic's lifeboat en route to Minnewaska. Credit: Press & Sun Bulletin, 8 December 1923. |
Dr. Robertson was conducted to one of the first class staterooms. Here, grievously ill, lay a little girl of eight years, the daughter of Professor and Mrs. H. P. Fairchild of New York. She had been very ill since leaving London, and Dr. Pattison had hardly left her bedside in the hours preceding the request to the Baltic for a consultation with Dr. Robertson. There had been no improvement in his patient. In fact, after Dr. Robertson arrived at her bedside, a message was sent by Captain Gates to the Baltic stating that the patient was very low. This was in response to a sympathetic inquiry from P. A. S. Franklin, president of the International Mercantile Marine Co., who was a passenger on the Baltic. For more than two hours the two doctors applied their skill jointly to the problem of saving the child's life. Agreeing first that they would try other measures before deciding to operate, they soon hit upon a treatment in which ice packs were employed. This aided in alleviating the suffering of the patient, who shortly began to show slight improvement. The hours of intense anxiety through which the child's parents had passed were nearly over. Hope came again.
In something less than three hours after Dr. Robertson had boarded the Minnewaska the two ships were again slowed down, and a boat from the Minnewaska took Dr. Robertson back to the Baltic. Then both ships shaped a course once more westward. An exchange of radio messages was kept up while this was going on. One addressed by Captain Gates to Captain Roberts read: Very many thanks, in which Professor and Mrs. Fairchild join me. Sorry to have detained you, but you have done a lot of good. Best of luck. Gates.' This was followed by one from the Baltic reading, Mr. Franklin sends best of wishes. Take good care of the boat's crew. Best regards. Roberts." Roberts.' Next morning the following message went from the Baltic to the Minnewaska: Captain, Minnewaska. How is patient this morning? Congratulate you on manner in which everything was handled yesterday. Franklin.' To this Captain Gates sent the following reply: Franklin, Baltic. Thanks message. Professor and Mrs. Fairchild cannot adequately express their appreciation of our efforts, particularly those of the commander and surgeon of the Baltic, which had such good results. The child is now quite chirpy, and a great relief this is to the parents.' This was followed by a final message from Professor Fairchild to the master of the Baltic, which ran: Please accept the profound gratitude of Mrs. Fairchild and myself to you and to Dr. Robertson for your wonderful act yesterday, and also for the sympathy from Mr. Franklin.
This ended the radio correspondence, except for messages between the two surgeons regarding the progress of the case, which were exchanged until the two ships reached quarantine at New York three days later. On landing at New York the little patient was on the sure road to recovery, and smiled fondly at Dr. Pattison as she was taken down the gangway on a stretcher, to be transported to her hone. This happy ending of the incident was followed by an exchange of letters between the father of the child and Mr. Franklin.
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| Credit: Daily News, 6 December 1923. |
The above account has been styled an Service." The turning back of the Baltic and the service of Dr. Robertson of the Baltic and of Dr. E. S. Pattison of the Minnewaska is a gallant deed well done.
The ships were 70 miles apart. The sea was rough. The master of the Baltic, like all sea captains, was anxious to make port as early as possible. Yet without consulting any other authority than his own heart, and his sympathy for the suffering child, Captain Roberts turned the Baltic back to meet the Minnewaska. He knew the act would make him a day late in docking. He knew the expense of delay and the risk of putting out a boat in a rough sea. These considerations weighed as nothing in his desire to respond to an appeal originating in the anxiety of a distracted mother at the bedside of her child.
That the act perhaps saved the life of the child was of more importance to Captain Roberts than the applause of passengers or the approval of the public. He had expressed again the humanity of seamen, and the high ideals of White Star Line masters.
As to Dr. Robertson of the Baltic, he was under no engagement with the company to risk his life by making a professional visit at sea under such conditions. But he climbed down the side of his ship into a bobbing lifeboat, and up the side of the Minnewaska, quite as coolly as he would step in and out of a cab.
It was all done simply, without heroics; and the fact that the transfer was witnessed by the president of the International Mercantile Marine Company had nothing whatever to do with the act itself, or the manner of its execution.
The Ocean Ferry January 1924
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| Credit: Daily News, 5 December 1923. |
In 1923, Minnewaska completed four westbound crossings carrying 380 passengers and four eastbound crossings carrying 64 passengers or a total of 444.
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| Minnetonka at New York by Charles Dixon. |
1924
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| The largest vessel to be launched in a British shipyard in 1924: Minnetonka on the ways, 10 January. Credit: Harland & Wolff Collection, National Museums NI |
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| Another view of Minnetonka on the ways on launching day. Credit: Harland & Wolff Collection, National Museums NI |
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| Like her sister, Minnetonka shows Belfast on her stern as her port of registry. Credit: Harland & Wolff Collection, National Museums NI |
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| The last ship launched at Harland & Wolff's North Yard until 1927, Minnetonka takes the water. Credit: Harland & Wolff Collection, National Museums NI |
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| Minnetonka went down the ways even more complete than her sister with her kingposts and derricks rigged and lifeboats shipped. Credit: Harland & Wolff Collection, National Museums NI. |
Amid the gloom of a badly depressed shipbuilding industry, Harland & Wolff made little of the launch, on 10 January 1924, of the largest ship to be sent down the ways of any British yard that year. Minnetonka which entered the water at 1:15 p.m. "without any ceremony or fuss," (Belfast Telegraph). She joined RSMP's Lochmonar, Glen Line's Glenshield and the British Mexican Petroleum Co.'s Invergarry at the fitting out wharves and White Star's Homeric was nearby near the end of her conversion work to oil-burning and Olympic was undergoing her annual overhaul. Minnetonka would be the last ship built in Harland & Wolff's North Yard until February 1927 when two motor vessels for King Line were laid down.
No effort was made to keep Minnewaska in service that winter and she was laid up in London from 13 December 1923 until her 19 April 1924 sailing from King George V Dock to New York where she arrived on the 28th with 32 passengers. Departing eastbound on the 3 May, she had 63 aboard.
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| Credit: The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, 29 May 1924. |
From late April through July 1924, London enjoyed its finest ever trans-Atlantic service when obstructions in the Scheldt rendered it impossible for the Red Star Line's Belgenland and Lapland to call at their homeport and they were temporarily operated in conjunction with Minnewaska and Minnetonka. On 19 April the Nautical Gazette reported that for the upcoming tourist season, Minnewaska and Minnetonka would call at Cherbourg, "the first time that ships of this company have been scheduled for calls at a continental port, though it has been in business since 1892. The step was taken in response to an increased demand on this route." The call would be made eastbound on sailings from New York from 3 May-12 July and westbound from London 9 August-4 October and made on Sundays with arrivals at New York and London on Mondays.
It is gratifying to note the vitality of the large shipowning concerns like the Atlantic Transport Co. Ltd., as well as their faith in the future of British shipping, and it is to be hoped their enterprise building vessels of the type of the Minnetonka in difficult times like the present will have its reward in due course. Certainly the possession of the most modern tonnage will a valuable asset, not only meeting increasing competition, but in anticipating the developments that may confidently be looked for in a revival of trade.
Belfast News Letter 25 April 1924
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| Minnetonka leaves Belfast for her trials and delivery voyage, 24 April 1924. Credit: Harland & Wolff Collection, National Museums NI |
Minnetonka ran trials in Belfast Lough on 24 April 1924 with C.F. Torrey, Managing Director of ATL aboard. after which she was delivered. Unknown at the time, Atlantic Transport Line had commissioned their last new ship. She was commanded by Capt. Thomas F. Gates and other senior officers included H. Pierce (Chief Officer), N. Mills (First Officer), E. Eliot (Second Officer) and C. Bennett (Chief Steward).
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| Credit: The Sphere, 3 May 1924. |
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| Artwork by G.H. Davies accompanied A.C. Hardy's article on the Port of London in The Graphic, 25 April 1924. |
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| Credit: The Graphic, 25 April 1924. |
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| Minnetonka arriving in Plymouth Sound from Belfast, en route to London. Credit: Western Morning News, 28 April 1924. |
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| Credit: Belfast Telegraph, 28 April 1924. |
Sailing at once for London, via Plymouth, Minnetonka anchored in Plymouth Sound on the evening of 24 April 1924 and, after embarking a rather formidable passenger list of 140 invited guests representing a true heyday for British shipbuilding, marine engineering and shipping, including Lord Devonport, Chairman of the Port of London Authority, Sir A. Clarke, Deputy Master of Trinity House, the Lord Mayors of Belfast and Plymouth, sailed the following day after the Mayor of Plymouth, Mr. Solomon Stephens, and Sir Arthur Shirley Benn, MP, were entertained to luncheon aboard. Deteriorating weather made it difficult to get her passengers aboard by tender and she was an hour late in sailing. "Her steadiness during the gale of the previous night was the subject of general remark," (Northampton Chronicle and Echo) and she arrived on schedule the morning of the 28th at King George V Dock, London, passing through the entrance lick with 10 feet to space on each side.
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| Credit: Shipbuilding & Shipping Record. |
Pilot Todhunter, of Trinity House, brought this magnificent liner up the Thames, and Captain Gates and his officers were immensely pleased with the vessel's trial trip front Plymouth to the Thames. The rough weather on Sunday in the Channel prevented full-speed at the start, but she did an average of 17 knots, all the engines working perfectly, and, although not pushed to their utmost, doing well on 95 revolutions. An interested crowd cheered her successful arrival in the dock, realising that the arrival of this very handsome Atlantic liner was the forerunner of many others which would take advantage of the Port of London Authority scheme for taking the port a centre for the largest ocean giant... A party of guests and Press representatives had every opportunity of inspecting this fine vessel from bridge to keel.
Liverpool Journal of Commerce, 29 April 1924
Sir William Turner, the Lord Mayor of Belfast, was happy mood yesterday morning when stepped down the stairway with Viscount Davenport at the side of King George V Dock from the Minnetonka. He had good reason, for the boat had ridden through the storm with hardly a shake, certainly not a single pitch, and only slight occasional roll. There was very little seasickness, and the praise the craft was on everyone’s lips. 'It’s Harland and Wolff built, and that’s all you need say,' was the general comment of the critics, but Sir William felt most pleased that the boat had been built without any trade dispute delaying it. 'Belfast,' as he told some friends, 'has every right to be proud of this latest specimen of her skill.'
Northern Whig, 29 April 1924
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| Power and Presence: Minnetonka alongside King George V Dock prior to sailing on her maiden voyage to New York on 3 May 1924. Credit: Mirrorpix. |
When Minnetonka left London on 3 May 1924 she numbered among her 40 passengers, P.A.S. Franklin, his wife and daughter. The ship arrived at New York on the 13th and later hosted a tour followed by dinner for invited guests among the business and travel industry. Sailing homeward on the 17th, Col. Edward M. House, friend and confidant of the late President Woodrow Wilson was aboard on the first of a number of trips he and his wife would make aboard the ATL sisters and altogether she had 99 passengers.
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| Minnewaska stole some of the limelight from her sister's maiden voyage, figuring in a advertising campaign for imported British war surplus wool blankets sold by New York's Wanamaker's Department Store. Credit: The Brooklyn Eagle, 6 May 1924. |
Minnewaska had a new commander in May when Capt. Frank H. Claret, OBE, replaced Capt. Gates. Claret's wartime exploits were recounted upon his retirement in 1934:
Once soon after the U.S. entered the War, Skipper Claret was taking the Minnehaha to Britain with a heavy cargo of TNT. Several days out of New York he received a radiogram from the U.S. Navy Department to the effect that a bomb hidden aboard his ship was timed to explode that very noon. Captain Claret ordered the crew to make a search drill, did not tell them why. When they failed to find anything, he stood anxiously on the bridge, waited watch in hand. Noon came & went. Nothing happened. Claret had about decided that it was a false alarm when at 12:30 the forward deck suddenly erupted. By some miracle the bomb had been planted on top of a small amount of ordinary freight, had failed to set off the tons of TNT aboard. Captain Claret and the Minnehaha sailed safely on.
But not for long. One day in September 1917 Captain Claret was standing on the bridge of the Minnehaha when a German submarine drilled her with a torpedo off the Head of Kinsale. Within two minutes the ship literally sank beneath Claret's feet and left him kicking in the water. Forty-three lives were lost. Captain Claret and more than 100 others floated more than an hour before a British patrol boat sighted them. The skipper of the patrol boat recognized the Minnehaha's captain in the water, boomed out: "I say, is that you, Claret?" "Aye, it's me!" Claret boomed back. Pneumonia nearly killed him after that.
Time, 26 November 1934
The American equestrian team, comprising ten officers of the U.S. Army along with 14 cavalry horses and 11 enlisted Army personnel to care for them, and trap-shooting teams to compete in the 1924 Olympic Games in London sailed in Minnewaska on 31 May 1924, Vincent Richards, of the U.S. tennis team, and his wife, were also among the 208 aboard. They arrived in London on 9 June.
For the first time since before the War, an Atlantic Transport Line ship docked at New York on a Sunday having left London on Saturday, when Minnewaska docked at Pier 58 North River on the afternoon of 22 June with 64 passengers. Minnewaska followed the extreme southern track, steaming 3,313 miles from miles from her point of departure at Dover, and averaging 17 knots an hour, although for ten hours she was in fog east of Nantucket.
J.P. Morgan, Jr. chose Minnewaska for his crossing to England on 26 July 1924 en route to the Allied Reparations Conference in London but in an unofficial capacity as part of his holiday. Travelling with Mrs. Morgan, he was accompanied by special police and detectives on embarkation.
It was announced on 9 July 1924 that special arrangements had been made with the British Admiralty to allow passengers aboard Minnetonka to view the Royal Navy Review at Spithead by King George V and Queen Mary. The ship's departure from London was changed by 24 hours early 7:30 p.m. on the 25th and she would proceed to Spithead and anchor in the assembled fleet as well as participate in the illumination of the fleet before sailing for New York at 11:00 p.m. where she docked on 3 August with 99 passengers.
The Atlantic Transport liner Minnetonka, leaving London a day earlier than usual, arrived at Spithead on Saturday morning, and from her decks, her American passengers and others who had booked to Southampton only were able to see the whole of the review. The Minnetonka cruised through the lines of the fleet and then took up her allotted anchorage, and and her passengers were able to see the Royal visit in the afternoon. After, the illuminations at night, the Southampton passengers were disembarked by tender, and the liner proceeded on her way to New York.
Liverpool Journal of Commerce, 28 July 1924
Perhaps not seeing the spectacle or as impressed by it as others, were the 44 polo ponies of the English polo team in Minnewaska's horse stalls, led by Lt. Col. T.P. Melville, bound for matches at Meadow Brook beginning 6 September. The players themselves would sail from London on 9 August in Minnewaska. In all, 54 polo ponies came over, including eight belonging to the Prince of Wales and all arrived in fine condition on 3 August.
Sailing in Minnewaska from New York on 13 December 1924, ultimately destined for South Africa to establish a new observatory there, Dr. Frank Schlesigner, Director of Yale Observatory, had with him the 11-ton telescope, the fourth largest in the world.
With another very valuable consignment of 25 thoroughbred horses, mostly from the Newmarket sales early that month, Minnetonka docked at New York on 23 December 1924.
The IMM announced on 27 December 1924 that for the coming year, Minnewaska and Minnetonka would maintain their eastbound calls at Cherbourg but additionally call westbound at Boulogne from 11 April-18 July 1925.
In 1924, Minnewaska completed nine westbound crossings carrying 1,059 passengers and nine eastbound crossings carrying 921 passengers and Minnetonka completed eight westbound crossings carrying 946 passengers and eight eastbound crossings carrying 766 for a total of 3,692 passengers between them.
1925
With Minnetonka now in service, ATL ran a full year-round fortnightly service. Plans to follow up with another pair of new ships were quietly shelved, however. But the year did see another "Minne" added to the fleet when Minnekahda, which had been ordered in April 1913 and launched on 1917 and completed as troopship. After the war, she was fitted out as an austerity third class class emigrant carrier and plied the Hamburg to New York trade for American Line. With the return of NDL and HAPAG, the service ended (and with it the last remnants of American Line) in January 1925 and Minnekahda finally entered ATL service with her sailing from London for New York on 24 March. Accommodating 750 Tourist Third Class, she upped ATL's sailings to a three a month and catered to the booming budget tourist trade and especially university students.
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| A dozen years after she was ordered, Minnekahda finally entered ATL passenger service as "The Students Ship" as a budget all Tourist Third Class liner in 1925. |
Thirty-six hours late, Minnewaska arrived at New York on 13 January 1925 with 41 passengers doubtless glad to get back on land. "Declaring they had encountered no such heavy storms as on their last trip since the hurricane of 1898, captains of the Royal Mail liner Orca and the Atlantic Transport liner Minnewaska brought their ships to port yesterday each more than a day late. Both vessels were battered, but none reported injuries." Daily News, 14 January 1925
Frank Moran, of the famous tugboat company, and his family nearly missed the boat, departing New York in Minnetonka on 31 January 1925. Also among the 97 passengers was the renown German conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler.
A heavy winter fog enveloped New York Harbor the morning of 23 February and kept five incoming liners and their 2,000 passengers cooling their heels most of the day aboard Minnetonka, Pastores, Cameronia, Fort Victoria and Cedric while rum runners had a field day.
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| The U.S. Army Polo Team ready to embark on Minnetonka in March 1925. Credit: Daily News 28 March 1925. |
Sailing from New York on 28 March 1925 aboard Minnetonka, the U.S. Army's Polo Team landed at London on 7 April, together with 25 ponies, and "entrained immediately for Aldershot where they will train." It was reported that the ponies' "voyage across the Atlantic was smooth and uneventful, but they gave some little trouble to their grooms before accepting the small English railway cars. One pony called Spark resisted the efforts of ten men who attempted to push him aboard one of the small cars, but finally gave in and started his trip to the British military center along with the rest of the mounts." (Buffalo News, 7 April 1925). The Sun and the Erie County Independent of 16 April, meanwhile, asked President Coolidge what was to be gained in terms of economy or military efficiency by sending six army officers, 25 ponies and 13 grooms to England.
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| Credit: Daily News, 10 May 1925 |
The 9th of May 1925 saw the beginnings of the big summer rush to Britain and the Continent with Canopic, Duilio and Minnetonka setting sail, the ATL liner numbering among her 178 passengers a party of Manhattanville College graduates, one of who announced her engagement just before the boat sailed.
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| Credit: Sunday News, 10 May 1925. |
Minnewaska found herself making news in another high seas medical emergency when the Swedish steamer Halmia arrived at Philadelphia on 8 May 1925. Her captain recounted that during a gale on 28 April a seaman was thrown against a bulkhead and rendered unconscious with a fractured skull. With no doctor aboard, the Swedish captain sent out an SOS for medical advice which was answered by Minnewaska, 300 miles distant, whose surgeon gave detailed instructions on how to operate to relieve pressure on the injured man's brain. The operation was performed but the man died 24 hours without ever regaining conciousness and buried at sea.
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| Former confidant and advisor to the late President Wilson, Col. Edward House and his wife were frequent travellers aboard the Minnies and here seen aboard Minnewaska in May 1925. Credit: Daily News, 24 May 1925 |
Col. E.M. House and his wife were once again passengers aboard Minnewaska, sailing from New York on 23 May 1925, wiith a total of 167 aboard.
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| The return of the victorious U.S. Army Polo team and their mounts aboard Minnewaska in July 1925. Credit: Daily News, 14 July 1925. |
Minnewaska landed the U.S. Army polo team and their mounts back at New York on 14 July 1925 after a very successful tour in England which included two winning matches (8-4 and 5-4) against the British Army team, the first match being attended by the King.
On 27 July 1925 the Danish steamer Hadsund, from Trondheim, collided with Minnewaska, anchored above Gravesend as she was coming into London Docks, damaging Danish ship's starboard side and the liner's stem. Minnewaska was able to proceed to King George V Dock.
When Minnetonka left New York on 1 August 1925 for Cherbourg and London with every cabin booked and with 243 aboard.
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| Air Vice Marshal Sir G. Salmond was among those seeing off the British Schnieder Cup team aboard Minnewaska. Credit: Daily Mirror 28 September 1925. |
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| Credit: Daily Mirror, 26 September 1925. |
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| The British team on arrival at New York aboard Minnewaska, including E.J. Mitchell (left) Supermarine designer and now famous for designing the Spitfire. Credit: Daily News, 6 October 1925. |
The British team which is to try to win back the Schneider Cup left London to-day en route for United States. They are travelling in the Minnewaska, and down below in the hold are the wonderful seaplanes to which we are pinning our faith.
Sunday Post, 27 September 1925
Minneswaska arrived at New York on 5 October 1925 with 226 passengers including the British air racing team-- Capt. C.B. Wilson, Capt. H.C. Biard, H.P. Falland, F.H. Jones, Capt. H.S. Broad, W. Lind Jackson, Bert Hinkler-- and the designer E.J. Mitchell-- for the Schneider Cup international air races at Baltimore on the 24-29th. One of the planes carried in her hold was the Supermarine-Napier S4, the revolutionary monoplane and fastest British aeroplane, designed by Mitchell. Atlantic Transport Lines graciously shipped the four planes (two Gloster-Napier IIIs, a Gloster-Napier II and the Supermarine). Capt. Biard, who prior to sailing had set a world's seaplane speed record, the first for Britain, of 226.752 mph, slipped on a wet deck on the crossing over and injured his hand. The injury did not interfere with his participation in the ensuring Cup Race, but Britain lost to the Americans and the Supermarine S4 crashed and was wrecked, but Capt. Biard escaped further injury.
Fighting a heavy hindwind all the way up the North River from Quarantine, Belgenland made a hash of her docking at Pier 59 on 10 October 1925 with six tugs taking almost 45 minutes to get her alongside and preventing Minnewaska, at the adjacent pier, from sailing until the river was clear.
Varying her non human cargo a bit, Minnetonka had a dozen white mice, six mud fish and twelve horseshoe crabs aboard when she left New York on 24 October 1925. The mice were consigned to the London Radium Institute for research work and the crabs and fish bound for the London Zoo.
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| Credit: Daily Mirror, 17 November 1925. |
Defeated by the Americans in that year's Schneider Cup Race, Capt. H.S. Broad and Capt. H.C. Biard, who flew for England, and Capt. C.B. Wilson, captain of the team, returned to London on 16 November 1925 aboard Minnewaska.
Mrs. Jack London, widow of the novelist, sailed in Minnetonka on 21 November 1925.
On her last sailing of the year, Minnewaska experienced the worst of "WNA" (Winter North Atlantic), finally docking at New York on 30 November 1925, two days late, after receiving "a terrific buffeting." She came late enough in the evening, that the passengers disembarked the following morning. She came in with Homeric, Stockholm and Caledonia and all reported "exceptionally heavy seas, and exceptionally cold weather." (Belfast Telegraph).
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| Credit: Yonkers Herald, 15 December 1925 |
When Minnetonka came into New York for the last time that year, on 14 December 1925, no one cared for her 118 two-legged passengers as mucha s the French race horse Sir Galahad II, the famous five-year-old that had been recently purchased and en route to Paris, Kentucky, and insured for $170,000. It was reported that Sir Galahad "arrived in excellent healthy and was not seasick during the entire voyage," and for good reason, as his stall "had even more than the usual amount of padding to protect him." He had the company of 14 other race horses on the way across, including four Welsh and one Shetland ponies purchased by J.P. Morgan for "the younger members of the Morgan family and relatives." The owner of Sir Galahad II, A.B. Hancock, arrived the same day aboard Mauretania.
In 1925, Minnewaska completed 12 westbound crossings carrying 1,395 passengers and 12 eastbound crossings carrying 1,504 passengers and Minnetonka completed 12 westbound crossings carrying 1,683 passengers and 12 eastbound crossings carrying 1,618 passengers for a total of 6,150 passengers between them.
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| Charles Dixon was commissioned to depict one of "London's Largest Liners" off Boulogne which was added to their route in 1925. |
1926
Her animal passengers continued to attract press attention and when Minneswaka made her first New York arrival for 1926, she landed a 15-year-old stallion Politian, consigned to A.B. Hancock of Ellerslie Stud, Lexington, Kentucky, and an assortment of wild animals and birds from Africa including an eland from Abyssinia.
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| Credit: The True Democrat, 23 January 1926. |
As announced on 28 April 1926 with the departure of Minnetonka from London on 8 May, all ATL steamers for New York will accommodate trans-Channel passengers from London to Boulogne or Cherbourg with fares of £3 to Boulogne or £4 to Cherbourg or 30 s. by the all Tourist Third Cabin Minnekahda.
The General Strike in Britain in April 1926 caused a dip in passenger bookings and on 8 May it was reported that Minnewaska, Celtic and California had sailed from New York one one-third of their accommodation empty. The Daily News reported Minnewaska sailed with 135 passengers and 20 had cancelled passage at the last moment, adding "Before this ship left its dock it was feared trouble was brewing aboard when an officer compelled a group of firemen and oilers to go below decks. They had been hanging over the ship's edge discussing the strike. Some of them did not obey the officer's orders to go to quarters immediately and he had to repeat it in a more severe tone. It was denied that any trouble was imminent, but the men by their actions did not confirm that statement."
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| Credit: Daily News, 9 May 1926. |
On the other side, Minnetonka had to cancel her London sailing of 7 May 1926 and had been unable to unload her cargo brought over from New York. She arrived at New York on the 31st with 130 passengers.
Minnewaska had 136 passengers and, among her cargo, "the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer trackless train, consisting of a 'locomotive' and parlor car, which will make a year's tour of Great Britain and the continent for the exploitation of American films. The locomotive is lettered: 'Across the Atlantic-- Our Longest Hop-per S.S. Minnetonka from New York, May 8, 1926.'
The Epsom Derby winner of 1914, Durbar, arrived aboard Minnewaska from France at New York on 12 July 1926.
With what was called "the greatest shipment of polo ponies in sporting history," 75 in all, embarked in Minnewaska in London on 17 July 1926 for New York and estimated to be worth $250,000. The players would sail from England in Homeric on 4 August.
Minnewaska was among five liners (the others being Orca, Tuscania, Deutschland and Scythia) arriving at New York on 9 August 1926 after being thrashed by the 85-100 mph remains of a hurricane which had earlier slashed at Bermuda and Miami. She landed 198 passengers.
Epinard, the great French race horse owned by Pierre Wertheimer, was landed at New York on 8 September 1926 from Minnewska and, with another stallion and two brood mares, was loaded on a special car for the Dixiana Stud, Lexington Kentucky. She also brought in the best westbound list of the year: 267 passengers.
If it was not horses, it was stage coaches and on 1 November 1926 Minnewaska arrived at New York with the old coach, Commodore, immortalised by Charles Dickens in "Pickwick Papers" and recently found in the yard of an old inn in Devon, restored, and destined for exhibit at the New York Horse Show.
When P.A.S. Franklin sailed in Homeric on 4 November 1926 from New York "to attend a semi-annual excecutive conference" in London, among the matters to be discussed "will be the increase in the accommodation on the Atlantic Transport liners Minnetonka and Minnewaska to carry 600, instead of 250 passengers."
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| Credit: Gazette, 16 November 1926. |
A few early risers at King's Cross Station were provided with a thrill when an attempt was made to entrain the white elephant exhibited during 'the summer at the London Zoological Gardens. The aristocrat is going on tour in the United States with his black elephant companion. It was originally intended to send the elephants by train to the docks, where they were to be shipped on board the Minnetonka, sailing for New York.
The elephants left soon after 4 a.m., when it was still dark. The walk down to the station from the Zoo was accomplished without incident, but when confronted with the special elephant wagon both animals stoutly refused to enter. The white elephant has been accustomed to follow the black one, so, first all, an attempt was made to haul the letter into the truck with ropes and chains, but it resisted the united efforts of nine keepers and six other willing helpers.
During this struggle it broke a strong chain with a single kick of one of its huge hind legs, and made a great effort to bolt out of the station. While this was going on the white elephant was becoming more and morn uneasy, and actually got down the first two steps which lead to King's Cross Underground Station. It was then decided to give the black elephant a rest, and the white one was led forward to the wagon. This animal is not nearly as strong as the other, and after much pushing and pulling was induced to enter the truck. Hopes ran high that the black one would follow her white friend in, but there was no such luck and after an even fiercer struggle than before, the elephant won, and both started on a wet and dreary walk to the docks.
During the second struggle the black elephant succeeded in wrenching one of the wagon doors off the hinges, and actually raised the whole truck, with the white elephant inside, several inches off the rails, the total weight which she pushed with her head being over five tons. The elephants perversely seemed to enjoy the drenching rain on their way to Woolwich; they tramped docilely all the way to the quayside, and stood then in a big cargo shed. Soon after mid-day the Minnetonka's derricks bad rigged their heavy, gear. A broad canvas sling was roped round the middle of the darker brute, and with a diminutive Burmese sitting, goad in hand, astride his neck, he was led out towards the ship. But that elephant, in the expressive phrase of keepers, decided to be thoroughly 'mean.'
With a trumpet, and a flourish of trunk and tail, he turned in a series of grotesque bounds-- for his forelegs were chain-shackled-- and regained the sanctuary of the shed. The crowd flew for their lives.
A second time the elephant shambled forth. A second time he headed back, shrilling with rage as the steel hooked tapia brought brown blotches upon the broad, wrinkled forehead. The little wiry attendants clung on tenaciously, but they were carried along like so many flies.
Dr. Saw Po Min used all his soothing arts. The elephant, looking a rogue, was bound with a medley of guy-ropes and leading strings. And the third essay was lucky. The crane hooked the noose of the belt, the mahout sprang clear, and the donkey-engine roared.
For a moment the mountain of flesh triumphed in a struggle with steam. A truck and a tarpaulin-covered shanty were kicked spinning, and then, lunging and bellowing, the animal soared slowly up, and, rotating at the rope's end, was lowered into the specially prepared pea on the after deck.
The white elephant was less dangerous and impetuous, but he made a ticklish cargo. The first attempt he frustrated and stampeded his keepers.
But at last the goad and the sticks and the shouting drove him under the crane, and, like poor Ben, he went aloft.
The entire ship's company heaved a sigh of relief when, after nearly four hours' struggle, the two elephants, sacred and profane, pmfene, stood wrathful, but quiet in their strong corral.
Ringling's circus, with which the animals will go on tour in America, is stated to be spending over 5,000 in advertising.
Liverpool Echo, 6 November 1926
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| Unwilling passengers... Powa and his travelling company being coaxed aboard Minnetonka at London. Credit: eBay auction photos. |
Minnetonka docked at New York on 15 November 1926 with Powa, "a sacred white elephant" from Burma, who was accommpanied by his owner, Dr. Saw Durmay Po Min, "a Christian, a doctor, a lawyer, a preacher and a geologist," was to join a circus troupe and at two and half tons, not fully grown. On the crossing over, he was fed daily three bales of hay and "large quantities of potatoes and bread," and, of course, peanuts.
Dense fog paralysed New York Harbor for 25 hours 13-14 December 1926 and incoming ships could not be piloted into their berths and spent the night anchored awaiting better conditions. On the 14th, only Minnetonka was able to berth, leaving Berengaria, Aurania and Andania to cool their heels some more off Quarantine.
"With several hatchways crushed and iron ladders twisted by the heavy seas," Minnetonka, which left New York on 18 December 1926 with 83 passengers, arrived a day late at Cherbourg on the 27th owing to the weather across. The United Press reported "with many portholes smashed and several cabins showing the effects of storm-driven salt water which had sloshed through the broken glass," the battered vessel came in 20 hours behind schedule and it was said for several days her passengers were kept below decks. "The dining saloon was a scene of disorder, and the chine was swept in all direction and smashed to fragments." (Daily News, 28 December 1926).
In 1926, Minnewaska completed 11 westbound crossings carrying 1,276 passengers and 11 eastbound crossings carrying 1,156 passengers and Minnetonka completed 12 westbound crossings carrying 1,366 passengers and 11 eastbound crossings carrying 1,366 passengers for a total of 5,164 passengers between them. That was one thousand fewer than the previous year and attributed to the British General Strike.
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| ATL poster by Harry Hudson Rodmell (1896-1984). |
1927
Minnewaska's animal passenger list upon arrival at New York on 24 February 1927 comprised ten race horses, several monkeys, 26 racing greyhounds and a collection of birds in addition to 40 human passengers.
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| Nice photograph of Minnewaska sailing from New York 5 March 1927. Credit: Daily News, 6 March 1927. |
"A Record Shipment of British Blood for Dominion Breeders" was the lead when it was reported on 31 March 1927 that the largest single shipment of blood stock thoroughbreds, 40 in all, from England to Canada, had been dispatched aboard Minnewaska from London on the 26th. The horses were shipped by special train from Thame, Oxon, direct to King George V Dock, and their horsestalls were provided with peat moss bedding. Tragically, the train conveying the horses to Canada was wrecked in Northern Ontario on 19 April, killing Capt. William Leddington who was in charge of the horses and seven others and all but two of the horses perished when their cars overturned.
On the voyage over on Minnewaska, which docked at New York on 4 April 1927 were 83 passengers including Bee Palmer, "who claims to be the originator of the 'shimmy,' and in addition to the horses, one elephant, 100 monkeys, two kangaroos and an assortment of birds. Capt. Claret sadly related the death of M.M. Rodkinson, importer and exporter, who, when celebrating his 60th birthday by dancing on deck, suffered a fatal heart attack and was buried at sea.
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| The last "new" ship added to the Atlantic Transport Line passenger fleet was the 27-year-old Minnesota, formerly Red Star Line's Finland. Ironically, she was built the same year as the original Minnesota. Credit: Byron Collection, New York Public Library. |
In 1927, ATL finally achieved a four-ship weekly service with the addition of the 27-year-old Minnesota, formerly Finland of Red Star Line, in another IMM transfer. She joined Minnekahda on the Tourist Third Cabin service upon her 30 April sailing from London.
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| Credit: Brooklyn Daily Eagle, 27 June 1927. |
There was the tourist season and for the ATL sisters, also the polo season, rather conveniently occupying the same space in the calendar. The Army in India Polo Team advance party of players Lt.-Col. G. de la P. Beresford and Capt. J.P. Dening, ten British, two Indian officers and 18 Indian other ranks and 45 polo ponies sailed from London in Minnewaska on 18 June 1927 (arriving New York on 27th with 104 passengers) with the remainder of the team coming over in Minnetonka on her 2 July sailing, rriving on the 13th.
Among the 236 passengers who disembarked at New York in Minnetonka on 8 August 1927, were Mr. D. J. Owen, general manager, and Mr. Asa Binnes, chief mechanical engineer, of the Port of London Authority, off on an inspection visit of U.S. and Canadian ports.
For real solid comfort, the Atlantic Transport ships Minnewaska and Minnetonka must take a high—perhaps the very highest—place, while in addition many people find it both convenient and interesting to start their voyage from the London River, and others choose them as having the reputation for being the steadiest ships on the North Atlantic.
Ships That Take Americans Home, Frank C. Bowen
Daily News, 10 September 1927
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| Credit: Brooklyn Times Union, 3 October 1927. |
On 3 October 1927 it was reported that on her arrival at New York with 272 aboard that the purser's safe aboard Minnetonka had been broken into and £610 cash and "a quantity of valuable jewelry" were missing.
A mysterious robbery on the liner Minnetonka (21,998 tons), which arrived New York from London, is engaging the attention of some of the keenest detectives in New York. When the vessel was about to be docked and passengers had applied for their money and other valuables left with the purser it was found that the safe had been robbed. Over £600 in money was missing and jewellery, including a diamond necklace valued at about £5.000. had also disappeared. The money and jewels missing belonged to two Chicago women passengers. It is stated that the lock of the safe had not forced and that it was impossible for the thieves to have obtained possession of the keys during the voyage from London. Envelopes containing large amounts of money were left by the thieves, who are believed to belong to a clever gang.
Taunton Courier & Advertiser, 12 October 1927
And still more horses: on 31 October 1927 Minnetonka landed at New York the French team and their mounts who would compete for the International Military Trophy during the National Horse Show, 7-12 November, and 111 passengers.
Among the 85 coming down Minnetonka's gangway at New York on 28 November 1927 were "England's Perfect Children," Claudine and Claudette, five-year-old twin girls, and their sister, Angela, aged 6, who, accompanied by their father, a London stockbroker, and mother, were "proceeding to Hollywood with the idea of putting the children into films. Newspapers publish a photograph of the smiling, golden-haired youngsters, who are featured as 'England's perfect children," (Reuters).
In 1927, Minnewaska completed 11 westbound crossings carrying 1,438 passengers and 12 eastbound crossings carrying 1,369 passengers and Minnetonka completed 12 westbound crossings carrying 1,588 passengers and 12 eastbound crossings carrying 1,801 passengers for a total of 6,196 passengers between them. By comparison, Minnekahda and Minnesota carried 8,665 Tourist Third Cabin passengers.
1928
In one of the worst fogs in New York's Lower Bay in many years, four collisions occurred on 19 May 1928, including Veendam and Porto Rico, and the outbound Minnewaska and the United Fruit Co. La Maria in the Ambrose Channel and most seriously, the Clyde liner Mohawk and Jefferson. The damage to the ATL vessel was minor enough that she was able to proceed on her way with her 199 passengers.
The early summer rush to Europe saw both ships sail from New York with record lists: 304 aboard Minneswaska 16 June 1928 and 316 on Minnetonka on the 30th, the latter constituting the all-time largest list of First Class passengers carried by an ATL ship. And, of course, they had to get home and there were 301 disembarking from Minnewaska on 3 September and 297 from Minnetonka on the 17th.
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| Credit: Illustrated London News, 28 August 1928. |
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| Credit: Daily News, 3 August 1928. |
In a dramatic episode on 2 August 1928, the New York-bound Minnewaska (Capt. Frank Claret) with 200 passengers aboard went to the assistance of a seaplane and its four-man British crew (Capt. Frank T. Courtney, E.B. Hosmer, Fred Pierce, H,W. Gilmour) on a trans-Atlantic flight from the Azores to Newfoundland when the machine caught fire and had to land in the ocean off the Azores. They had set out from Horta on 1 August but after covering 605 miles, one of the plane's engines caught fire. After landing the plane in the water, the fire was extinguished in 10 minutes and an SOS was sent using the plane's short range wireless and was answered by a dozen liners. Minnewaska was by far the closest and putting on full speed, raced to the position. After 19 and a half hours on the drifting plane, the fliers were picked up Minnewaska around 4:00 p.m. on the 2nd 600 miles southwest of the Azores but the plane, a Dornier-Napier Whale, could not be salvaged by the liner and was eventually brought aboard the Valprato and taken to Sydney.
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| Credit: Daily News, 7 August 1928. |
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| Credit: Daily News, 7 August 1928. |
Minnewaska and her rescued fliers received a classic New York welcome as the ship arrived at 3:30 p.m. on 6 August 1928. Off Quarantine, the ship was met by the municipal yacht Macom with an official welcoming committee aboard and taken to the Battery and on to City Hall where they were welcomed by Mayor Walker.
Capt. Courtney return to England in Majestic, arriving at Southampton on 21 September 1928.
In dense fog off Gravesend early on 17 September 1928, Minnewaska collided with the British coaster Wendy (958 grt) inbound from Middlesbrough, damaging the liner's starboardside aft, and then was fouled by the anchor chain of the nearby Belgian excursion steamer Marguerite (264 grt), necessitating a diver to be sent down to remove the cable from the liner's starboard screw. After her 47 passengers (most having landed at Southampton the previous day) were taken off by the LMS ferry Katherine and taken to Tilbury, Minnewaska proceeded to King George V Dock where her two most famous passengers, the American steeplechaser, Billy Barton, bound for a second run at the Grand National, and the French racing horse, Epinard, were landed. She was then able to proceed into dock.
Minnie, sea-going cat, has not missed a voyage on the ocean liner Minnewaska since she joined its crew almost five years ago.
When the ship is in port here Minnie is absent for days at a time, but she invariably appears on deck half an hour or so before the gang plank is hauled in for an Atlantic crossing. She knows her way about London, too, but dislikes foggy night, and never spends a night ashore when the Minnewaska is at the King George V docks in the Thames.
Capt. Frank Claret of the vessel regards Minnie as the best sailor cat in the world because she knows the sailing habits of the ship so well. Her best friends are members of the crew, and seldom does she become chummy with passengers, although she did take a liking to William Gillette, the veteran actor, this summer and followed him about the ship for hours. Her kittens, as rapidly as they arrive, are handed out to passengers as souvenirs, and William Manning, purser, regrets only that they are not 10 times as numerous.
The Herald Statesman, 28 September 1928
Debutantes and dowagers of importance left New York yesterday on the liner Minnewaska. But Reigh Count, a horse, also sailed for England, and pre-empted most of the limelight.
Daily News, 2 December 1928
The Kentucky Derby and Saratoga Cup winning Reigh Count and his travelling companion, Fair Ball, sailed in Minnewaska on 1 December 1928, bound for the Ascot Cup Race in England. The two horses occupied a specially made 14-ft. wide stall so they could be together for the voyage over. Reigh Count was insured for $250,000 for the crossing.
In 1928, Minnewaska completed 13 westbound crossings carrying 1,588 passengers and 13 eastbound crossings carrying 1,679 passengers and Minnetonka completed 12 westbound crossings carrying 1,444 passengers and 12 eastbound crossings carrying 1,568 passengers for a total of 6,279 passengers. By comparison, Minnekahda and Minnesota carried at total of 10,237 Tourist Third Cabin passengers.
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| Montague B. Black painting of Minnewaska's rescue of the British trans-Atlantic flyers. |
1929
During Prohibition, custom agents regularly searched incoming liners and on 21 January 1929, seven bootleggers and 300 bottles of liquor were found aboard HAPAG's New York and nine bootleggers on Minnewaska and 185 bottles, although the culprits managed to flee.
Dense fog in the English Channel on 25 March 1929 was blamed for the collision between the inbound Minnewaska with 68 passengers and an unidentified vessel off the East Goodwins, slightly damaging the ATL liner on her portside above the water.
Minnewaska added to her animal passenger list when a pigmy hippopotamus was landed at London on 22 April 1929, a gift for the London Zoo from the New York zoo, as well as 75 passengers.
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| Credit: Brooklyn Times Union, 21 May 1930. |
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| Credit: The Ocean Ferry. |
Capt. Thomas S. Gates related to reporters another medical emergency at sea, saving the life of Nolan M. Raby, aged 19, when he brought Minnetonka alongside at the foot of 15th Street, Manhattan, on 21 May 1929:
The liner was "ploughing through mountainous waves, bucking a heavy storm, Friday afternoon [17th], when a wireless message from Capt. Albert Miller, of the U.S. Shipping Board boat Jo Lee, a cargo freighter, was picked up. From the radio shack, came word to the skipper that a general call to stand by had been picked up.
The operator aboard the Lee, en route from New Orleans to Genoa, asked that vessels in its vicinity rush to its position and pick a man seriously ill. The Minnetonka proceeded under full steam and within two hours negotiated the distance of 30 miles.
The sea was churning about the two vessels and huge waves were washing over the decks of the ships when Capt. Gates called for a volunteer crew to man one of the life boats. The necessary number of men quickly stepped forward. After battling the turbulent sea and unfriendly element the crew finally reached the side of the Jo Lee. Young Raby was lashed to a stretcher.
With rare seamanship the lifeboat crew guided the craft back to the side of the Minnetonka. Dr. S.H. Parker, surgeon of the ship, after consulting with several physicians who were passengers on his craft, decided that Raby's nerves were too badly shattered as a result of the harrowing experience to operate on the youth, whose case was diagnosed as acute appendicitis.
The physicians maintained a constant vigil over the young man during the remainder of the voyage. And when the ship docked this morning an ambulance fro the U.S. Marine Hospital was in readiness to remove him to that institution.
At the hospital it was that Raby is none the worse for his unusual experience. His physical condition is declared to be good and doctors anticipate no difficulties in the operation.
Times Union, 21 May 1929
The latest in technology was introduced aboard Orvieto, Avon and Minnewaska as reported on 4 May 1929, each being fitted with special Marconi wireless sets and Fultograph picture receivers "enabling them to receive facsimile typescript of Stock Exchange quotations up to thousands of miles with perfect legibility. The quotations are pinned to the bulletin boards for the benefit of passengers immediately upon receipt." (Daily News, 4 May 1929).
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| Credit: Daily News 16 July 1929. |
Although not winning the Ascot Gold Cup, Reigh Count placed second and won the Coronation Cup at Epson and now it was time to go home and he was embarked in Minnetonka from London on 6 July 1929, "special arrangements are being made on that steamer to ensure every comfort." He was one of 60 horses aboard and arrived at New York looking "bigger and more handsome" than when he left the U.S., on the 15th.
Fancying an ocean voyage, it was reported on 4 August 1929, that a racing pigeon alighted on Minnetonka, north of Cherbourg, during a race, and was content to stay aboard all the way to New York (arriving on the 12th) and remained on board back to England, flying home to its owner the day of arrival.
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| Minnewaska at New York. Credit: William B. Taylor photograph, The Mariners' Museum. |
Stowing away aboard Minnewaska at New York on 3 August 1929, Joseph Robinson (24) of Waterford and Christopher John Lewis (27) of Liverpool, managed to escape detection until the 12th in King George V Dock when customs officials searching the ship found them in a locker. They were arrested and sentenced to 21 days hard labour.
Mike Hall, the champion American long-distance racing horse, which had been entered for both the Cesarewitch and the Chambridgeshire, arrived in London aboard Minnewaska on 7 October 1929. Also aboard was Stefan the Great and 12 polo ponies. The same day, Minnetonka landed at New York the four officers of the Irish Free State riding team (and their eight mounts) who received the Freedom of the City from Mayor Walker and would ride in the National Horse Show 7-13 November.
It was a weather-tormented last crossing of 1929 for Minnewaska which was held up, along with Lancastria, Franconia and Albertic, on approach to New York on arrival on 20 December by a thick fog that had persisted for the last four days.
"A veritable miniature Noah' Ark" was how Minnetonka's sailing from New York on 21 December 1929 was described as she set sail with the animals and acts of the Bertram W. Mills company for the Circus at Olympia with "baby elephants, circus horses, scale acrobats, clowns, dancers, Chinese tumbler, Hawaiians, giants, midgets with all necessary machinery and apparatus." It must have been a small company as there were only 39 passengers aboard.
When Minnewaska arrived at New York on 20 December 1929, her 46 passengers presented a tribute to Capt. Frank H. Claret for his seamanship at the beginning of the voyage during a full fledged gale. After a stormy channel crossing, conditions at Boulogne were so rough the ship could not enter the harbour and Capt. Claret took her across the Channel to ride out the storm anchored off Deal, but the anchor and 90 fathoms of cable were carried away and the ship in danger of drifting onto the Goodwin Sands. Capt. Claret took Minnewaska back out to sea and cruised about all night before trying to get into Boulogne again, and failing in this, finally put into Cherbourg.
Heavy weather across prevented Aurania, Antonia, Saturnia, Milwaukee, Pennland and Gripsholm from arriving until the following day, but New Years Eve, 31 December 1929, the last day of a halcyon decade for The Ocean Liner, saw Berengaria, with General Smuts, Primo Carnera, Serge Rachmaninoff and Hugh Walpole among her passengers, and Minnetonka with Yehudi Menuhin among the 27 aboard, come into New York on schedule.
In 1929, Minnewaska completed 12 westbound crossings carrying 1,456 passengers and 12 eastbound crossings carrying 1,400 passengers and Minnetonka completed 12 westbound crossings carrying 1,199 passengers and 11 eastbound crossings carrying 1,353 passengers for a total of 5,408 passengers between them. By comparison, Minnekahda and Minnesota carried at total of 8,580 Tourist Third Cabin passengers.
1930
Minnetonka spent New Years at New York and sailed from there on 4 January 1930 with 45 passengers. Minnewaska was drydocked in London that month, not making her first New York arrival until 11 February with all of 37 passengers but she had a reasonably good list of 112 on departure for London on the 15th.
With the Depression quickly settling in, ATL needed to find trade where they could and with a view to tap shipments of lumber, apples and other cargoes from Nova Scotia, began periodic eastbound calls at Halifax after leaving New York. Minnewaska, which sailed from New York on 15 March 1930, made the first call on the 17th, adding four passengers to the 66 already aboard but subsequent calls were not made until September in time for the apple exporting season.
The 57 passengers who landed at New York on 7 April 1930 from Minnewaska only learned from reading the papers that a Bengal tiger being carried aboard had broken a bar in its cage and managed to get head and a paw through before "seamen drove the beast back, but it took four hours to make the cage secure." (Daily News, 9 April 1930). They certainly knew about the bad weather during the crossing, "Atlantic gales of a fury unsurpassed for years," which had Minnewaska, along with Cedric, Pennland and Ausonia come in two days late.
During her layover in King George V Docks, London, Minnetonka was fairly swarmed on 10 April 1930 with organised touring parties including readers of the Sheffield Daily Telegraph and school girls as part of excursions to the London Docks.
When Minnetonka left London on 12 April 1930, she had aboard 47 hunters and four dogs, "all of which had spent the hunting season at Melton Mowbray with their wealthy American owners." (Leicester Evening Mail, 12 April 1930), as well as 71 passengers.
In an alarming incident, Minnetonka's surgeon, F.W. Parker, who had retired from the Royal Navy in 1922 with the rank of Rear-Admiral, was violently assaulted and robbed in New York City on 21 April 1930 during the ship's turnaround there. "Though gravely injured, Mr. Parker pluckily returned to his ship, but his condition became so serious that yesterday [23rd] he was rushed to the French Hospital, where he now lies in a critical condition, suffering from a fractured skull and jaw." (Western Morning News, 24 April 1930).
Minnetonka's prize cargo on her eastbound crossing beginning from New York (with 105 passengers) on 26 April 1930 was a "bejewelled" custom made limousine by the Pierce-Arrow Motor Car Co. of Buffalo for Riza Khan, Shah of Persia. "The car was designed… from interior dimensions and photographs supplied by the ruler. The exterior is finished in white and gold enamel and all parts usually made of nickel are adorned with the crown of Persia in bas-relief, studded with emeralds, rubies and diamonds. At present the jewels are imitation ones, which the court jeweler will remove and replace with the real gems when the car reaches Teheran, the capital of Persia." (The Buffalo News, 25 April 1930). The car was landed at Cherbourg.
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| Credit: Brooklyn Daily Eagle, 5 May 1930. |
Capt. Frank H. Claret told reporters after he brought Minnewaska alongside at New York on 5 May 1930 that he sighted an iceberg, 60 ft. high and 158 ft. long, six miles to the starboardside of the ship and an additional string of bergs to the north. Among her 83 passengers was P.A.S. Franklin, President of the International Mercantile Marine, and Mrs. Franklin.
Given the economic times, Minnetonka's 21 June 1930 departure from New York was notable for its 301 passengers aboard, the best that year, and the same ship also carried the fewest on a crossing in 1930: all of 19 from New York on 11 October.
When he found that the cabin he had booked aboard Rochambeau from New York on 5 July 1930 had no private bath, Sen. Henry F. Ashurst of Arizona cancelled his booking 20 minutes before sailing and took passage, instead, in Minnewaska. He was bound for the Inter-parliamentary Union meeting in London.
Challenger, "unbeaten three-year-old of the British turf," arrived at New York aboard Minnewaska on 28 July 1930, along with 125 passengers, and bound for Havre De Grace, Maryland.
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| Polo ponies being embarked aboard Minnetonka at London. Credit: Hulton Archives. |
When she docked at New York on 11 August 1930 with 196 aboard, Minnetonka had the 67 polo ponies of the British challengers for the International Cup that September at Meadow Brook. Upon departure from London on the 2nd, it was reported that "all the horses were in excellent condition. For the trans-Atlantic trip, each will have separate stabling and will have as much care and attention as the richest occupants of the royal suites in Atlantic liners." The players followed later, sailing in Aquitania.
That autumn, the eastbound calls at Halifax were resumed in earnest starting with Minnewaska on 28 September 1930 (embarking 10 passengers), 27 October, Minnetonka 10 November, Minnewaska 24 November and again on 22 December.
The famous French racing stallion, Epinard, was as regular a passenger with ATL as any human one, and arrived at New York in Minnetonka on 7 October 1930, en route to Lexington, Kentucky for stud duties.
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| Minnewaska anchored in the Thames (note the stern anchor deployed). Credit: eBay auction photo. |
Heavy fog delayed 13 liners arriving on 17 November 1930 with 1,750 passengers with American Trader, Matura, Minnewaska and Ohio waiting off Quarantine and California, Coamo and Munamar off Sandy Hook and Conte Grande, Sylvia, Dresden, Ecuador and Veendam anchored off Ambrose Light.
With 1,400 pounds of fresh fish for their shipboard meals, twelve seals embarked in Minnetonka at New York on 6 December 1930, owned by Capt. John Tiebor, who was taking them to London for performances that winter. The incoming Minnewaska which docked at New York on the 16th had, "with a harem of seven beautiful black Arabian mares," Champion Mirage, "a snow white Arabian stallion, former mount of a desert chieftan," bound for a stud farm in Portsmouth, Ohio. She only had 39 passengers to land.
In 1930, Minnewaska completed 12 westbound crossings carrying 1,225 passengers and 12 eastbound crossings carrying 1,423 passengers and Minnetonka completed 11 westbound crossings carrying 1,177 passengers and 12 eastbound crossings carrying 1,074 passengers for a total of 4,699 passengers between them. By comparison, Minnekahda carried a total of 4,670 Tourist Third Cabin passengers, Minnesota being sold for scrap at the end of the 1929 season.
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| Charles Dixon's fanciful encounter between Minnetonka, largest ship in the Port of London in 1924, and Great Harry which held the honour in 1524. |
1931
With worsening economic conditions, ATL laid up Minnewaska and Minnetonka at no. 9 Shed King George V Dock from their last arrivals from New York in December and early January. Although listed for London sailings on 15 and 30 March respectively, Minnewaska instead entered King George V dry dock on 16 March and did not sail for New York until the 30th, arriving there on 6 April with 26 passengers. Minnetonka, took her sister's place in dry dock on 30 March and resumed service on 14 April and docked at New York with 25 aboard on the 22nd.
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| Minnewaska in King George V Graving Dock on 4 March 1931 undergoing a refit prior to returning to service. Credit: Fox Photos. |
Discounting rumours, P.V.G. Mitchell, Vice President of IMM, that Minnetonka and Minnewaska would be converted to cabin class effective on 1 July, said on 17 May 1931: "The Atlantic Transport Line has for many years occupied a unique position in the transatlantic passenger field, operating the only passenger liners which dock in London proper, using the George V Docks, only a half-hour ride from the center of the city."
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| Credit: Buffalo Courier, 17 May 1931. |
Forty-one English fox hounds arrived aboard Minnewaska on 1 June 1931 of which 28 were being brought for the Stonybrook Hunt Club at Princetown. The dogs outnumbered the human passengers of which there were but 32 on this voyage. Eastbound carryings showed some beginning of summer season life, however with 143 aboard Minnewaska return on the 6th, 187 for Minnetonka's departure on the 20th, 189 on Minnewaska's of 3 July and 152 on Minnetonka's on the 18th.
Reflecting the times, White Star, Red Star and Atlantic Transport all reduced their First Class fare as announced on 7 August 1931 with flat rates on Minnewaska and Minnetonka at $182.50 and $165.00
In an effort to spur business where they could, ATL announced on 17 August 1931 three sailings from Halifax (after departure from New York) to London via French ports beginning with Minnewaska on the 31st (calling at Cherbourg) followed by Minnetonka on 14 September and Minnewaska on the 28, both stopping at Le Havre en route.
With a surplus of livestock on Canadian farms, the Department of Agriculture sought out new markets in England, Scotland and as announced on 10 September 1931, France. On the 14th, Minnetonka would embark the first shipment of 120 head of cattle and 55 horses at Halifax for Le Havre. "This vessel and her sistership, the Minnewaska, have been selected to inaugurate a new service from Halifax to Havre and London, the Minnetonka being scheduled to sail next Monday and the Minnewaska on September 28. These liners, which also carry cabin passengers, are specially equipped for the transportation of a limited number of livestock. They have frequently carried polo ponies, hunters and other high-grade stock across the Atlantic to New York." (Gazette, 10 September 1931). On the 24th, a telegram was received by the Canadian Department of Trade and Commerce from Hercule Barre, Canadian Trade Commissioner in France that Minnetonka had docked at Le Havre the previous day and that "an excellent impression has been made on the French public when the Minnetonka docked and discharged her live cargo."
Smashing all records in recent years for apple loading at the port of Halifax, the giant liner Minnewaska of the Atlantic Transport Line, docked at Pier 2 at 1.30 o'clock this morning, and an hour and half later begin to take aboard from 25,000 to 30,000 barrels of apples for London.
Halifax Mail, 28 September 1931
It was not just cattle and horses as Minnewaska proved when she arrived at Halifax for the first time on the new service on 28 September and vied with the record set back in autumn 1911 when the Furness freighter Rappahannock loaded 35,000 barrels of apples for London. For Minnewaska, loading the consignment in time for departure at 7:00 p.m. that evening meant "a hive of industry as gangs of stevedores were striving to load the big steamer in time." In addition, Minnewaska also embarked 180 horses and cattle for Le Havre.
Minnetonka sailed again from Halifax on 12 October 1931 for Le Havre and London and again 6 December (but calling at Cherbourg). Additional sailings from Halifax by Minnewaska were undertaken on 22 November and 21 December to Cherbourg and London. Passenger traffic was negligable, however, with but a handful embarking on Minnewaska (31 August), Minnetonka (14 September, 12 October and 6 December) for a total of 11 in all.
P.A.S. Franklin, President of IMM, returned aboard Minnetonka to New York on 2 November 1931, "forecast new super-ships for the United States Lines to compete with the super-Cunard and new super-French ship now under construction."
As late as 11 November 1931, ATL was still advertising sailings from London for Minnewaska on 6 December and Minnetonka on 19 December but by then, the situation had become dire enough as to no longer warrant operating them.
Thick fog caused Minnewaska (and Rotterdam) to be six hours late docking at New York on 17 November 1931 and both had to wait outside the harbour for the fog to lift and encountered fog, snow, hail and torrential rains across. There were only 43 passengers aboard the ATL liner. There was little improvement in the weather and equally foggy conditions kept Minnewaska and Westernland, scheduled to sail at 5:00 p.m., were kept at their piers on the 20th and finally got away at 10:00 p.m., with 26 passengers. She called at Halifax two days later but embarked no additional passengers bur rather 336,000 barrels of apples, the largest shipment to date. Minnewaska arrived at King George V Dock on 1 December. After unloading, she arrived at Sheerness on the 11th for lay-up.
Unknown at the time, Minnetonka made the last Atlantic Transport Line passenger sailing, upon her departure from London on 21 November 1931, arriving New York on the 30th with 34 passengers. On 4 December, she sailed for Cherbourg and London with British actor Leon Quartermaine among her 26 passengers. Minnetonka was alongside King George V Dock on the 14th and joined her sister in lay up at Sheerness on the 29th.
In 1931, Minnewaska completed nine westbound crossings carrying 643 passengers and nine eastbound crossings carrying 717 passengers and Minnetonka completed nine westbound crossings carrying 668 passengers and nine eastbound crossings carrying 677 passengers for a total of 2,705 passengers between them. By comparison, Minnekahda carried a total of 2,069 Tourist Third Cabin passengers, and she was withdrawn from service on arrival at New York on 14 September.
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| Poster for Minnewaska and Minnetonka as Tourist Class liners for Red Star Line. Artist unknown. Credit: swanngalleries.com |
Of all the Red Star ships, the Minnewaska of the Atlantic Transport Line was my favourite. Her crew accommodation was spacious, the food excellent, and had the following of a very good class of passengers. Captain Frank H. Claret, OBE, RNR, was great commander, and there was a very good relationships between officers and crew. No-one could ask for more.
Vernon E.W. Finch, The Red Star Line.
Conceived in the 1920s when one-fifth of the British Merchant Navy was laid up early in the decade, Minnewaska and Minnetonka found themselves among the 3.5 million gross tons laid up in 1932, representing 17 percent. Their prospects, however, were grimmer that most given their specialised design which managed to combine high grade passenger accommodation and huge cargo capacity, both of which were of little utility in a global economic depression that hit the trans-Atlantic trade more than most.
FOR some time past there have been innumerable rumours concerning the future of the Atlantic Transport Company's passenger service between London and New York, one of the historic trans-Atlantic services. It has never aspired to high speed, its speciality being solid comfort, but in years past there have been many regular passengers who were well satisfied with this policy and patronised the company loyally. Conditions have changed since the war, the cabin liner has made enormous strides and has attracted the great, majority of that class of passenger, and the two famous Atlantic Transport liners Minnewaska and Minnetonka have spent a good deal of their time laid up. Now the rumours have been set at rest by the announcement made in these columns yesterday that the ships, still under the British flag, will be transferred to the Antwerp-New York service of the Red Star Line. From the point of view of business there is no doubt that this move it a wise one, for the Continental service still has some opportunities which appear to be denied to the London run. But from the point of view of the London River, which has always taken the keenest pride in the Atlantic Transport Line, and of tradition, it is saddening, for the service has an excellent reputation and will be very greatly, missed.
At about the same time the Atlantic Transport decided to build a new fleet, and the famous 13,000-ton Minne ships were turned out by Harland and Wolffs, 16-knot ships with an enormous cargo capacity in addition to comfortable passenger quarters. Minnehaha, Minnetonka and Minneapolis were the first, and immediately established themselves as great favourites. Two more were ordered, but a very tempting Offer came from the Pacific Mail Line and they were sold on the stocks, the fleet being completed in 1909 by the bigger Minnewaska.
The British first-class service was accordingly reinforced by the Minnewaska and Minnetonka, ships of about 21,000 tons and a speed of 17 knots, fitted with good passenger accommodation and a big cargo carrying capacity, although their hatches were too small to permit it being handled as expeditiously as the rapid turn-round of a trans-Atlantic service demanded. They have been popular ships, and the Atlantic Transport Line has such a prominent place in the affection of everybody connected with the Thames that many will be sad to see them go and will hope that in due course they will return to the river on which they are so well known.
Liverpool Journal of Commerce, 8 April 1932
1932
The liners at the Nore anchorage, lying high out of the water, felt the full brunt of the stormy weather last week-end, and were in a good deal of trouble with their moorings. The gale was a fierce one, and Mr. R. Couch, who makes four trips weekly to the liners in his motor-boat Prince of Wales; said that on Friday the Nore lightship was being washed by the waves breaking over her. On Thursday the 22,500-ton Atlantic transport liner Minnetonka broke her starboard cable, and was left riding with only her port cable. The Minnewaska dragged her easternmost cable and brought it home, thus riding with both cables in line at the swivel. The Mississippi, a 10,000-ton vessel of the same line, dragged both anchors about half-a-mile, and only came to rest a short distance off the Nore sands. On Friday a tug came to the assistance of the vessels in re-mooring, but was unable to carry through the task owing to the rough seas. With calmer seas the Minnetonka and the Minnewaska were safely remoored on Saturday, but it was not until during the early part of this week that a similar service performed for the Mississippi. The only well-balanced vessel of the little band of liners--all of which are lying up owing to the position of the shipping trade —was the Cunarder Caronia, of 20,000 tons, which is moored within a very short distance of the Nore, and gave no trouble throughout.
Sheerness Times Guardian, 18 February 1932
In their last official announcement, Atlantic Transport Lines advised on 1 April 1932 approximately 20 per cent reductions on their First Class fares from London to New York "effective forthwith," and no increase for the summer months. The minimum rates for Minnewaska and Minnetonka would be £33 single and £62 12s return.
Red Star Line had, with American Line, been at the core of the IMM, from the beginning. Following the sale of White Star to Royal Mail in 1926, Frederick Leyland & Co. Ltd. purchased the International Navigation Co. and with it, Red Star and American Line. With the onset of the Depression, Belgenland and Lapland were off the Atlantic route by 1932 and the company reoriented themselves to the budget trans-Atlantic trade with Pennland and Westernland, the former White Star/Dominion Regina, which were reconfigured to two class ships, Tourist and Third. It was to replace Belgenland and Lapland and to join Pennland and Westernland to give a weekly service in peak season, that Minnewaska and Minnetonka would be transferred, without change of name, registry or crew, to Red Star.
The Atlantic Transport liners Minnetonka and Minnewaska, which hare hitherto maintained the company's service from London to New York are transferred to the Red Star Line's Antwerp-New York service. Though they will continue to fly the British flag, their house flags and funnel markings will be changed. Even if the service is lost to the Thames, temporarily only, it is hoped, it good to note that the ships will be manned by the Atlantic Transport Line as before, and that the will remain under the command of the two captains who are so well known in them.
Liverpool Journal of Commerce, 9 April 1932
The Liverpool Journal of Commerce of 7 April 1932 broke the news that Minnewaska and Minnetonka "are being transferred to the Red Star Line to operate between Antwerp and New York," and "in conjunction with the Pennland and Westernland, the two ships will maintain a weekly tourist service, with calls at Southampton."
In America, J.S. Mahool, Passenger Traffic Manager for IMM, made the announcement, and said "this is the first time in steamship history that a first class line has been taken over for tourist class service." He stated the ATL pair would run with Westernland and Pennland whose top class was Tourist and provide a week service. Minnewaska would make the first sailing from Antwerp on 12 May for New York via Southampton and Cherbourg. Rates from New York were set at $98 ($172 roundtrip) to Britain, $108 ($178) to Cherbourg and $110.50 ($183) to Antwerp. Concurrent with the addition of the ATL pair, Red Star commenced regular eastbound calls at Southampton which had hitherto only been served westbound.
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| Credit: Evening Star, 13 April 1932. |
Sheerness was robbed of its "matched pair," when Minnewaska was roused from lay-up and arrived at London on 11 April 1932 for refitting. Minnetonka, laid up at Sheerness since 29 December 1931, arrived at Gravesend on 26 April 1932 to be reconditioned and entered King George V dry dock on the 30th.
Both ships were repainted in full Red Star livery and as Tourist Class liners, Minnewaska accommodated 417 passengers and Minnetonka, 413.
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| Minnewaska in her new Red Star livery. |
On her first Red Star voyage, Minnewaska sailed from Antwerp on 13 May 1932, calling at Southampton (14), Le Havre (14) and arriving at New York on the 23rd, coming in with Stavangerfjord, Kosciusko, President Harrison, Stuttgart, Scythia and Marques de Comillas. Minnewaska landed 66 passengers. The local chapter of the Daughters of the British Empire organised a tea aboard the liner the next day, Empire Day. Minnewaska sailed eastbound on the 27th with a fairly good list of 251.
Minnetonka left Antwerp on 27 May 1932 for Southampton (28), Le Havre and New York where she emulated her sister by landing 66 passengers, on 6 June. Her first crossing to Antwerp got underway on the 10th with 325 aboard. For a few New York arrivals, the Minnies landed more passengers than they had ever before: Minnetonka, 355 on 1 August; 392 on 29 August and 410 from Minnewaska on 12 September. The Red Star service maintained regular calls at Halifax and the Minnies would renew their acquaintance with Nova Scotia in late summer with Minnewaska making the first eastbound call there on 18 September where she added three passengers to the 178 who boarded in New York. Minnetonka followed on 2 October and Minnewaska on the 16th.
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| Minnewaska in Red Star livery. Credit: eBay auction photo. |
There was no need for the Minnies on the route in the winter so that Minnetonka was laid up in Antwerp after her 30 September 1932 sailing from New York and Minnewaska after her 14 October crossing.
In 1932, Minnewaska completed six westbound crossings carrying 1,164 passengers and six eastbound crossings carrying 1,319 passengers and Minnetonka completed five westbound crossings carrying 1,196 passengers and five eastbound crossings carrying 1,243 passengers for a total of 5,002 passengers between them. Compared with their final season with ATL in which they carried just over 2,700, this certainly represented an improvement although carried at a lower tariff and it is doubted there was much cargo carried.
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| A rather extemporaneous re-rendering of Charles Dixon's original artwork served as the sisters' official Red Star postcard. No one bothered to black out the red hull sheer line. |
1933
Minnetonka, laid up at Antwerp since 12 October 1932, resumed service with her departure from the port on 14 April 1933 for Le Havre, Southampton and New York where she arrived on the 24th with 97 passengers. Such were the times, that the Liverpool Journal of Commerce of 15 April in reporting the return of Minnetonka to service, did the same for Donaldson's Letitia (laid up since February), Red Star's Lapland (idle since September 1932), and Cunard's Lancastria, out of work since January. Times were still grim but at least what passed as "busy season" in spring-summer was in the offing. Minnetonka sailed from New York on the 28th with 132 passengers.
Idle at Antwerp since 26 October 1932, Minnewaska sailed for New York on 27 May 1933 and landed 67 on her first New York arrival on 5 June. Her eastbound crossing beginning on the 9th, had 313 passengers including Mme. Paul Pay, wife of the Belgian Ambassador in Washington, and her three daughters, and Sir William A. Craigle, joint editor of the Oxford English Dictionary; and Thierry Mallet, President of Revillon Freres.
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| Credit: National Maritime Museum. |
In addition to 200 fare paying passengers, on 31 July 1933 Minnewaska landed Eli Weiss, aged 32, from Brooklyn who had stowed away on the ship's outbound voyage on the 7th, and spent the ship's turnaround in Antwerp in jail. He had been discovered on his first day at sea and put to work keeping clean the quarters normally assigned to the grooms who cared for the horses she still occasionally carried.
The heyday of famous racehorses and polo ponies behind her, Minnetonka did number among her 289 passengers arriving at New York on 14 August 1933, an additional traveller: a three-and-a-half ton rhinoceros en route to Hollywood to appear in a motion picture.
Starting in late summer, the two ships resumed eastbound calls at Halifax after departing New York. Minnetonka made the first call on 16 September 1933, adding six passengers to the 121 aboard since New York, followed by Minnewaska (30th) and Minnetonka on 16 October.
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| The Daily News plane caught an impressive line-up of liners at the North River piers on 28 September 1933: left to right: Minnewaska sailing on her last voyage, Olympic, Leviathan (laid up), American Trader, Paris, De Grasse and Laconia. Credit: Daily News, 29 September 1933 |
On what would prove to be her final commercial voyage, Minnewaska sailed from Antwerp on 15 September 1933 and Le Havre and Southampton the following day for New York where she arrived at Pier 60 on the 25th with a good list of 312 passengers. She departed the 28th with 100 passengers for Halifax (30, embarking 3 passengers), Le Havre, London and Antwerp. Departing London on 8 October, Minnewaska arrived at Antwerp on the 11th.
Minnetonka left Antwerp 29 September 1933, called at Havre and Southampton on the 30th and arrived at New York, Pier 58, on 9 October with 255 passengers. Her final departure, with 71 aboard, was on the 14th. She arrived at Le Havre on the 24th, sailed for London, docking the following day. When Minnetonka came into Antwerp on the 28th, she joined Minnewaska in lay-up.
In 1933, Minnewaska completed five westbound crossings carrying 1,075 passengers and five eastbound crossings carrying 1,104 passengers and Minnetonka completed seven westbound crossings carrying 1,299 passengers and seven eastbound crossings carrying 1,298 passengers for a total of 4,276 passengers between them.
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| Minnewaska in New York Harbor, 1933. Credit: Percy Loomis Sperr photograph. |
1934
In March-April 1934, Red Star placed advertisements for Minnewaska and Minnetonka to again partner with Pennland and Westernland for the summer season. The Daily Telegraph printed trans-Atlantic schedules for May showing Minnetonka making the first sailing from Southampton on 12 May followed by Minnewaska on the 26th.
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| Credit: Brooklyn Daily Eagle, 18 May 1934. |
After testifying before the U.S. Senate Committee in Washington, D.C. investigating the ocean and air mail contracts of the Jones-White Act the week of 11-18 May 1934, IMM's P.A.S. Franklin reaffirmed the American company's commitment to sell their remaining foreign flag tonnage so as to qualify for subsidies for U.S. flag vessels being considered as part of a complete reorganisation of the U.S. Merchant Marine. As if to validate his testimony, on 18 May IMM announced cancellation of the scheduled sailings of Minnewaska and Minnetonka and immediately put them on the market. They remained laid up in Antwerp and the 1934 season, which would prove to be the last for the Red Star Line, was left to Pennland and Westernland.
In July 1934 Commodore Thomas F. Gates CBE retired after a 50-year career with Atlantic Transport Line which would pass with him.
Amid a flurry of rumours in the Press that "Red Star Line has been negotiating for the sale of its British tonnage to a British group," the market for used ocean liners, of any description, except for scrap was practically nil. With their enormous cargo capacity and limited, high-class accommodation, Minnewaska and Minnetonka had no prospects for further trading although one might sigh at the thought of them being purchased by the newly reformed Shaw Savill Line under Furness ownership as forerunners of Dominion Monarch.
From the point of view of the shipping industry, the disposal of the two liners is of significance. These two vessels, which cost in the neighbourhood of £1,250,000 each to build about ten years ago, have been laid up at Antwerp for a year, and undoubtedly the changed conditions of trade on the Atlantic route must be accounted partly responsible for their relatively premature end. They are one class passenger vessels with a cargo carrying capacity of about 19,890 tons, and speed of 16 knots, and they had the reputation of being exceedingly comfortable vessels in a sea way. For some years they were the largest vessels trading out of the Port of London.
Belfast Telegraph, 15 November 1934
On 15 November 1934 it was reported that Minneswaska and Minnetonka had been sold for breaking up, for the absurdly low price of £35,000 each. Minnewaska was consigned to Smith & Co., Port Glasgow, whilst Minnetonka would take the place of the recently demolished Metagama at the Bo'ness yard of P&W M'Lellan, Ltd. The same week, France and Adriatic were sold for scrap as well, but they, of course, had long and successful careers behind them whereas, even in the depths of the Depression, the scrapping of fine liners with but ten and nine years' service was unprecedented and dismal indeed.
According to Mr. C. W. Roper, secretary of Atlantic Transport Co., she [Minnewaska] is capable of carrying 27,000 tons of cargo and passengers. 'In these days.' said Mr. Roper. 'it is quite hopeless to expect all that space to be occupied and to continue to run the vessel at a loss would have been a foolish policy.'
Liverpool Journal of Commerce, 10 December 1934
Sir—The tragic plight of shipping to-day is epitomised in these two fine liners, soon to be 'sheer hulks,' like poor Tom Bowling. There was nothing meretricious about these vessels; they were solid and substantial, like the travellers who patronised them. In to-day's Scotsman you give a picture of the Minnetonka; the Minnewaska, after lying at the Tail of the Bank, is now at Port-Glasgow. In the spring of 1926 I sailed from London to New York on the latter vessel. She was then the largest ship using the London Docks. I have crossed from Glasgow (several times), Southampton (more than once ), and from Liverpool, but was never on a steadier ship than the Minnewaska.
Her great beam rendered her impervious to all but the worst weather, and she was taking across polo ponies on the trip referred to. Not long previously a concert had been held on board at which the late Lord Aberdeen and Colonel House jointly presided . —I am & etc. A. E. Rains.
The Scotsman, 12 December 1934
The Minnewaska and Minnetonka were splendid, well built ships, and their far too early end in this manner was a deplorable waste. It shows the desparate state of the shipping business at that time.
Vernon E.W. Finch, The Red Star Line.
Amid the obituaries and lamentations, the work of rousing the ships from lay-up at Antwerp and sailing them to their final destination was contracted to Messrs Tinmouth's Ltd., shipping contractors, of Dean Street, South Shields.
With a skeleton crew, Minnetonka left Siberian Dock, Antwerp, at 5:00 p.m. on 6 December 1934, and arrived off Inchkeith early on the 8th. The largest ship to come that far up the Forth, Minnetonka had to be skillfully conned up the channel, between extensive mud flats and shallows on both sides. Her arrival and beaching occasioned enormous local press and public interest.
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| Credit: Linlithgowshire Gazette, 14 December 1934 |
By the beaching on Saturday of the Atlantic Transport Company's cargo and passenger steamer Minnetonka, another ship was added to the melancholy fleet of vessels which have found their last berths within the shipbreaking yard of Messrs P. & W. MacLellan, Ltd., at Bo’ness.
The River Forth, in the vicinity of the yard, is river the dead, a river haunted by forgotten beauties of seas. Mighty vessels of war which won undying glory many a hard sea fight; palatial liners which carried Princes to the lands beyond the seas; dirty little tramp steamers which picked up cargoes in many distant ports, and stately sailing ships which graced the seas in more spacious days—all these have been reduced to scrap the Bo' ness breakers of ships.
On Saturday the 'funeral' of the Minnetonka took place. The great ship-- the largest ever brought into the Forth to be scrapped-- lay out in the middle river, a thin trickle of smoke spilling from her stack.
The foreshore in the vicinity of the yard was crowded with excited spectators for the beaching of a ship is, of itself, a greater spectacle than the launching of a liner. There is a lack of ceremony, but ship's farewell to her native element is pregnant with drama. 'Get her well in-- and hang the consequences!' That is the general order to those on the doomed ship. For what does it matter is she knocks over a crane or two as she comes to rest in the yard? Cranes are easily rebuilt, and if the ship is well and truly grounded, the shipbreakers can carry out their work of destruction with the maxiumum efficiency.
The vessel stood silent in the river, and a feeling of suspense began to spread among the spectators. To relieve the tension they made little jokes, and began to remark upon little things which had escaped their notice previously. They saw the square of white canvas rigged to a crane. 'That,' they surmised correctly, 'is the target for which the ship will aim.' They noticed that the red eye of a buoy had begun to wink to the east of the Minnetonka. A man with a telescope volunteered the information that a gull had perched on the Minnetonka's mast.
Then everybody realised at the same time that the trickle of smoke was growing in density until thick black clouds were belched forth. 'That's oil fuel,' said somebody, 'coal wouldn’t make such black smoke.' A flurry of white at the stern, and the ship began to move, slowly at first, but with increasing speed as the screws continued to thresh the water. The smoke lay in heavy clouds over the water, screening part of the coast of Fife, and half-hiding the steamer.
Down the rive she made her way to gather sufficient momentum for her final mad rush to the shore. She steamed about a mile away from the yard-- so far away indeed that many thought a last-minute reprieve had saved the ship. Then she turned back, made another turn, and all the speed of her sixteen and a half knots behind her sprang for the shore. Lights blazed from her decks, their reflections making mercurial ripples in the water, and a long V of foam stretched from the stern as the ship neared the suicidal shore. For there was a suggestion of suicide about the end of the ship-- suicide whilst of unsound mind. She was not an old, decrepit, obsolete vessel, but a ship in her prime, still capable of many more years of active service on the seas.
The throb of the engines and the surge of the ship's wash could not be heard. Nearer she came with the inevitableness of high tragedy. The progress of the Minnetonka was one and the same time majestic and pitful. On she came, and her giant bows heaved slowly out of the water as her keel ploughed through the soft mud. Higher and higher the ship rose. Her screws stopped turning. The doomed ship slid softly into her grave which has been prepared for her.
There was no fuss. Her doom was sealed. The screws began to turn again, churning the water into a white fury. It was not expected that the ship would be driven further ashore. It was but a safeguard, preventing the vessel's 22,000 tons from slipping back into deeper water with the ebbing tide. With quiet efficiency hawsers were slung from the steamer to the shore, and the Minnetonka tied up for the last time.
There was no hoot from the ship's siren, no farewell to the sea. There was no attempt at a funeral oration. The ship lay silent and majestic in death. 'Well, she's in,' said the people cheerfully, and in a matter of fact manner, they turned away. But they realised that the shipbreaking yard is a really a Corpse Transformation Institute. The ship will be reduced to scrap, the scrap will be sent to the steel works, and the steel will be turned into razor blades and a wonderful variety of other articles.
So there is some truth in the statement, 'in a year or so, we'll be shaving with the Minnetonka's keel.'
Linlithgowshire Gazette, 14 December 1934
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| Credit: The Scotsman, 10 December 1934. |
HUNDREDS OF SPECTATORS
Stretching right and left of the Bridgness wharf of Messrs P. & W. MacLellan, which was to be the resting place of the doomed vessel, were hundreds of people. Every vantage point had been taken. Spectators had clambered on to old derelict crafts which were lying in the shipbreaking yard, and along parts of the shore were standing two and three deep. A high pile of planks and spars had been improvised into a grand gallery by a large group of excited children. Movie-picture cameras were taking 'shots' of the crowd , and an hour before the actual beaching of the vessel a steady stream of cars and buses was making its way through the winding streets of Bo'ness towards the shore. It might have been the exciting 'birth-day' of some new ship. All eyes were fixed upon the Minnetonka, lying anchored about three-quarters of a mile from the shore. There was neither wind nor the promise of it in the air . A black and white buoy flag stuck into the mud away from the shore, hardly fluttered. This and a huge square sheet, fixed between two tall cranes in the yard, were the 'targets' for the Minnetonka.
RELUCTANT MINNETONKA
At a quarter to four there were signs of activity on the vessel. A thin spiral curled from her funnel, and slowly she moved and turned towards the mouth of the Forth. Twenty minutes later she had disappeared under the black pall of her own smoke. Almost as suddenly as the crowds lost sight of her, a wind sprang up and brought with it the first threat of darkness. The buoy flag opened out to the breeze and the hull of a demolished boat dipped and lifted in the water a few yards from the shore. It seemed hours before the Minnetonka came into view again. She was moving back slowly as if reluctant to turn for the last time. Now she was straight with her nose towards the beach. A few more minutes and it would be over. But still there were signs of unwillingness. She appeared to hover, then stand completely still. It was darker. Lights twinkled on the opposite shore. Then the Minnetonka came to life. Like a jewelled robe, lights began to show through her portholes and along her decks. This sudden illumination might have been a last show of justifiable pride.
AWE-INSPIRING AND MAJESTIC
Then at top speed she steamed straight for her resting place. Nearer and nearer. A puff of wind cleared away the veil of smoke which surrounded her for a moment, and in the half-light there was something awe-inspiring and majestic about the ship. Straight for the buoy flag she came. It could not have been a more accurate and perfect beaching. She loomed forward and seemed to tower above the crowds like a great black wall. The flag sagged and dropped as the Minnetonka hit the mud—her final anchorage, and stopped almost dead . A miniature tidal wave swept the water front as she went ashore, and a strong contingent of police kept the spectators at a safe distance. The children cheered and clapped. There was a quick, angry dashing of water in every direction. The hull of the demolished boat and some floating spars were lashed into erratic movement by the fury of the wash from the huge yessel. A few gulls screamed on motionless wings above her. The Minnetonka, the world's largest cargo liner, was safely beached.
The Scotsman 10 December 1934
Arriving at Greenock on 7 December 1934 from Antwerp, Minnewaska was beached at Port Glasgow on the 10th, the largest vessel yet to be broken up on the Clyde.
The beaching of the Minnewaska at Smith's breaking up yard at Fyfe Shore was not quite such a simple matter. The big vessel arrived at the Tail of the Bank several days ago, and was taken up the river on Sunday afternoon in charge of five tug-boats. All went well until the vessel was being turned to go into the slipway stern first.
The very high wind off the Port-Glasgow shore made it a matter of much difficulty keeping the vessel under control. She grounded on the bank at Fyfe Shore, and by the time she was re-floated the tide had gone and it was deemed advisable to postpone beaching the vessel until the following day. Large crowds had assembled to witness the operations on Sunday. Vantage points at different parts of the town were largely occupied, and some folks were under the impression that the vessel was too big for the Port-Glasgow breaking up yard.
The Minnewaska was taken back to the Tail of the Bank on Sunday afternoon, and it looked as she. was being taken down the river as though she would finish up in one or other of the shipyards. The tug-boats, however, got her into the channel way and her mooring place at the Tail of the Bank was reached without further incident. On Monday afternoon with six tugs again in attendance the big vessel was towed from the Tail of the Bank. Again large crowds had assembled to watch the operations. When opposite the East Harbour progress up-river was stopped, and, the big vessel was turned completely round and towed stern first into the breaking up berth. The work of beaching was speedily carried out, and in less than two hours from leaving the mooring place, the big vessel was securely grounded and tied up in readiness to be broken up. The vessel as she sailed up the river looked very well, and did not seem as if she was nearly ready for the scrap heap. She appeared to be in very fine condition, all the paint work looking as if it had been freshly done.
Port Glasgow Express, 12 December 1934
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| Minnetonka at the breakers. Credit: fairfield/shipnostalgia.com |
1935
Big Crowd at the Minnewaska Auction. The first day's sale of the furniture of the Red Star liner Minnewaska. which has been beached at Smith's Yard, Fyfe Shore, for breaking up, shortly before New Year, seemed to whet the appetites of buyers generally, and at the sale of furniture yesterday large crowds were present. The sale was conducted by Messrs Thomas Donald & Sons, Kilmarnock, and prompt to time the bidding started. It was early evident that good prices would rule and the bidding for each item was particularly keen. There were present amongst the buyers and prospective buyers hotel proprietors, managers of clubs, dealers, etc., and one good rule made by the auctioneer was that private individuals would receive the same consideration as those buying on a large scale. This rule was very much appreciated, and was taken full advantage of. It meant that, if private individuals wanted one of the many fine chairs, for instance, they could get one at the auctioned price. There were hundreds of chairs disposed of, and while the prices ruling were good from a selling point of view, it must be said that the buyers got real value for the amount expended. There was a big demand for the carpets and rugs, all of which were in splendid condition. The furnishings in the lounge, reading room, smoking room, and the large entrance hall were all sold off, while carpets, coloured table covers, tables, etc., etc., were put under the hammer in the large dining saloon. Selling proceeded briskly until well after six o'clock, and what remained, along with almost as much again, will be on sale on Tuesday and Wednesday of next week.
Port-Glasgow Express, 9 January 1935
In what had already become a well-established and all too frequent routine in British scrapyards of the era, both ships were opened for public inspection before demolition began and their fittings and furnishings were stripped and sold at auction. In the case of Minnetonka and Minnewaska not since Bermuda, were the entire contents of passenger liners to be auction as ATL was no longer a going concern, every price of bed linen, silverware (18,000 pieces between them), china, glassware, etc. was disposed of. It took several auctions, continuing well in the New Year, to disposed of it all.
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| Credit: Civilian & Military Gazette, 11 March 1935. |
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| Credit: Civilian & Military Gazette, 11 March 1935. |
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| Credit: Sunday Post, 7 April 1935. |
Fire broke aboard Minnewaska on 23 March 1935 at Smith's yard, but the Greenock Fire Brigade was on the scene within seven minutes, but had to run a 900-ft. long hose line to the nearest hydrant and hindered initially by considerable smoke. After a hard won two and a half hour battle, the fire was brought under control and believed to have been caused by oil ignited by acetylene torches. Another fire occurred aboard the ship during the small hours of 29 April, again oil igniting in the engine owing to torching. The Greenock Fire Brigade had the blaze extinguished in five hours.
Thus these two splendid ships lasted for a little less than 12 years and had only about 10 years of active service. What a waste-- and what invaluable transports they would have made five years later.
J.H. Isherwood, Sea Breezes, April 1975.
The failure of Minnewaska and Minnetonka was not unprecedented but it was indeed unusual to have a second generation of newbuildings for a line and operation that had been successful for forty years, scrapped after a decade or less of service. The economic upheaval and resulting severe fall-off in trade and passenger traffic brought about by the Depression hastened their end and it can be argued few ships, new or old, were less suited for the changing conditions than this unfortunate duo.
Minnewaska and Minnetonka failed as a pair and might have fared better as the originally conceived quartet where the idea was to provide a weekly service with sufficient turnaround time in London and New York not only to work cargo but to attract it. From a passenger perspective, weekly sailings were an essential especially when there was no comparable or competing alterative to ATL both in being one-class and direct to and from London. One only has to look at the dismal carryings of Minnewaska when she was a "lone wolf" in 1923 to appreciate the essential of frequency in a liner service, especially a unique one. As with the first quartet of Minnies, the weekly service was the object and their success and popularity the result.
As a pair, Minnewaska and Minnetonka were handicapped in every way. Even to maintain a fortnightly service, their five-day turnarounds were insufficient to work a potential 25,000-ton cargo, yet the insufficent frequency ensured that they did not attract that much in the first place. They were, in the end, simply too big for the constrained world trade of the inter-war period with its high tariffs and economic dislocation arising from the First World War. It was a wholly different environment from 1900 when the first Minnies were designed and built.
Also different from 1900 was the development of "cabin" and "tourist third cabin" which appealed to the new generation of mainly American middle class travellers. Minneswaska and Minnetonka's all First Class was just priced high enough not to be competitive with the new cabin boats and it is telling when ATL managed to cobble together a quartet with the addition of Minnekahda and Minnesota, they were run as all Tourist Third Class ships.
Of course, no one could have foreseen the great Depression which decimated precisely the express cargo and high class passenger trade that Minnewaska and Minnetonka were designed and built for. Unlike so many liners of their generation, they were wholly unsuited for cruises which proved to be salvation of so many vessels and lines. Transferring them to Red Star and the simple expedient of regrading them as "Tourist Class" ships merely cut their tariffs without materially reducing their running or manning costs or filling their holds. Indeed, Red Star Line themselves only outlasted the Minnies by a year as the final foreign flag IMM line passed into oblivion.
In many ways, the penultimate IMM ships were very much like the combine itself, conceived during a boom and unable to weather a bust. And, of course, like all failures, Minnewaska and Minnetonka were repeated again and again, Dominion Monarch (1939) and Media/Parthia (1947) coming readily to mind.
s.s. Minnewaska (1923-1933) 117 round voyages 25,355 passengers
s.s. Minnetonka (1924-1933) 100 round voyages 25,338 passengers
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| Minnewaska, the Magnificent. Credit: https://dams.antwerpen.be/ |
Built by Harland & Wolff, Belfast, yard nos. 613 (Minnewaska) and 614 (Minnetonka).
Gross tonnage 21,716 (Minnewaska)
21,998 (Minnetonka)
Length: (o.a.) 625 ft.
(b.p.) 600.8 ft.
Beam: 80.4 ft.
Machinery: twin-screw single-reduction geared Brown-Curtis turbines, 12 watertube
boilers 215 psi, oil-burning, 16,000 shp
Speed: 16 knots service
17.8 knots trials (Minnewaska)
17.6 knots trials (Minnetonka)
Passengers: 369 First Class (as built)
417 Tourist Class (Minnewaska 1933-34)
413 Tourist Class (Minnetonka 1933-34)
The American Line, 1871-1902, William Henry Flayhart, 2000
British Passenger Liners of the Five Oceans, Vernon Gibbs, 1963
Famous Liners of the Past, Belfast Built, Laurence Dunn, 1964
North Atlantic Seaway, Vol. 3, N.R.P. Bonsor, 1977
The Red Star Line, Vernon E.W. Finch, 1988
American Shipping
Sea Breezes
Shipbuilder & Marine Engine Builder
Shipbuilding & Shipping Record
Syren & Shipping
Altoona Tribune
Belfast News-Letter
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https://dams.antwerpen.be
https://gallica.bnf.fr
https://earlofcruise.blogspot.com/2017/07/history-atlantic-transport-line.html
https://www.fineartstorehouse.com/
https://www.marinersmuseum.org/
https://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/maritime-museum
https://collections.nationalmuseumsni.org/
https://www.rmg.co.uk/national-maritime-museum
https://www.nypl.org/
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https://www.titanicbelfast.com/
https://www.archives.gov/
© Peter C. Kohler
