A Peter Knego Blog
Bay Area Blog: March 2 -- 8, 2007
All Photos and copyright Peter Knego 2007.
A trip to the San Francisco region is one I usually relish but my reason for venturing to the city by the bay this past week was to attend a family funeral. Nonetheless, I packed my cameras and made tentative plans to visit friends and possibly attempt some ship spotting if time and mood allowed.
On Friday, March 2, my mother and I departed Moorpark for the relatively scenic drive to Oakland via US Hwy 101. Neither of us expected to be so "wowed" by the brilliant pre-spring colors, perfect lighting and magnificent cloud-speckled skies of Central California. From various vantages north of Santa Barbara and at Pismo Beach, the ocean was an artist's palette of blue, turquoise and silver glimmers. Trees and flowers were in bloom and the rolling hillsides were carpeted in their finest greens. The day's only flaw was a sickeningly sweet Chinese chicken salad at the Pismo Beach Marie Callenders (which is still worth a visit for its phenomenal views and a parlor filled with old b/w and sepia photos of California coastal ships called, appropriately, the "Ship Room").
Sunset, March 2, 2007.
Saturday, March 3 was devoted to the funeral and family in the Oakland Hills, ending with a fiery sunset over the bay.
On Sunday, March 4, I contacted Ella Mae Lamuth, the lovely wife of the late George Lamuth. George, an avid shiplover and brilliant photographer, had passed away last year and left me his collection of slides taken in San Francisco. I made arrangements to come pick them up the following day, Monday, and also hoped to get some footage of the OCEANIC, ex INDEPENDENCE, at her current China Basin layup berth.
INDEPENDENCE Avenue, AKA 16th Street, facing east toward China Basin.
On Monday, March 5, at noon, I arrived at 3rd Street in China Basin, where I found the former INDY sandwiched between a drydock and the 1978-built Matson container ship MAUI. The lighting was not great, so I made a point to return after going to the Lamuth's home atop nearby Potrero Hill. Ella Mae could not have been sweeter or more accommodating, allowing me to sort through George's vast collection.
I was almost embarrassed by the wealth of images she sent me away with. I filled my trunk, back seat, and passenger seat with metal canisters of slides and prints and even a selection of George's maritime books. In the thousands of images now in my care, there are stunning views of P&O-Orient, Matson, APL, PFEL, and other liners that called at San Francisco during the 1960s and 1970s. George worked with the fire department and had access to fire boats and endless vantages from which to get his images, most of them brilliantly lit and in enduring Kodachrome. He documented the conversions of LURLINE, PRESIDENT WILSON, PRESIDENT CLEVELAND, and PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT into BRITANIS, ORIENTAL EMPRESS, ORIENTAL PRESIDENT, and ATLANTIS, respectively. He captured the maiden arrival of ORIENTALs CARNAVAL (ex RANGITOTO) and ESMERALDA (ex RANGITANE) and final visits of ships like ORSOVA, ORONSAY, and HIMALAYA. DINTELDYK, DIEMERDYK, GALILEO FERARIS, ORIENTAL PEARL, ORIENTAL JADE, MONTEREY, MARIPOSA, SANTA MARIA, SANTA MAGDALENA, SANTA MARIANA, SANTA MERCEDES, ENNA G, and on and on! After just a few glances, I had become wistful for this last great liner era and for kind friends like George Lamuth, the likes of whom I shall never see again.
Two Hawaiian ladies in layup: left, OCEANIC (ex INDEPENDENCE, SEA LUCK I, OCEANIC INDEPENDENCE, INDEPENDENCE)
and MAUI at China Basin, San Francisco.By the time I returned to China Basin for more views of OCEANIC, the sun had moved from its overhead peak to a more flattering position in the western sky, illuminating the ship's port side. Five years of layup have left her slightly faded and her bow was riding especially high, exaggerating the angle of her pronounced sheer. In two days, she was scheduled to be boarded by a contingent of student volunteers from the California Maritime Academy in Vallejo for removal of some salvageable fittings, leaving many questions about her eminent future. My repeated requests to take part in and document the process went unanswered, so I would have to settle for some final views of this beloved ship from the roadside.
On Tuesday, March 6, before leaving my friend's house in San Francisco, I went for a walk in the hills around Buena Vista Park. Even from these distant vantages, the INDY's faded green funnels were clearly visible. How sad that they might soon disappear forever, a whiffy notion of mortality that contrasted sharply with the park's aromatic blossoms.
Later that day, I met fellow liner lover and Uncommon Journey's owner, Christopher Kyte, at his downtown Oakland office. We waxed over some of George Lamuth's poetic images and Christopher's collection of ship models and posters (including a gorgeous view of ORSOVA in Orient Line colors in a rare Orient and Pacific promotion piece).
The Oakland ferry and XANADU 2 across the estuary.
Wednesday, March 7: Instead of wallowing in frustration over being denied access to OCEANIC (later, I learned the removal of the ship's fittings was postponed), I head for Jack London Square in downtown Oakland to get some updated views of the 1955-built XANADU 2 (ex WAPPEN VON HAMBURG, DELOS, POLAR STAR, PACIFIC STAR, XANADU, EXPEX, FAITHFUL), which has been sitting in the Oakland Estuary since being towed from Terminal Island (Los Angeles harbor) in the fall of 2005. Plans for her restoration to a private yacht have been abandoned but the ship is still actively for sale.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt's former yacht, POTOMAC, now preserved at Oakland's Jack London Square.
I arrived at 2:00 PM in time to document the preserved 1934 built USS POTOMAC (ex ELEKTRA), FDR's former yacht which is now open as a museum adjacent to the Oakland ferry terminus. Across the estuary, the XANADU 2 lay, barely visible in the strong backlight of the early afternoon sun.
XANADU 2, still lovely, despite decades of neglect.
Once on board the ferry ($11.00 for a roundtrip crossing to San Francisco), I bulleted up to the open fantail for some footage of XANADU 2.
Heading into San Francisco Bay as seen from the ferry's observation lounge.
We soon passed Oakland's busy container terminal where large APL, COSCO, and NYK ships were berthed under a skyline of cranes and head into the open bay.
Even in the gloom, the former INDEPENDENCE stands out from all vantages.
Off in the distance, I could make out OCEANIC's funnels as we passed under the Bay Bridge enroute to the Ferry Building terminal and, ultimately, Pier 41, where I would get a quick cappuccino before the return to Oakland. Even without ships, San Francisco's waterfront is one of the most fascinating and scenic in the world.
The JEREMIAH O'BRIEN as seen from Pier 41, San Francisco.
The Golden Gate Bridge was as sublime as ever, looming under dark, incoming clouds, which provided a gray backdrop for the even grayer 1943-built SS JEREMIAH O'BRIEN. One of the last surviving Liberty ships, she seems to be enjoying a successful afterlife as a museum and attraction at Pier 45 and makes occasional cruises around the bay, the most recent of which was to greet the QUEEN MARY 2 on her maiden visit last month.
Leaving the ferry terminal and San Francisco's northern skyline behind as we returned to Oakland.
A break in the sky was just enough to bathe Sausalito in a momentary glint of gold as we returned to the Ferry Building. While the creeping gloom chased us eastward, we passed an Evergreen container ship on her way to Oakland.
Yesteryear's camber and sheer in faded glory: XANADU 2.
By the time I drove to XANADU 2's dock in Alameda, the skies were filled with mist and the faint purplish glow of twilight. As I methodically photographed her from the potholed, battered quay, a lone figure watched from the wheelhouse of one of the tugs off her bow. According to Christopher, this was the berth where MONTEREY (ex FREE STATE MARINER) spent part of her post Pacific Far East Lines layup in the 1980s.
XANADU 2 at Alameda.
Amazingly, from across the planet, a bit of San Francisco's maritime lore beckoned before disappearing into a nether world of memories and Kodachrome. That night, as we prepared for our return to Moorpark, I received an e-mail from my friend in India that the beached hulk of the MONTE, the former MONTEREY, had just had her funnel cut down at Alang. Just this past September, I had enjoyed a wonderful week on board the still pristine liner on her final official Mediterranean cruise for the Mediterranean Shipping Company.
And so continues the rite of passage for good people and good ships.
Photos and copyright Peter Knego 2007.
