S.S. BELOFIN-1: MONTEREY, MATSONIA, LURLINE, BRITANIS
For her history from 1932 to 2000, read on.
Or
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S.S. MONTEREY
In this image, courtesy of Alan Glover, MONTEREY is shown at Melbourne in her original splendor. He writes, "When I was a small boy, I was taken one Saturday afternoon to Port Phillip Heads, which is the opening for ships entering and leaving the large bay with the city of Melbourne about 40 miles up the bay. I have never forgotten the sight of that superbly proportioned liner as she came into full profile then dipped gently as she reached the ocean...Everything was perfectly spaced, including those two funnels with the second one just that bit lower.....for their time, the early thirties, they were the ultimate in appearance."S.S. BELOFIN-1 (ex MONTEREY, ex MATSONIA, ex LURLINE, ex BRITANIS) a tribute to an American-built liner
as MONTEREYBuilt in 1932 by Bethlehem Steel at Quincy, Mass
Yard number 1441
631 x 79.1 feet
18,017 GRT
twin screw, geared turbines; 21.5 knots (maximum 23)
passengers: 472 First class, 229 cabin class, crew: 360The second in a trio of remarkably successful ships designed by William Francis Gibbs the $8,300,492 MONTEREY followed the similar LURLINE and was soon to be joined by the identical MARIPOSA. She was christened by Mrs. E. Faxton Bishop, wife of a Matson Line director, and was launched on October 10, 1931. Delivered on April 20, she embarked 83 passengers for a positioning voyage from New York to San Francisco on May 12, 1932. Her official maiden voyage departed San Francisco on June 3, 1932, calling at Los Angeles, Honolulu, Auckland, Pago Pago, Suva, Sydney and Melbourne. She and the MARIPOSA (which joined her on February 2, 1932) shortened the running time by a third and scored high marks for the new standard of service and accommodation they introduced to this route.
According to the excellent FIFTY FAMOUS LINERS (Volume Two), an early career highlight of the MONTEREY (and a public relations coup for Matson Line) was when she carried a special cargo of canned milk, sweets, and phonograph records for Admiral Byrd's vessel BEAR during its historic journey to Antarctica.
WAR SERVICEMONTEREY was chartered by the USMC in 1941 to rescue refugees from China, Japan, and Korea, delivering a complement of 150 missionaries and stranded US citizens to San Francisco. Shortly thereafter, she was converted to a troop ship, stripped of her luxurious appointments, and fitted with additional bunks and facilities to accommodate up to 3,500 soldiers. On December 16, she sailed for Honolulu with 3,349 soldiers, returning to San Francisco with over 800 casualties. Upon arrival, she was sub-chartered to the US Navy and sailed for San Diego, where she and her sisters embarked a capacity of Marines for Pago Pago. Returning to San Francisco she embarked nearly 4,000 Army troops for Brisbane, sailing in convoy with the 1927-built MATSONIA and MORMACSEA.
In April of 1942, MONTEREY sailed for Adelaide from San Francisco, then on to New York where she embarked 5,800 troops for Glasgow, Scotland, and on the following trip, over 6,000. In 1942 MONTEREY joined a convoy for the North African invasion, arriving in Casablanca on November 18th. Three more trips to Casablanca went without incident, and she returned to San Francisco before sailing again to Brisbane, where she received orders to go to New York, taking on the highest number of soldiers for a Matson ship: 6,855. She then sailed in convoy for Oran.
Embarking 6,747 troops in New York the ship sailed for Liverpool, Gibraltar and Naples on what was her first mission in combat. 25 planes attached the convoy on November 6. One bomber, stricken by the ship's anti-aircraft fire, flew so low over MONTEREY that it careened into the sea with a portion of her radio antenna! In the same attack, the Grace Liner SANTA ELENA (also designed by William Francis Gibbs) was torpedoed and began to sink. Despite the risk to her own crew, MONTEREY rescued 1,675 survivors using her boats and nets. As the last of them were brought aboard, a torpedo crossed the bow of her escorting destroyer and she departed for Naples at full speed.
In July 1944 MONTEREY was enroute route from Milne Bay for Oro Bay when ash from a distant volcano darkened the sky and reduced the visibility to zero. Proceeding very slowly, she suddenly ran aground, heeling ten degrees to port. Her 3,900 troops were disembarked by two liberty ships and oil and water were discharged overboard. By midnight, she was refloated and no major damage found. She continued trooping throughout the rest of the War and remained in government service until 1946. Both MARIPOSA and MONTEREY were returned for conversion to passenger service in September 26, 1946 but financial problems halted the work in July 1947 at United Engineering Works in Alameda, CA. She was laid up 30% completed and then sold to US Government in August 1952. Although MARIPOSA went on to a major conversion in Italy to become Home Line's successful HOMERIC, MONTEREY was towed to the reserve fleet for lay-up at Suisun Bay, near San Francisco.
as MATSONIA
In this stylized rendering from the late 1950's, the MATSONIA's modernized bow is emphasized in a romantic setting that includes palm trees, Diamond Head, and a Polynesian sailing craft. Peter Knego collection.
By 1955, with her sister LURLINE operating at 97% capacity, Matson was considering expansion when the government put MONTEREY on the sales list. Repurchased by Matson on February 3, 1956 for $2,556,000 she departed San Francisco on March 15, under tow to Newport News Shipbuilding & Drydock Company, arriving on April 20. She would be converted by the famed naval architecture firm of Gibbs and Cox, her original designers (who were basking in the success of the 1952-built UNITED STATES, largest and fastest passenger ship ever built in the U.S.). In the meantime, the name MONTEREY had been reassigned to the former C4 cargo vessel FREE STATE MARINER which Matson was rebuilding for its deluxe South Pacific passenger service.
Measuring 18,655 GRT with modern, Hawaiian-themed accommodation for 761 first class passengers, the ship was rechristened MATSONIA by Mrs. Neal Blaisdell, wife of the mayor of Honolulu. With a new, slightly flared bow that added ten feet to her length, she sailed from New York to San Francisco on May 22, 1957. MATSONIA joined her sister LURLINE on the San Francisco-Los Angeles-Honolulu run on June 11.
as LURLINE
This aerial post card view was utilized by Matson to depict the ship both as MATSONIA and LURLINE. When she changed names, MATSONIA was airbrushed out of the image. The other LURLINE could be distinguished for her three Lanai suites, whereas the MATSONIA/LURLINE only had one (it is the small cluster of windows beneath the midships open promenade deck). Peter Knego collection.
During the early 1960's, passenger revenues began to fall, and by September 1962, the MATSONIA was laid up in San Francisco. The following February, LURLINE experienced major turbine damage, requiring expensive repair. Amid public outcry, the LURLINE was sold to Chandris Lines of Greece for their Australian migrant and cruise service as the ELLINIS or Greek maiden (With an expanded passenger capacity, she lasted until 1980, when she was laid up at Eleusis, finally going to Taiwanese shipbreakers in 1986. Meanwhile, as the HOMERIC, the MARIPOSA sailed until late 1993, when a galley fire and the fuel crisis led to her scrapping at Taiwan in early 1974).
Thus MATSONIA was returned to service, taking her departed sister's name. Christened LURLINE by Mrs. Harry Statts, daughter of Hawaii's Governor, on December 6, 1963, she began inter-island salings as well as service to San Francisco and Los Angeles. As the decade continued, the losses mounted, and on May 27 1970, Matson announced the venerable ship's sale to Chandris Line. She arrived in San Francisco on June 25 1970 and departed for Piraeus on June 30 as BRITANIS.
as BRITANIS
BRITANIS is shown in her original Chandris Lines livery (with red boot topping and no blue hull band) at St. Thomas on 30 August 1981. Photo by and copyright Peter Knego.
During the ensuing refit at Piraeus, her capacity was increased to 1,655 by converting her cargo holds to cabins, dividing many of her larger cabins into smaller units, and expanding her superstructure slightly forward on Upper Deck level. Her funnels were given streamlined casings and her mainmast was removed, but BRITANIS retained many interior features from the Matson Line era. Her first voyage in round-the-world service left Southampton on Feb. 21, 1971. She remained in Southampton-Sydney-Southampton service until 1974, when she began winter cruising in the Caribbean and summer cruising in Europe. In May 1982 she was transferred to a Chandris subsidiary, Fantasy Cruises, for cruising between New York and Bermuda under the Panamanian flag with a reduced capacity of 1,200.
Still in original Chandris livery, BRITANIS is shown here during her New York-based Fantasy Cruises service on 6 October 1984.
Laid up for the winter, she returned the following summer and began winter sailings from Miami, transferring to New York in the summer. A major refit in 1986 extended her life, as did the availability of parts from her sister ELLINIS (some of which went to ELLINIS from HOMERIC when that ship was scrapped in 1974 -- In essence, all three ships were now embodied in BRITANIS). She returned to cruising from Florida year round until November 19, 1994.
BRITANIS is shown here departing Miami on one of her extremely popular five day cruises to the Western Caribbean on 27 February, 1994. Note the blue band stretching from the tip of her bow along Main Deck level. Photo by and copyright Peter Knego.
She was once again chartered to the US Government, this time as an accommodation ship for military personnel at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. A small electrical fire damaged several cabins, but the quick response of her captain (AS Varsamis) and his fire-fighting crew prevented it from becoming a major disaster. Still under charter, she was fully repaired, and then laid up at Tampa, Florida in November of 1996.
BRITANIS is shown here at her moorings in Tampa on 17 January, 1998. Within one week, her crew (many of whom had served aboard the ship for the full length of her career with Chandris) would be sent home, to be replaced by a skeleton crew from Pakistan. Not seen, but lashed to the ship's port side is the former Canadian National ferry BLUENOSE, sharing an uncertain future. Photo by and copyright Peter Knego.
Although BRITANIS had a strong following, Chandris opted to put her up for sale in a gradual phasing out of its Fantasy division. A crew of loyal engineers and maintenance personnel kept BRITANIS in immaculate condition until January 24, 1998, when she was sold to AG Belofin Investments of Lichtenstein.
A return visit on 8 March 1998 found "BELOFIN-1 Panama RP" hastily stenciled to her stern and BRITANIS painted out on her bows. Photo by and copyright Peter Knego.
Her new owners were to deliver the historic liner to scrappers in India or Pakistan, but a down turn in steel prices and the political instability of that region has thus far derailed their plans. An eleventh hour proposal by the Walnut Creek-based Majestic Group to restore her as a waterfront attraction and hotel in San Francisco as the LURLINE was revealed in the June 1 edition of the San Francisco Chronicle-Examiner.
UPDATE: BELOFIN-1 sank off South Africa while under tow by the Ukrainian tug IRIBIS on 21 October, 2000.
Photo and copyright Richard Kehl 2002.
On 24 August, 2002, a section of Number 8 lifeboat was located on the beach along the western Skeleton Coast of Namibia one hour north of Cape Cross in an important discovery documented and shared with Maritime Matters by German-based visitor Richard Kehl.
References: FIFTY FAMOUS LINERS Volume Two, by Frank O. Braynard and William H. Miller; GREAT PASSENGER SHIPS OF THE WORLD TODAY, by Arnold Kludas; MATSON'S CENTURY OF SHIPS, by Fred A. Stindt; The World's Passenger Fleet CD-ROM, by Peter Knego
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