Santa Paula
departed from
Newport News
on
October 10 and slowly sailed up the Hudson River to
Albany
and
pier 27,
New York
. She departed the next day which was
significant, because she would be the first large passenger liner
to make her maiden entry into the
port
of
New York
from the
north.
Santa Paula
departs on her maiden voyage
SS Santa Rosa was next to be launched on August
28, 1957 and was delivered to
Grace
Lines
on June 12, 1958 and
she departed on her maiden voyage from
New York
s pier 27
bound for South America and the
West Indies
.
SS
Santa
Rosa
seen departing on her maiden voyage
From an
original news paper article
Both ships continued the
New York
to Central
America service for
Grace
Line
until they were transferred to
operate the
Caribbean
service.
Santa Rosa
and
Santa Paula
were remarkable at
the time having a variety of and innovative features, including
their interiors being panelled with aluminium as a fireproofing
measure. Public rooms and cabins were particularly spacious with
all cabins being outside having private facilities. Another
innovation on these fine ships was their cargo handling gear for
their 4 holds. Especially unique were the side doors fitted to
holds 3 and 4 having automatic conveyers to move pallets on and
off the ship ensuring rapid turn around times.
Above
& below
: Two
Grace
Line
brochures
Club
Topicanas
A classic
scene on Promenade Deck
*******************************
SS
Santa Paula & MV
Stolt
Dagali
:
SS
Santa
Paula
On November 25, 1964 the Israeli liner SS
Shalom departed
New York
on a cruise to the
Caribbean
. However,
at 0200 during a dark and foggy night the Shalom collided with
the 12,723 GRT Norwegian tanker MV Stolt Dagali having a crew of
43. The sharply raked bow of the Shalom rammed portside aft
resulting in
Stolt
Dagali
s stern section sinking quickly.
The rest of the ship remained afloat due to her watertight tanks.
With a S.O.S. having been sent out, the first ship to arrive on
the scene was the
Santa Paula
which was returning from the
Caribbean
under the command of Captain
Theodore
Thomson
. Later he said
We had to circle around a wide area until we saw the Shalom
standing still with her lights lit. Her bow was badly damaged.
Then we saw the remains of the tanker, the bow section with some
sort of a light lit, and we could see ten men aboard.
Captain
Thomson
positioned the
Santa Paula
in order to provide a
windbreak for the
Stolt
Dagali
s bow section. 25 crew
members were rescued, however 18
Stolt
Dagali
crewmembers
perished.
MV Stolt
Dagali seen with her stern section gone
*******************************
The
concluding days of two fine Grace Line Ships
Yet as time went on their days were sadly
numbered as various strikes and this began to affect the
companies profitability. However, they continued until 1969
when
Grace
Line
finally decided to sell their shipping interests
to Prudential Lines, and thus the new company became
Prudential-Grace lines.
However, by the end of the
year regardless the reasonably
good passenger numbers it was
decide to withdraw both ships from service and
Santa Paula was
laid up at Hampton Roads Virginia on January 16, 1971, with the
Santa Rosa being also being laid up at Hampton Roads just six
days later. Tragically these fine luxury liners would never sail
under the
US
flag again.
Specifications
Santa Rosa
Santa Paula
Built
by:
Newport News Shipbuilding Company
S.B.
&
D.D.
,
USA
- 1958
Yard:
Santa Rosa
728 /
Santa Paula
522
Tonnage:
15,371 GRT / 15,366 GRT
Length:
177.9m 584ft
Width:
25.6m 84ft
Engines:
GE Geared Turbines
22,000 SHP
Screws:
Twin
Service speed:
20 knots
Passengers:
300 First class
Crew:
246
Fully air-conditioned
Gyrofin Stabilisers
*******************************
From
Santa Paula
to
Kuwait Marriot Hotel
SS
Santa
Paula
In 1972,
Santa Paula
was sold to Oceanic
Sun Line Special Shipping Company Inc of
Greece
and she was
renamed Stella Polaris. It was intended for her to become a
cruise ship. Although she arrived in
Piraeus
on December 11, she
remained laid up until 1976, when she was obtained by the
Marriott Group, and four Kuwaiti companies. She was sent to
Rijeka
,
Yugoslavia
(todays
Croatia
) where she was converted for the
use as a luxury-floating hotel in
Kuwait
. She arrived in
Kuwait
in September 1978 having been renamed Kuwait Marriott
Hotel. On October 17, workers commenced to raise the
harbour bed at her specially prepared berth as her hull was to
remain to be permanently grounded. This was completed and she
officially opened as a hotel on February 1, 1980.
Kuwait
Marriott Hotel, ex SS Santa Paula
, still looking beautiful
!
A
Marriot postcard from the authors private collection
Then in 1989 she was renamed the Ramada
Al Salam Hotel and they placed a hideous sign on top of her
funnel advertising the name of the hotel. However, in the near
futures a tragic disaster would hit this once magnificent ship
when
Iraq
invaded
Kuwait
in 1991, and the
Al Salam Hotel
was attacked, bombed, and caught fire, totally destroying this
once magnificent ship. Upon inspection she was considered a total
loss. Much of her machinery spares somehow remained in perfect
order and were sold and were used for her sister ship, the ex
Santa Rosa now in use with Regency Cruises having been rebuilt as
the SS Regent Rainbow. Today this fine totally rebuilt ship
continues to sail on as the SS The Emerald. The
Ramada Al Salaam Hotel, ex
Santa Paula
was scrapped
in 2002, however it is said that parts of the ship are still
visible at her final resting place.
Ramada
Al Salaam
Hotel after being bombed
Unknown
source *See Photo notes at bottom of page
The
burnt-out Promenade Deck of the Al Salaam Hotel
Above
& below
: Three photographs of the destroyed ex liner
after the vicious attack
These
three photographs were kindly provided, taken & are ⓒ by Dr.
Roland Schregle
--
A fine
photograph in memory of a superb ship, the SS Santa Paula
, which
is seen here during her
Grace
Line
days
Photograph
by
Vic
Scrivens
*******************************
Grace
Lines
Memorabilia
Mr.
Harold
Reitz
sent me a photograph of his SS Santa Rosa cabin key - cabin A 44
Harold
Reitz
collection
An ashtray
and matchbook cover from the SS Santa Paula
From
the authors private collection
*******************************
Santa
Rosa
was rebuilt into a modern cruise ship, currently named
the Emerald
SS
Santa
Rosa
Santa Rosa
remained laid up in the
USA
for 20
long years, during which she passed hands a number of times. In
1975 she was obtained by the US Department of Commerce, then in
1976 she was sold to Vintoro Corp of
New York
who renamed her
Samos Sky and she was to operate the South American service once
again. However, this venture did not eventuate and she remained
idle. She was again sold in 1989, to Coral Cruise Lines Inc,
New
York
who had her towed from
Baltimore
to
Greece
in December. She
arrived at Chalkis
Greece
in March 1990 where she was to be
modernised. Coral Cruises first renamed her Pacific Sun, then
Diamond
Island
. Later that year she was finally sold to the Greek Lelakis
Group who commenced to extensively rebuild her at a cost of $70
million. When completed in 1991, visually she was a very
different ship to say the least, yet with her unaltered hull and
her new superstructure she had become a fine looking cruise ship.
She was renamed Regent Rainbow and commenced cruising for Regency
Cruises. At the time many found it strange that with her
extensive rebuilding the company decided to retain her steam
turbine engines, which had been renovated with parts from the
Santa
Paula
.
Seen here
in
Greece
during her reconstruction to become a cruise ship
Regent Rainbow became a popular ship, however,
Regency Cruises has an extensive fleet and was suffering
extensive losses, and in 1995 Regency was declared bankrupt.
Regent Rainbow was placed under arrest on November 27 in
Tampa
USA
.
In December 1996, Regent Rainbow was sold to rapidly growing
Maltese Shipping Company Louis Cruise Line and she was renamed
The Emerald. She was mostly chartered to Thompson Cruises and
catered for the British market.
The Emerald
is seen here as the stunning looking Louis Cruise Line cruise
ship featuring the
Louis
livery with their L on the
funnel
SS
Santa Paula
the Emeralds Sad Farewell!
This delightfully modern cruise ship that was a
famous yet ex classic liner, the Emerald remained but operating
mostly for Louis Cruises themselves in service until 2010 when
she was finally laid up and placed on the market. We had such
hopes for her, as a company did seem to have plans for her and
she was to head for Asia to be used as an accommodation ship, and
then head to the
Central America
and continue to operate as a
cruise ship again. The truth is that she was a fully updated ship
and was SOLAS 2010 compliant.
However, that venture fell through and we heard
the news in 2012 that she had been sold and we knew that it would
be to a breaker, even though details had not been provided.
I was advised on August 14 that she had been
beached at Alang
India
to be broken up, this once fine liners
days has now come to an end!
The
Santa Sisters leave us with some wonderful Memories, even
though they have Now Gone!
The SS
Santa Paula is seen here departing
New York
in 1966
Photograph
by Vic Scrivens, from the Rich Turnwald collection
We
will remember this wonderful ship, which has given us a
remarkable 55 years of joy and great service
!
Grace
Line
INDEX
:
Page
One
SS Santa Paula & Santa Rosa
History
Page
Page
Two
The Marcia Kennedy Story
An interesting
story from a
Santa Paula
1969 hostess
Page
Three
The
Emerald
- ex
Santa Rosa
rebuilt as a luxury cruise ship
see her interiors!
**************************************************
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