SUNDOG - 4-23-2007 at 08:52 AM
A Preservation Reality
Plans are scaled back to saving just portions of the SS Catalina. The stranded steamer is partly submerged in Ensenada Harbor.
By Donna Littlejohn
Staff Writer
Preservationists are scaling back their plans to save and restore the beloved SS Catalina, still stuck and partially submerged in the sandy bottom of
Ensenada Harbor.
Unable to raise the millions of dollars needed to get the Great White Steamer out of the Mexican harbor where it's been deteriorating since 1997,
preservationists are now focusing on saving at least the ship's smokestack and pilot room.
But they'd better hurry.
The Mexican government has finally earmarked the funding -- 176 million pesos (about $16 million) -- to cut up and demolish the ship, which ferried
more than 20 million passengers between San Pedro and Catalina Island from 1924 to 1975.
So preservationists are now hoping to salvage pieces of the ship, specifically the steamer's 40-foot-tall funnel smokestack and 20-by-12-foot wooden
pilot house, which remain above the waterline.
"It's the most realistic way right now," said David Engholm of Coos Bay, Ore., who has spearheaded the drive to save the ship over the years. "It's
sad; we tried so hard." Efforts to raise and salvage the SS Catalina go back to 1998. Engholm's dream was to restore the ship as a tourist attraction
in Los Angeles Harbor.
At least one attempt to float the ship failed several years ago. Even if the ship could be refloated, supporters say it could cost tens of millions of
dollars to fully restore her.
"There's a large attachment to it," said Sandra Putnam, a fourth-generation resident of the island. "There is a great amount of interest from people
all over the country who have vacationed here."
The SS Catalina took its maiden voyage on May 30, 1924, and didn't leave public service until 1975.
In her heyday, the 310-foot steamship ferried people between the mainland and Catalina Island in grand style, a reminder of the Jazz Age and a time of
flappers.
Up through the mid-1970s, a band played 1920s music in the ballroom where couples danced. The island's signature song "Avalon" was played as the ship
left and entered the ports on either end. Musical greats Buddy Rogers and Benny Goodman were among those who entertained on board through the 51 years
the ship was in public service.
It also once ferried more than 800,000 World War II troops, but it fell behind the times in the 1970s when faster, smaller boats such as the Catalina
Express started making voyages to the island.
The ship eventually was sold to a private party and moved to the Mexican harbor in 1985, but fell into disrepair and began to sink in 1997 after
earlier efforts to turn it into a restaurant failed.
The Mexican Navy has been threatening to dismantle it since 2001, but until now did not have the available funds. Demolition could begin as early as
May, said Engholm, who is talking with a museum on Catalina Island about having the salvaged pieces used as part of an exhibit.
"I would be prefer to see the whole ship saved, but it would cost a fortune," he said. "So much of it has been destroyed, unfortunately."
donna.littlejohn@dailybreeze.com
How to Help:
Anyone wishing to help in the effort may call David Engholm at 541-267-0451.
BajaNomad - 5-14-2007 at 04:23 PM
I had not seen this when Sundog posted it. Just now pointed out to me.
If anyone has questions, or can be of assistance, please let me know. I'm very familiar with David Engholm. I even posted a very elementary website
for David regarding the ship in 1998 (sscatalina.com), developed the sscatalina.org website in 2001 - currently host the savethecatalina.com/.org
website, and am an administrator of the Yahoo! Group pertaining to this effort at:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sscatalina
Regards,
--
Doug Means
Oh Well. So Long.
MrBillM - 5-15-2007 at 09:20 AM
Having spent a considerable time in my youth on Catalina Island and viewing the iconic ship in the harbor or going to and from the Island, there is a
nostalgic attachment. However, the fact that it hasn't been possible over the years to raise anywhere near the funding necessary to preserve it,
indicates that there aren't really that many people who think it is worth saving at the expense of other uses for their money.
Since my birth in Los Angeles ( 1945 ) I have spent most of my life in Southern California. Over the years, I've seen many sentimental scenes of the
past disappear. That's Life.
ANYTHING Worth Saving WILL be Saved. The rest will not.