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SS Catalina Still Awaits Destruction in Ensenada
http://www.thelog.com/news/logNewsArticle.aspx?x=6913
Port has not yet followed through on plans to remove the historic hulk.
ENSENADA, Mexico — After multiple announcements by the Port of Ensenada that it would dismantle the now-waterlogged “Great White Steamer” SS Catalina
by October 2007, the 130-foot vessel has yet to be demolished. Advocates for the historic ship’s preservation continue to monitor her from afar, while
searching for funds to bring parts of her home.
Still There — SS Catalina remains half submerged in Ensenada, where the vessel awaits removal and dismantling by the port. The ship’s advocates
continue to keep tabs on the much-beloved steamship.
From 1924 to 1975, SS Catalina ferried more than 25 million passengers between Los Angeles Harbor and Avalon. Passengers enjoyed the two-hour ride on
the five-deck steamship, which included a live band and a clown entertaining children.
During World War II the ship transported troops across San Francisco Bay to Camp Stoneman in Pittsburg, Calif. After serving her duty, she returned to
Catalina, where she was sold to M.G.R.S. Co. The group of 10 men kept the vessel up and running until SS Catalina was retired in 1975.
For months, bloggers have shared messages back and forth as they awaiting the bad news that the Port of Ensenada was dismantling the much-beloved ship
and removing it from the harbor to make way for new development. However, the news never came.
“What I have heard recently -- which, by the way, we have heard many times before -- is that the Mexican Government has the funding to raise the ship,
float her out to sea and sink her,” wrote Linda Hironimus, who was vice president of fundraising for Saving the SS Catalina, in an e-mail to The Log.
A May 4 edition of the Spanish-language news publication El Vigia reported that Carlos Jáuregui González, API director of the Port of Ensenada, said
this would be the year SS Catalina will finally be removed and destroyed. The article also states that more funds and new strategies are in place to
remove SS Catalina.
However, The Log’s numerous calls and e-mails to the Port of Ensenada to get additional details on its plans for SS Catalina were not returned at
press time.
In April 2007, Juan Ochoa, marketing manager for the Port of Ensenada, reported that the Mexican government announced it had received the 176 million
pesos ($350,000 in U.S. currency) needed to destroy the ship. The port at that time set October 2007 as the demolition date.
The port’s plan to remove SS Catalina was launched to make room for construction of a 380-slip marina.
When the original plan was announced, advocates of preserving the ship began to band together to figure out how to bring her home. She was originally
taken to Ensenada in 1985 by former owner Hymie Singer, who said he planned to restore the vessel. However, subsequent attempts to convert SS Catalina
into a restaurant and tourist attraction failed, leaving the vessel to deteriorate in the harbor.
Through the years, the ship’s management changed hands. Eventually, the prior owner abandoned the vessel, leaving it to become the property of the
Mexican government. Currently, SS Catalina lies partially submerged in 30 feet of water in the Port of Ensenada, awaiting her destiny.
Three separate groups – SS Catalina Steamship Fund, SS Catalina Preservation Association and Saving the SS Catalina—were unable to save the vessel.
All of the groups became inactive after a few years of attempting to raise funds, secure a home for her and search for alternatives to the vessel’s
demolition.
David Engholm, founder of the non-profit SS Catalina Steamship Fund, which became inactive in 2006, has continued to work with the port, preservation
organizations and the Catalina Museum, in an attempt to salvage the vessel’s pilothouse and stack.
“I was down there in August, and I put in a request with port authorities for the pilothouse -- and they still haven’t given me any response,” Engholm
said.
The 130-foot vessel holds a lot of sentimental value to Engholm, who was married on the ship 19 years ago and enjoyed cruising aboard her to Catalina
Island.
After receiving disappointing news from Catalina Museum officials that they do not have room for the stack, Engholm decided to save the pilothouse
while he continues to search for a party interested in saving the stack.
Neither a price nor an OK has yet been given to Engholm by port officials.
If his proposal is approved, Engholm plans to head down to Ensenada and, with the help of family and friends, take the pilothouse apart and transport
it to his home in Coos Bay, Oregon.
“It would be nicer to take the whole pilothouse together, but that would require a crane and a barge,” Engholm said.
“That would be the most expensive way to go -- and being that I will be funding this out of my personal funds, I am going to do it in the most
economical way,” he explained. “It’s more time consuming, but still more economically feasible.”
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