In And Out Of The Fog Blog

SS OCEANIC at BAE Shipyard, February 5, 2008

I returned to the beautiful San Francisco region this week to say a final good bye to a favorite ship and to check in on another languishing lady whose future remains in doubt.

February 9, 2008:

After three days of crystal clear but crisp morning weather, it came as a bit of surprise when I arose to find San Francisco drenched in a clotted, creamy fog. My usual morning aches and dread were exacerbated by a twinge of sadness and the damp chill as I ventured into the frenzied commuter traffic to witness the departure of the 1951-built SS OCEANIC (ex INDEPENDENCE) from the BAE Shipyard in China Basin.

From my first look at her in The World Book Encyclopedia as a “midcentury” child when she was American Export Line’s proud INDEPENDENCE to my first “real” cruise, a seven night Hawaiian Island hop during her maiden season for American Hawaii Cruises in 1980 (as OCEANIC INDEPENDENCE) and many visits and another cruise over the next 21 years, she was always there. Even in her final, troubled years, from her fireboat greeting in San Francisco on her arrival (following the bankruptcy of her last owners, American Classic Voyages) in 2001 to her lay ups in Alameda, the Reserve Fleet, Mare Island and, ultimately BAE, she managed to stay within reach and camera lens.

As I pulled up to the observation point across from the berth the ship has languished at for the past few years, only the slightest hint of her twin funnels was visible through the swirling morass of fog. Directly above, a tinge of blue and the occasional outline of the sun struggled against the melancholy and gloom.

It was approximately 9:30 AM and a man with a camera was already there to record the event, which was scheduled for high tide (approximately 10:30). Two local tugs, the DELTA DEANNA and DELTA LINDA, bobbed at her bow, their positions changing with the visibility. Meanwhile, off in the channel, the ominous form of an ocean-going tug, the PACIFIC HICKORY, loomed.

All text and photographs copyright Peter Knego 2008 unless otherwise noted. Note: click on image to view a larger version.

SS OCEANIC departs BAE on February 9, 2008.

I set up my gear next to the other man, Zach, a photographer who had discovered the ship while riding his bike along the waterfront nearly a year ago. With no prior knowledge of what the former INDEPENDENCE was, he was smitten by her architecture and beauty. In the next hour, two more photographers and two fellow ship enthusiasts, James Tagliani (whose parents crossed in INDEPENDENCE and CONSTITUTION to Italy — preferring them over the Italian liners) and John Tobeler, arrived. At 11:00 AM, we could hear the tugs’ engines but could not see anything until a slight break revealed the OCEANIC freed of her berth and almost half way into the channel.

Final counter encounter.

With the slight backlight of the morning sun and her port side veiled in the murkiness, it was easy to imagine her in AEL colors readying for a “Sun Lane” crossing or heading into the Narrows wearing those famous Harlow Eyes during her final “cruise” season for AEL and charterer Fugazi.

We clicked away and conversed, sharing a sense of awe and loss as that twin funneled, counter sterned symbol of past American ingenuity edged slowly toward the PACIFIC HICKORY, portions of her rust-streaked structure gauzed out by the chunky haze. Most of us had plans to follow her out to the Golden Gate, although the first leg of her journey into the Bay would be impossible to document through the thick fog.

Passing Alcatraz.

Off Angel Island.

It was another two hours before the fog lifted and OCEANIC’s fading green funnels appeared through a break in a pine that jutted out from the southwest promontory of the Golden Gate. She turned westward off Alcatraz and entered brilliant sunlight.

Gloriously under the GGB.

Faded paint and stains of rust could not diminish the swept back dignity and gallant lines of the two funneled wonder that was about to glide past. Following the PACIFIC HICKORY like a queen on her way to the gallows, OCEANIC looked proud but resigned to her fate. Behind her, like a loyal lady in waiting, one of the DELTA tugs attended with a fine arc of spray to see her out into the Pacific. With the cliffs of Marin and the calm turquoise waters as a backdrop, the OCEANIC’s ivory flanks were blackened by the shadow of the great orange bridge one final time.

I ran to the car and drove along Lincoln Avenue to the west side of the bridge toward the Sea Cliff estates. After I found my next vantage, a stylish woman in a green Jaguar pulled up and called to me, yearning to know what that “gorgeous ship” was. I told her, then remarked that she had great taste, to which she responded,”I only like the finer things,” pausing for one more look, then driving off.

Nearing Point Bonita Light.

Double Vision.
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Meanwhile, OCEANIC/INDEPENDENCE slipped past the beautifully-lit Marin Headlands, the historic Point Bonita Lighthouse, and into the Pacific.

Final view.

It’s been a good long life for this Henry Dreyfuss-designed masterpiece of function and aesthetic. Now largely stripped, worn, in the throes of decay and heading for almost certain oblivion, she will thrive in memory, enjoying a legacy few other ships will ever achieve.

February 9, 2008:

MV FAITHFUL/XANADU History and Tour on MaritimeMatters

Backlit From Jack London Square: MV XANADU 2/FAITHFUL/AURORA.

I couldn’t resist cueing up the chirpy Electric Light Orchestra/Olivia Newton-John confection, “Xanadu”, for my approach to Oakland’s Jack London Square this morning. As the song crescendo-ed into a guilty pleasure of chorales, synths, and swirling harmonies, I pulled up near the preserved presidential yacht POTOMAC. Across the channel, a ship that once sported the name of Kublai Khan’s pleasure dome on her bows, awaited.

She was built in 1955 as the WAPPEN VON HAMBURG for North Sea service and thoroughly rebuilt in 1960 by Nomikos LInes as the DELOS for Greek Islands cruises. In 1967, she became POLAR STAR, then PACIFIC STAR in 1970, serving on Westours Alaskan and South Pacific service, respectively. Her next owner was Xanadu Cruises, who employed her as XANADU on expedition style cruises to Alaska and Mexico.

I first visited XANADU in 1976 when she called at Los Angeles at the start of a cruise season to Mexico. At that time, she was a gleaming, yacht-like cruise ship with stylish decor, including the her owner’s personal Asian antique collection. A few short years later, her heyday ended when the ship was laid up in Puget Sound. Plans for use as an exhibition ship, EXPEX, and a Christian hospital ship, FAITHFUL, went nowhere and she ended up in Los Angeles harbor, clandestinely occupied by missionaries until being seized and sold to a Florida-based doctor who hoped to restore her as a hospital ship with the name XANADU 2. Instead, she lay at the Southwest Marine Shipyard, appearing in the background of an SUV commercial before being towed to Alameda in September of 2005 for a planned conversion to a yacht called AURORA. The plans were shelved shortly after her arrival and the ship has continued to languish, suffering plunder and pillage in addition to visits from drug addicts and transients.

Serving FAITHFUL/AURORA/XANADU 2.

The Alameda City Attorney’s Office served the ship notice on January 2, 2008, that she must be claimed by her owners or will be disposed of, effective January 23. A firm based in Rio Vista (on the Sacramento River) has been contracted to tow the ship away as soon as possible to allow for a planned renovation of the pier area she is occupying.

Battered, yet beckoning.

Bulwarks of beauty.

In the brilliant morning light, the ship looked worn and weathered but still powerful and much bigger than her 2,496 gt size. Her tapered bow, harmonious bulwarks. layered and rounded superstructure, streamlined mast and low after decks are perfection in miniature. With the proper rebuilding, she would make a magnificent yacht in the style of Tauck Tours CRISTINA.

Blohm and Voss bow.

Stern reality.

Hopefully, there will be a comeback for this forgotten lady. In the meantime, the chorus fades on the lines, “A place that nobody dared to go, A dream that we came to know, they call it XANADU…….”

End