Cargo ship: Free State Mariner On 29 May 1952, the ship was launched at the
Bethlehem Shipbuilding shipyard in
Sparrow's Point, Maryland as the turbine general cargo ship
Free State Mariner of the type C4-S-1a ( Mariner class ), hull number 4507. The class of ship was specifically designed to be fast and reliable freighters and were ordered by the
U.S. Maritime Administration. On 8 December 1952, the US Maritime Commission took over the ship for use by the
US Marine Corps.
Matson Line Matson Navigation Company took over the ship on July 28, 1955. Matson undertook a $60 million shipbuilding program which rebuilt her for Pacific Coast - Hawaii service. The ship was sent to the Willamette Iron & Steel Corporation shipyard in
Portland, Oregon, where she was converted into a
MARAD type P2-S1-1g combination ship. She and her sister ship
Mariposa were the very first American liners ever to be given Sperry gyro-fin stabilisers, and the new system of rapid-opening hydraulic hatch covers. On December 31, 1956, the vessel was delivered as the
Monterey, reviving the name from the previous of 1931. On January 9, 1957, the ship began her combined passenger and cargo service between
San Francisco,
Honolulu,
Auckland and
Sydney, operating together with her sister ship
Mariposa. On April 10, 1979, the ship was sold to the San Francisco-based airline President World Airways, which sold the ship to the San Francisco-based company American Maritime Holdings on November 2, 1979. the ship arrived at the Tacoma Boatbuilding shipyard in 1987. Between December 1987 and July 21, 1988, the ship was finally converted into a cruise ship at the Wärtsilä shipyard in Turku/Åbo, Finland. From September 1988, the
Monterey undertook Pacific cruises from her base port of San Francisco before being re-laid up in Honolulu on May 13, 1989.
Star Lauro to MSC Cruises On March 16, 1990, the shipping company
Star Lauro, now owned by
Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), bought the steamer and put her into service under the Panama flag. On October 1, 1995, the
Monterey was absorbed into the newly created MSC Cruises by her final shipping company. This would be one of the first ships to sail under the newly created MSC cruises livery. The ship would be used for cruises in the Mediterranean over the following decade. In October 2006, the ship was decommissioned and sold for scrap. The
Monterey was renamed Monte for her final voyage to India and reached Alang on November 3, 2006, where demolition of the 54-year-old ship began two days later. == References ==