The Steamship Historical Society of America

 

SSHSA is highlighting the status of many ships currently in transition.... The following categories include:

Threatened/Endangered:

This includes ships whose future remains unknown or uncertain. These vessels require immediate action as change is on the horizon. Links to organizations dedicated to these vessels with contact information appears here....

Delta Queen

This iconic National Historic Landmark has been plying America's rivers and inland waterways since 1928.  This is the last traditional steamboat carrying passengers overnight in the USA.  October 2008 was the last voyage as owner/operator Majestic America Cruise Lines has been unable to obtain an exemption from the US Congress.  www.save-the-delta-queen.org

Columbia

This is America's oldest surviving excursion steamer, having served hundreds of thousands of amusement park daytrippers from 1902 to 1991 on the Detroit River to and from Bob-Lo Island. A National Historic Landmark mothballed for 15 years, an effort is underway to bring this impressive vessel to New York City for restoration and resumed service on the Hudson River. www.sscolumbia.org

Ste. Claire

This partner ship to Columbia was also used to ferry passengers in the Great Lakes area to Bob-Lo Island Amusement Park from 1910 until 1991. This vessel continues to be towed to various locations in the Detroit area as money is raised through "haunted" fundraisers and voluteers as well as professional contractors make progress toward determining its ultimate fate. www.bobloboat.com

Olympia

The USS Olympia, a gallant hero launched in 1892 and veteran of the Spanish-American War and World War I, is in peril. She is one of America's most revered naval treasures but is on the verge of being lost unless prompt action is taken to save her. www.phillyseaport.org .

United States

America's greatest, and the world's fastest passenger carrying ocean liner, the SS United States remains afloat today, nearly 40 years after ceasing operation. Languishing in Philadelphia, The Big U is owned and maintained by NCL America (perhaps known best for Norweigen Cruise Lines). NCL has stated intentions of converting the SS United States into a modern cruise ship, however after five years of ownership by NCL the nation's flagship remains tied up with only hopes of a re-birth.  Several organizations are involved in attempts to move efforts forward, and film documentaries have been produced to help tell the story.  www.ssunitedstatesconservancy.org  www.bigshipfilms.com www.ssunitedstates.org www.ssunitedstates-film.com

Saved/Adapted and/or Preserved:

This category will include great success stories of vessels which will continue to have a future role in today's society, although they may not be in service as originally intended.

Queen Mary

Site of SSHSA's West Coast Office and located in Long Beach, California, Queen Mary continues today to serve as America's best example of a classic, early 20th Century ocean liner experience. Permanently moored and adaptively used for close to 40 years now, Queen Mary continues to evolve as a hotel, conference center, museum, retail establishment, and major attraction on the west coast. www.queenmary.com  

QE2

Autumn 2008 marked the final departure for Cunard Lines famous Ocean Liner Queen Elizabeth 2. The ship has been sold to an organization in Dubai and will undergo renovations to begin its new life as a hotel.  www.Qe2.org.uk

Rotterdam

Under complete restoration, Rotterdam - SSHSA's 1996 "Ship of the Year" recipient will emerge later this year as a new adaptive use facility in The Netherlands. Known as traditional today, but very unconventional when launched in 1958, her loyal passenger continue to consider her the "Greatest Ship at Sea"!  www.ssrotterdam.net

At the Breakers/Lost or Destroyed:

This refers to ships that have been sunk, towed to the breakers recently or have no hope of any future salvation.

Aquarama

Becky Thatcher

Catalina

EM Ford

France/Norway

Independence

2010 is very special as it marks the second phase since SSHSA launched its innovative  "Image Porthole. " Initially containing 40,000 "lost" pictures of ships, ports, and people that now have been preserved and digitized. This year, an additional 20,000 or so photos never seen before have been added.  SSHSA Members have the ability to interact with the database and help us identify these forgotten images. General Public may login as guests and view the images. This site has become the "Shipipedia" of the internet.

Click on this link to access www.sshsa-db.org SSHSA's Image Porthole.You may also immediately purchase high-quality photos right now by visiting our partner e-commerce site www.shiphistory.org

For other publications, prints and unique maritime items, please visit our store on ebay http://stores.shop.ebay.com/sshsa-online-store or click on the store button from our homepage. 

In 1933, Congress designated May 22 as National Maritime Day.  In 2008 we celebrated by launching our new interactive web-based Image Porthole site sharing thousands of fading, forgotten and deteriorating photos. Here's the official congressional verbage:

Whereas on May 22, 1819, the steamship The Savannah set sail from Savannah, Geaorgia, on the first successful transoceanic voyage under steam propulsion, thus making a material contribution to the advancement of ocean transportation: Therefore be it

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That May 22 of each year shall hereafter be designated and known as National Maritime Day, and the President is authorized and requested annually to issue a proclamation calling upon the people of the United States to observe such National Maritime Day by displaying the flag at their homes or other suitable places and Government officials to display the flag on all government buildings on May 22 of each year.

This celebratory day was championed by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who incidentally, became the first U.S. President to become a member of SSHSA. FDR, like many other prominent maritime enthusiasts, believed in our cause and joined as an honorary member in 1945.  His acceptance letter is housed at his presidential library in Hyde Park, NY.

Click on the PDF's below to read a few articles regarding the Image Porthole.

 

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Warwick Beacon story.jpg	384.28 KB
Digital Ark 2-reduced file size.pdf	458.27 KB
PBN Image Porthole Story-reduced file size.pdf	576 KB

As members and friends of the Steamship Historical Society in this, our 75^th Anniversary year, you can see that things are changing. It is important for every kind of organization to periodically review who they are, where they are, and where they are going. In this era of corporations having really rough times surviving, strategic planning can make all the difference. In 2006, the Board of the SSHSA held its second strategic workshop to address the health and current direction of the SSHSA. Led by a nationally recognized facilitator, the session successfully provided us with an accurate, but not pretty picture of where we were, and led us to set objectives as to where we wanted to go.

As an adjunct to that, we asked our financial advisors to analyze our financial future. Their startling report indicated that if we continued as usual, we would be out of business by 2018. We had been living on two or three legacy gifts subsidizing our dues with funds from endowment. That had been going on for some twenty years! We immediately took steps to curtail and redirect spending. We closed our research library saving thousands of dollars, and moved it to storage in Providence. We inventoried our Fine Arts Collection that has been in storage for years in New York, and moved it to fine arts storage in Providence. This move made it more accessible for evaluation, and cut the storage costs in half. Enter the worldwide web, the Internet, 9/11, and the recent nationwide financial meltdown, and the world has changed. Electronic communication and information sharing is replacing books, magazines, and objects. Virtual visits and changing educational goals are hurting traditional maritime museums and institutions. Information people used to be willing to purchase is now available free, through the internet! With all this happening, our 2018 out-of- business date has been moved forward.

However the Board of Directors is not sitting still. In fact, SSHSA is moving forward with such issues as employing professional staff, rebranding our products, putting down permanent roots, digitizing and sharing collections via the internet, and aggressively reaching out to more completely fulfill our mission to “full ahead” mode. We intend to be the national authorities on engine-powered vessels, recognized within the country and specifically the maritime community as the same. 

As part of our strategic planning initiatives, certain collections, gifts, and donations which were acquired from supporters as unrestricted gifts or donated outright for SSHSA fundraising purposes, have been identified as to sell.  Using today’s modern scanning and digitizing technology, we have first and foremost remained true to our mission to document, preserve via electronic imaging, and now have the opportunity to share via the internet and in other emerging markets many more of our collections.  Virtual exhibits can now be mounted in-perpetuity, at very little cost.  We will continue to have maritime memorabilia available for research and will offer unique auctions throughout the year as on-going fundraisers. 

We are already reaping the rewards of the implementation of our strategic plan. We have experienced growth in memberships (nearly 1000 new members since 2007), significant new revenue through publication sales, fundraisers, gifts and grants. With the increase in travel on engine-powered vessels of all kinds, the renewed fascination by the media with all things nautical, and with the evolving technology, we see a bright and exciting future for SSHSA’s next 75 years.  

Most Sincerely, 

Robert C. Cleasby, President