Cruising The Past Cruise News Here’s a charming black and white home movie shot aboard the SS Nantucket as she sailed from Florida to Savannah, Georgia in 1928.
This is a wonderful 1928 – HOME MOVIE OF COAST-WISE TRIP FROM FLORIDA TO SAVANNAH aboard the Merchants and Miners Trans Co SS NANTUCKET courtesy of www.shipgeek.com on youTUBE. Lots of deck scenes with film of passengers entertainment along with hilarious sequence on steward helping woman who has sea-sickness. The background music is “Yes, we have no bananas.”
The SS NANTUCKET (formerly the FARGO) was part of the Merchants & Miners Transportation Company fleet. Merchant & Minder was founded in Baltimore in 1852 to operate a cargo and passenger steamship line between Baltimore and Boston, Mass. Their service continued to Norfolk, Savannah and Jacksonville.
Vacation By Sea – Year Round – Merchants and Miners Transportation Company – 1923
A new route between Baltimore, via Savanah and Jacksonville commenced in 1909 and in 1920 a service was initiated to Havana, Cuba, but this was discontinued after about a year.
Postal Card featuring the Merchants and Miners ships.
A service to Nassau, Bahamas started in 1939, but on the entry of the United Stated into World War II in 1941, most of the company’s ships were requisitioned for war duty. Limited services continued, but after the war, it was not considered financially viable to re-purchase ships which had been sold to the Government or to build new ships and in 1948 it was decided to cease trading. The company was officially liquidated in 1952.
