Cruising The Past Cruise News This video is from a super 8 home movie collection. It was filmed around 1972. The Great White Steamer sailed to Catalina Island during the summer. This is one of its last trips before being discontinued.
The S.S. Catalina, also known as The Great White Steamer, was a 301-foot steamship built in 1924 that provided passenger service on the 26-mile passage between Los Angeles and Santa Catalina Island from 1924 to 1975.
According to the Steamship Historical Society of America, the Catalina had carried more passengers than any other vessel anywhere.
The S.S. Catalina also served as a troop ship during World War II, transporting more than 800,000 soldiers and sailors.
After a period of service as a floating discotheque, the ship ran aground on a sandbar in Ensenada Harbor in 1997, remained half-submerged and decaying at that location for more than a decade and was scrapped last year.
