SS Independence: Ghost Ship

Flowered Stacks  :::::Flowered Stacks :::::
Flying Bridge  :::::Flying Bridge :::::
X'd Forecastle  :::::X'd Forecastle :::::
Arcing  :::::Arcing :::::
Fantail  :::::Fantail :::::
Lifeboat 13  :::::Lifeboat 13 :::::
Porthole  :::::Porthole :::::
Question Mark  :::::Question Mark :::::
Flower Tower  :::::Flower Tower :::::
Lets Go Below  :::::Lets Go Below :::::
Ohana Deck  :::::  It's easy to get lost in the ship's warrem of pitch black corridors.Ohana Deck ::::: It's easy to get lost in the ship's warrem of pitch black corridors.
Aloha  :::::  All ashore that's going ashore.Aloha ::::: All ashore that's going ashore.
The Hoi Hoi Showplace  :::::  On the Kama'aina Deck.The Hoi Hoi Showplace ::::: On the Kama'aina Deck.
Curved Room  :::::  The Constitution LoungeCurved Room ::::: The Constitution Lounge
John Wilkes  :::::  Big booth, little table. John Wilkes ::::: Big booth, little table.
The Surfrider  :::::  Smelled like vomit.The Surfrider ::::: Smelled like vomit.
Outgoing Dialing Prohibited  :::::  Outgoing Dialing Prohibited :::::
Full Steam Ahead  :::::  The bridge, on a stormy night.Full Steam Ahead ::::: The bridge, on a stormy night.
Gold Leaf  :::::  Elevator button panel, adrift in the stairwell.Gold Leaf ::::: Elevator button panel, adrift in the stairwell.
Down the Well  :::::  One of the four 5-story passenger stairwells.Down the Well ::::: One of the four 5-story passenger stairwells.
Hear Here  :::::  Soundproof telephone station in the impossibly dark engine room.Hear Here ::::: Soundproof telephone station in the impossibly dark engine room.
Dashboard  :::::  Engine Room control systems.Dashboard ::::: Engine Room control systems.
Electric Chair  :::::  Electric Chair :::::
Haunted Hallway  :::::  An endless, totally dark maze.Haunted Hallway ::::: An endless, totally dark maze.
Bedside  :::::  One of hundreds of staterooms.Bedside ::::: One of hundreds of staterooms.
Night Stand  :::::  Night Stand :::::
Hot Buffet  :::::  Hot Buffet :::::
Bullseye  :::::  Bulletin board in the sick bay.Bullseye ::::: Bulletin board in the sick bay.
Magic Hour Indy  :::::  The beginning of her last night in port.  Any port.Magic Hour Indy ::::: The beginning of her last night in port. Any port.
Destination Unknown  :::::  The beginning of her final voyage, under tow to the South Pacific..Destination Unknown ::::: The beginning of her final voyage, under tow to the South Pacific..
The End Of An Era  :::::  Towed through the Golden Gate in her last moments in American waters.The End Of An Era ::::: Towed through the Golden Gate in her last moments in American waters.
  • Flowered Stacks  :::::
  • Flying Bridge  :::::
  • X'd Forecastle  :::::
  • Arcing  :::::
  • Fantail  :::::
  • Lifeboat 13  :::::
  • Porthole  :::::
  • Question Mark  :::::
  • Flower Tower  :::::
  • Lets Go Below  :::::
  • Ohana Deck  :::::  It's easy to get lost in the ship's warrem of pitch black corridors.
  • Aloha  :::::  All ashore that's going ashore.
  • The Hoi Hoi Showplace  :::::  On the Kama'aina Deck.
  • Curved Room  :::::  The Constitution Lounge
  • John Wilkes  :::::  Big booth, little table.
  • The Surfrider  :::::  Smelled like vomit.
  • Outgoing Dialing Prohibited  :::::
  • Full Steam Ahead  :::::  The bridge, on a stormy night.
  • Gold Leaf  :::::  Elevator button panel, adrift in the stairwell.
  • Down the Well  :::::  One of the four 5-story passenger stairwells.
  • Hear Here  :::::  Soundproof telephone station in the impossibly dark engine room.
  • Dashboard  :::::  Engine Room control systems.
  • Electric Chair  :::::
  • Haunted Hallway  :::::  An endless, totally dark maze.
  • Bedside  :::::  One of hundreds of staterooms.
  • Night Stand  :::::
  • Hot Buffet  :::::
  • Bullseye  :::::  Bulletin board in the sick bay.
  • Magic Hour Indy  :::::  The beginning of her last night in port.  Any port.
  • Destination Unknown  :::::  The beginning of her final voyage, under tow to the South Pacific..
  • The End Of An Era  :::::  Towed through the Golden Gate in her last moments in American waters.

Built in 1950, the golden age of the luxury liner, the S.S. Independence was a 1,000 passenger ship specifically designed for high-speed, long distance cruising on the open sea.

The Indy, and her identical twin sister ship, the S.S. Constitution, worked the six-week route from New York to a variety of ports in the Mediterranean. She was a first-class ship, transporting 2 presidents–Truman and Reagan–as well as numerous film and TV stars.

By the 1970s her steam engines were already hopelessly outdated and incredibly expensive to operate.  Eventually, she was refitted and demoted to low speed tours of the Hawaiian Islands, where she served until 2001.

She was decommissioned from her island hopping duties when American tourism ground to a halt in the months following 9/11. She was laid up and left to rust at various locations in the San Francisco Bay Area for 7 years, a ghost ship, shrouded in mystery.

I was lucky enough to wrangle access for night photography a few times in the last week the Indy was in San Francisco through some connections at the shipyard. Because her time in San Francisco was so short, we stayed aboard until 3AM on the last stormy night, slipping outside between the showers to shoot the wet decks in the howling wind.  The atmosphere aboard the ship that night was palpable, the warren of identical hallways below deck were as dark as dark can be.  Every moment aboard her was an unforgettably surreal and spooky experience.

She was towed from her berth in San Francisco 2/8/08 by an ocean-going tug, the beginning of her final journey. The official word: she was to be towed to Singapore for refit, but most people in the know said it was the breaker beaches of India for the last (barely) seaworthy ’50s American liner.

Six months later she was being held in the Marianas Islands by the EPA pending an investigation on the legality of her sale and the environmental impact of her breaking.  She disappeared for a time, only to turn up, run aground in India’s Gulf of Cambay in June 2010, where she broke in half and sank in the thirty-foot tidal swells.