Great White Fleet (reefer ships)

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Great White Fleet poster circa 1916

Great White Fleet was the initially unofficial name of the white banana steamer fleet of the American United Fruit Company , abbreviated to UFC or UFCO. The UFCO was founded on March 30, 1899 in Boston , Massachusetts (USA) from the fruit trading company Boston Fruit, founded by Lorenzo Dow Baker and Andrew W. Preston, and the transport company Tropical Trading and Transport Company, led by Minor C. Keith. The main business consisted in the cultivation and trading of bananas, a very sensitive fruit that can be kept for approx. 10 to 14 days without refrigeration from harvest to consumption.

Development of banana shipping until 1945

Experimental ship Venus (1903)

UFCO quickly developed into a vertically structured company, whose bananas were initially transported by rail and ship without refrigeration. The high transport losses due to premature bananas from Central America to New York led to new considerations. The successes in transporting bananas with refrigerated ships from Jamaica Fruit Importing and Trading Company from Jamaica to England in 1898/99 and the use of two HAPAG freighters converted into refrigerated ships in the Atlas service from 1903 onwards showed that this new method of transporting bananas caused much less load loss.

These developments led the UFCO in 1903 to the first experiments with refrigerated ships. The steamer Venus (ex Santos II, delivered in 1877 by Mitchell & Co, Newcastle for Hamburg Süd ) with 2,275 GRT and 1170 hp was chartered and converted into a refrigerated ship. In this way, experience was gained on the transport of bananas with regard to the cargo temperature, the air circulation and the fresh air supply.

1910 New Orleans: Panorama of United Fruit Company ships at the Erato & St. Joseph Street Pier (left, refrigerated ship of the 5,000 t class while coaling, center of the picture a refrigerated ship of the pioneer class, right, refrigerated ship of the 5,000 t class)

The pioneer class - the first reefer ships of the Great White Fleet (1904)

The positive results led to the ordering of the three reefer vessels ( San Jose , Esparta and Limon ) with 3,300 GT, the first reefer vessels for the UFCO. They were built by Workman Clark & ​​Co and delivered in 1904. The Tropical Steamship Company was founded in Glasgow for these three refrigerated ships of the so-called pioneer class. The participation in the Atlantic Fruit Company (1905), the takeover of the Vaccaro Brothers & Company (1905) and the takeover or participation in several European fruit companies such as B. the British Elder's and Fyffes (1913) led to more plantations and increasing transports.

13 new reefer ships (5,000 t class, 1909)

From 1909 the Atenas was the first of a total of 13 reefer ships in the "5,000 tons class" from Workman Clark & ​​Co. They were equipped for 100 passengers and were partly modeled on Hapag's Prinzen class , which had been in the same area since 1904. These new reefer ships came under the British flag, were registered in the USA from 1914 and were also known as "Mail Boats".

The Metapan belonged to the second series of refrigerated ships in the Great White Fleet (5,000 tons class)

Elite class (1913)

With the Pastores and her two sister ships , the first twin screw ships were delivered to UFCO. They were also built by Workman Clark & ​​Co in Belfast and measured 7,800 GRT. The ships had generous facilities for 135 passengers and ran a speed of 15 knots. At 7,450 GRT, the Toloa and her two sisters were of similar size and speed with space for 170 passengers. They were also double screwdrivers, which were driven by two triple expansion machines.

The Pastores was used from 1942 to 1945 in World War II

San class (1921)

Like all their predecessors, these ships were also built by Workman Clark & ​​Co in Belfast and had a measurement of 3,300–3,600 GRT. They were powered by triple expansion engines and ran 12.5 knots. There were five ships in all. The San Benito had a turbo-electric drive.

La class (1923)

The refrigerated ship La Playa (3,700 GRT) was delivered in 1923 as the first of three ships of this class from the Cammell, Laird & Company shipyard . They were the first diesel-electric ships, and each ship had 4 diesel generator sets. They worked on an electric drive motor. However, the diesel engines caused many difficulties, and the installation (1927) of new diesel engines from an Italian manufacturer did not solve the problem. The La Marea was cut open transversely at Workman Clark & ​​Co in 1929, extended and received two steam boilers and a steam drive. The La Perla was powered by a triple expansion machine from the start.

Great White Fleet ships unload their bananas in New Orleans

Turbo-electric reefer ships (Mailboats 1930)

The first reefer ships with turbo-electric propulsion, the Platano and Musa (1930; 6,000 GRT) were also built by the Cammell, Laird & Company shipyard. The US shipyard Newport News delivered another three identical refrigerated ships with turbo-electric propulsion, the Talamanca , Chiriqui and the Peten . The Veragua , Quirigua and the Antigua were built by Bethlehem Steel in Quincy. There were two-screw ships with 7,000 GRT that ran 18 knots. They had cabins for 100 passengers. Two of these ships were sold to Germany in 1958 and operated as Blexen and Blumenthal for the Union Handels- und Schiffahrtsgesellschaft until 1971 in the banana service between Central America and Bremerhaven.

Turbo-electric reefer ships (1945-1947)

Another eight turbo-electric reefer ships of similar dimensions came from Newport News ( Metapan , Heredia ) and from the Gulf Shipbuilding Corporation, Chickasaw, Alabama ( Fra Berlanga , Comayagua , Esparta , Junior , Limon , San Jose ) in 1945-1947 . They were delivered to the United Mail SS and taken over by the UFCO in 1959.

The US shipyard Newport News delivered the Talamanca with a turbo-electric drive in 1931

After the Second World War , the era of the banana steamers was over, only refrigerated ships powered by diesel engines were ordered and delivered.

Literature and Sources