Watery Grave Awaits Fabled Steamship Catalina

The Valentine’s Day gift Ruth Singer received years ago could not be wrapped up neatly in a jewelry box, or even hidden under the bed until the special day arrived.

Her gift was 307 feet long and had been used by more than 25 million people.

For Valentine’s Day in 1977, Singer’s husband gave her the fabled Catalina, known as the Great White Steamer, that ferried passengers between San Pedro and Avalon for more than 50 years, starting in 1924.

But now this piece of Southern California history is slowly sinking in the Port of Ensenada in Baja California and may be dismantled for scrap unless Ruth and her husband, Hymie, who live in Beverly Hills, can do something about it.

“We have come to the end of our line,” said Ruth, 77, who isn’t quite sure what is going to become of the steamer. Her 87-year-old husband is ill, she said, and neither of them has the funds or the energy to find a solution to a nagging 21-year-old problem.

“It’s like a cancer,” said Ruth, who is ready to see the Catalina towed to the junkyard.

Filiberto Estrada, harbor master for the Port of Ensenada, said Thursday that the ship began to sink about a month ago. Now 15% of it is under water. He tried to notify the owners when the problem started, but he said he received no reply.

“This is a headache,” Estrada said in a telephone interview. “I am going to have to start legal proceedings to get rid of it unless the owners do something about it.”

But the Singers, who were out of town for the holidays and returned only recently, don’t appear to be willing to do anything about it. The couple have already sunk $2 million into the steamer, trying to turn it into a tourist attraction. But their efforts have been thwarted by what Ruth called shady dealings, unreliable business partners and the fact that her husband is a Canadian citizen.

Hymie Singer, a real estate developer, purchased the Catalina for $70,000 at an auction as a Valentine’s Day gift and to replace the couple’s 32-foot cabin cruiser that had sunk.

During its heyday, the steamer transported as many as 2,000 passengers at a time over the 25 miles between San Pedro and Catalina Island. The 2 1/2-hour trip was more an adventure than a mere ferry ride. There were a bar, orchestra, clowns and magic acts for the children.

“Your Catalina experience began when you got on the ship,” said Patricia Moore, director of the Catalina Island Museum and once a passenger on the Catalina. “When the steamer went out of service, it marked the end of an era.”

The Catalina was one of three Great White Steamers that sailed to Catalina Island. The other two, the Cabrillo and the Avalon, were scrapped decades ago.

And the Catalina, the last of the steamers, faced increased competition in the 1970s from smaller, faster boats that zipped across the sea.

When Hymie Singer bought the steamer, he had plans to moor the ship permanently near some coastal city. But no port, including Avalon, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Long Beach, wanted the ship. And under federal law, Hymie Singer, as a Canadian citizen, could not ferry passengers between U.S. ports. As soon as he took possession of the boat, it was no longer a U.S. registered vessel. Only U.S. registered vessels are allowed to carry passengers between U.S. ports.

In 1978, the Singers had the steamer moored to a buoy three miles off Santa Monica. Because it was deemed a hazard to navigation, the steamer was ordered transported to the Port of Los Angeles. At the port, it broke free of its moorings twice in the mid-1980s.

During this time, Gene Webber, an Orange County real estate agent, leased the ship from the Singers. But after the U.S. Coast Guard asked Justice Department officials to file a lawsuit to force the sale of the aging steamship for nonpayment of towing and mooring charges, Webber decided to take the ship to Ensenada.

The Singers sued Webber to get the Catalina returned to U.S. waters. A Los Angeles Superior Court judge in 1990 granted the Singers their wish, said Mark Rosenberg, the attorney who represented them. But the ship remained in Ensenada.

By 1988, it was refurbished and opened as a floating bar, restaurant, and disco after Mexican citizen Alejandro Marcin Salazar became the Singers’ business partner. That venture lasted until 1991, when the Singers sued Marcin.

The ship has been foundering ever since. No one is optimistic that it can be saved.

“It is a very historic vessel for this port, but it is way too far gone to preserve,” said William Lee, director of the Los Angeles Maritime Museum in San Pedro.

“It could have been a beautiful thing,” said Ruth Singer. “It was a part of the heritage of Los Angeles. But nobody wants to help us and nobody cares.”