i was told that a number of things i know about the ship are all false by someone that thinks they know everything, i intend to piss the old fart off
the major item in question is my statement that it was a liberty ship for the war, i was “corrected” by being told it was built after the war … basicly for civilian uses
from what i’ve heard it was a medical ship? could be wrong but i think it only made one or two trips
1945 built by the Sun Shipbuilding & Drydock Company in Chester, Pennsylvania as the C4-S-B5 class general cargo ship Marine Star
She was one of 12 similar ships that were built there between 1943 and 1945 along with several hundred T2-SE-A1 tankers. Marine Star was preceeded by the Marine Eagle (C4-S-B1 hull #340), Marine Raven (C4-S-B2 hull #341), Marine Robin (C4-S-B2 hull #342), Marine Wolf (C4-S-B2 hull #343), Marine Devil (C4-S-B2 hull #344), Marine Fox (C4-S-B2 hull #347), Marine Angel (C4-S-B2 hull #354), Marine Flier (C4-S-B5 hull #355) and the Marine Arrow (C4-S-B5 hull #355). She was followed by the Marine Fiddler (C4-S-B5 hull #358) and Marine Runner (C4-S-B5 hull #359). There were slight differences in Gross tonnage between the different minor classes.
1954 Marine Star was sold by the U.S. Maritime Commission to the Sand Products Corporation in Detroit, Michigan
1955 she was renamed Aquarama
1955-56 she was converted from a cargo ship to passenger and excursion vessel at the Todd Shipyard Corporation drydock in Brooklyn, New York and brought to the Great Lakes early in 1956. Completion of her conversion to a passenger vessel was completed by the Sand Products Corporation and she entered service during the summer of 1956
1962 Aquarama laid up in Muskegon, Michigan and never sailed again
1978 she was removed from documentation and her registry was closed
1987 she was sold to North Shore Farming Incorporated who intended to use the ship as a stationary hotel and convention center at Port Stanley, Ontario, Canada
10 July 1988 Aquarama arrived at Sarnia and laid up - her conversion was never done
24 May 1989 she arrived in Marysville, Michigan under tow from Sarnia
1 June 1989 she was towed from Marysville, Michigan to Windsor, Ontario and laid up
1995 she was sold to Master Marine Management and renamed Marine Star while she was laid up in Windsor
1995 Marine Star was sold again to Empire Cruise Lines (James A. Everatt)
3 August 1995 she arrived at Buffalo under tow and laid up alongside an old Cargill elevator in the outer harbour
1 March 2003 Marine Star is still laid up in Lackawanna, New York (Buffalo harbor) at the western end of Lake Erie. It is quite unlikely that she will ever sail again.
seems from what this says it was used it war then coinverted for passenger travel
The MV Aquarama was a Liberty ship, built as USS Marine Star in 1945 in Chester, Pa., as a U.S. troop carrier, but it made just one trip across the Atlantic before the war ended. USS Marine Star was converted into a cruise-ferry ship that took passengers between Detroit and Cleveland in the late 1950s and early 1960s. A reproduction picture is now on e-bay
But reading further found this:
She was neither a Liberty ship, nor a motor vessel. She was built at Chester PA by the Sun SB&DDCo, hull no. 357, as a C4-S-B5 (a combined troop and cargo transport), one of five built late in the war and of twenty C-4s built by Sun. Liberty ships were designated EC-2 by the USMC, were significantly smaller freighters and powered by triple-expansion steam engines. As Aquarama, and now as Marine Star, she retained her original and massive twin GE steam turbines (9900 shp). The presnt McKee Sons and Joseph H. Thompson are converted C4-S-B2s and Sun SB&DDCo products, which were combined troop transports and hospital ships, the former Marine Angel and Marine Robin respectively. And, because of those thirsty turbines, both are barges today.