Resorts at Sea - February 2012

A loyal reader from the Netherlands and I have been trading information. (Although the cool thing is still that someone besides me actually reads this blog.) Their interest lies with the Panama trio of 1939, which for me has been a stubborn gap. These ships, courtesy of legendary industrial designer Raymond Loewy and premier naval architect George G. Sharp, started a renaissance of sorts for American shipbuilding and design so finding information is a little important. In our correspondence, I had mentioned that Marine Engineering did a profile in their May 1939 issue and that I’d forward it when I laid my hands on it. About a week or so later, boom, they email me a copy!

The Panama as shown in the May 1939 issue Marine Engineering. (Courtesy of V.V.)



I ad that info to the recent acquisitions of ephemera showing the Panama in later incarnations: a deck plan from early 1959 as American President’s President Hoover, and a brochure from late 1966 as Chandris’ Regina.

Dining room detail of the Panama. (Courtesy of V.V.)

A main feature of the dining room was a clear glass cylinder surrounded by four copper columns, shown above. It survived to at least her early days as Regina. You can see the chairs as President Hoover are of similar design as Regina. I don’t know if these colors were carried over or the chairs were reupholstered. I would guess the latter.

Dining room as the President Hoover (left) and Regina (right).

The copper columns are highlighted in the left picture.

Along with several items related to the Panama class was a trove of ads for the Alcoa Steamship Company. Yes, Alcoa, as in Aluminum Corporation of America. Now for a line that kept itself to the Caribbean hauling bauxite (aluminum ore), the quality of Alcoa’s ad artwork is on par with the French Line, Italian Line, and Matson Lines. And although they don’t meet the size requirements in gross tonnage and passenger capacity, it’s a triple dog dare to include the Alcoa Corsair, Alcoa Cavalier, Alcoa Clipper.