Ghost Ships: Sister ships trade places for final voyages

Dockworkers prepare to receive the Lincoln as it arrives at the Mare Island shipyard in Vallejo.

A gray old ship, the Lincoln, which is part of San Francisco's maritime past was towed up the bay Thursday on a final voyage to be scrapped at Mare Island in Vallejo.

The trip was part of an unusual nautical swap in which the government traded the Lincoln for its identical sister ship, the President. Both vessels will be scrapped: one of them in Texas, the other in Vallejo.

The two ships - originally named President Lincoln and President Tyler- were built in San Francisco in 1961 and sailed out of the city on voyages all over the world for years. They were general cargo ships, operated by American President Lines, a company that traces its roots to the Gold Rush of 1849.

Both ships are now worn out and obsolete. They spent more than 30 years in the so-called Ghost Fleet in Suisun Bay, awaiting a call back to sea.

The call never came, and the old ships were left to rust and rot. When they began dropping toxic paint into the water, the government decided to get rid of them, and during the winter the ships were sold for scrapping.

Headed for scrap:

The Tyler - renamed the President - was towed to a facility owned by Allied Defense Recycling in Vallejo in early March. All Star Metals, a Texas firm, bid for the Lincoln.

The Lincoln was towed to the BAE shipyard in San Francisco in April, not far from the facility where it was built 50 years ago. The plan was to scrape off years of marine growth and old paint to get the ship ready for a 5,000-mile voyage to Brownsville, Texas, by way of the Panama Canal. The ship would be towed by tugs, a trip that could take several weeks.

But when the Lincoln was pulled out of the water for cleaning, it turned out that the vessel was in no shape to go to sea. The hull developed holes during the cleaning process.

It was patched up and put back in the water late last month, but the ship began to take on water. It was repaired again, but it became clear the old ship could never survive the long trip to Texas.

The Maritime Administration decided "it would not be in the best interests of public safety or the environment" to try to send the Lincoln to Texas.

So the solution was to swap the old President Lincoln for its twin sister, the President Tyler. Though the Tyler had been towed to Mare Island three months ago, dismantling of the ship had not begun. Allied Defense Recycling was busy working on the Solon Turman, a bigger ship.

The Texas firm agreed to swap ships.

Companies praised:

Maritime administrator David Matsuda praised both ship dismantling companies for their "flexibility and willingness to assist in meeting federal goals for an effective, environmentally responsible ship recycling program."

Scrapping the Solon Turman and the President - now replaced by the Lincoln - is part of a $3.1 million deal for Allied Defense Recycling and means more than 100 jobs for the Vallejo area.

The President Lincoln and the President Tyler were identical ships, both 528 feet long and displacing 13,223 tons. They were built by Bethlehem Steel in San Francisco when the shift from old cargo ships to modern container ships had just begun. All Star Metals bid $675,276 for the Lincoln.

It was common then for ships to carry cargo on pallets or for it to be loaded piece by piece in the hold. Container ships carry cargo in steel boxes, called containers.

Older ships spent up to a week in port unloading cargo, while container ships load and unload cargo in a single day. Ships like the President Tyler and the President Lincoln, which also carried 12 passengers, accommodated both containers and mixed cargo, could make 20 knots and were billed as "the fastest freighters afloat."

Couldn't compete:

However, they could not compete with newer ships, and both were laid up after 18 years of service.

The two ships are examples of the changes in the maritime industry. Ships are no longer built in San Francisco, and the city is no longer a major seaport. Modern ships are usually built in Asia. American President Line, now renamed APL, is owned by a Singapore corporation, and its U.S. headquarters moved first to Oakland and then to Arizona two years ago.

The President will be towed to sea on the way to Texas either today or Saturday.

Source: By Carl Nolte (cnolte@sfchronicle.com). Friday, May 6, 2011

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