S. S. Minnow
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| Maiden voyage: | 1964 |
| Fate: | Shipwrecked in South Pacific after 3 hour tour |
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| Length: | 38'6" |
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| Service speed: | 12 knots cruise, max 14 knots |
| Engines: | 2 Detroit Diesel engines |
| Power: | 230 hp each |
| Passengers: | 5 |
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see main article Gilligan's Island
The S. S. Minnow was a fictional charter boat on the hit 1960s television sitcom Gilligan's Island. The mate was a mighty sailing man, the skipper brave and sure. Five passengers set sail that day for a three hour tour. The weather started getting rough, the tiny ship was tossed. The ship ran aground on the shore of "an uncharted desert isle" (in the south Pacific Ocean), setting the stage for one of the most successful situation comedies of all time.
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[edit] Basis of the name "Minnow"
A minnow is a very small bait fish, but the TV boat was actually named for Newton Minow who Gilligan's Island executive producer Sherwood Schwartz believed "ruined television". Minow was chairman on the FCC in 1961. He called television "America's vast wasteland."
The S.S. Minnow II was a succesor boat purchased by the Skipper from insurance money for the first in the 1978 made-for-TV movie Rescue From Gilligan's Island.
[edit] Gilligan's Wake
In the 2003 book Gilligan's Wake, it is imagined that The Skipper commanded a PT boat and served with both John F. Kennedy of the historical PT-109 and McHale of the McHale's Navy television show. The Skipper and Gilligan served together in the Second World War in the Pacific.
Gilligan's Island was but one of many dramas and comedies with U.S. sailors set in the South Pacific, including the 1958 movie South Pacific, 1961 pilot and 1962 series McHale's Navy, and the 1963 PT 109 (film). The Minnow was probably much smaller and slower than an Elco PT-109, but both were notable for being much smaller than steel hulled ships, and for ending in shipwrecked crews.
[edit] Pop Culture references
- In the Animaniacs, they are rescued by the Titanic and S. S. Minnow.
[edit] See also
- Gilligan's Island
- Sherwood Schwartz
- Newton Minow
- The Skipper
- Gilligan
- Rescue From Gilligan's Island
- Vast Wasteland Speech
[edit] External links
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Bob Denver (Gilligan), Alan Hale Jr. (Skipper), Russell Johnson (Professor), Tina Louise (Ginger Grant), Dawn Wells (Mary Ann), Jim Backus (Thurston Howell III), |
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