Arosa Star

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The S.S. Arosa Star was a cruise ship which was built in the United States in 1930 and grounded on the California coast in 1970.

Originally called the Borinquen (7,114 grt, 429 ft. long), the ship was built in 1930 at the Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation of Quincy, Massachusetts, and launched near the end of September. She began her working career on runs between Puerto Rico and New York until 1949. During World War II she was drafted as a military transport. She served in the Baltic, the Mediterranean, and the Pacific, but never came under attack by enemy forces. She led a charmed life and soon earned her nickname of "Lucky Star."

In 1949, she was sold to the Bull Steamship Company and renamed the Puerto Rico.

In 1954 she was purchased by the Arosa Line (Compañía Internacional Transportadora - owned by Nicolo Rizzi, a Swiss-Italian financier) and operated as the extensively rebuilt Arosa Star until 1958. As the Arosa Star she was the third largest ship of the Arosa Line, a Swiss cruise line, operating in the mid-1950s. The 2 larger ships in the fleet were the flagship Arosa Sky, and the older Arosa Sun - originally the French-built Felix Rouselle. Then came the Arosa Star, with Arosa Kulm bringing up the rear. The Arosa Star was a ship which traveled several different routes, with many crew on board. At one time Kurt Ebberg was master, Alex Von Blessingh was first officer, Ernest Kuehne was chief engineer, Karl Nahrath was chief purser, and Hasso Wolf was the doctor of the ship.

During at least part of this period, she transported immigrants from northern Europe to Canada and the United States, with regular ports of call at Halifax, Quebec City, Montreal and New York. With the advent of affordable air travel, the market for hauling immigrants quickly disappeared and the Arosa Line went bankrupt.

In the years 1959-69, she was operated for Eastern Steamship Lines as the Bahama Star, sailing primarily between Florida and the Bahamas. During this period, the Bahama Star managed to rescue 489 people from the burning SS Yarmouth Castle, another cruise ship. Tragically, 160 people perished in the blaze. In a bizarre twist of fate, this accident led to changes to the maritime regulations pertaining to such ships at the Geneva Convention of 1964, outlawing the operation of passenger vessels with wooden super-structures. The cost of complying with the new regulations proved too expensive, so the ship was sold to the Western Steamship Company.

She was renamed again, this time to La Jenelle. The new owners brought her to Port Hueneme, California, where they intended to sell her. Some say that plans were underway to make her a floating restaurant. Others claim she was to be sold to an Indonesian shipping firm, but neither plan materialized. By 1970, she was anchored outside the harbor to avoid expensive docking fees while efforts were made to find a buyer. On April 13, her luck ran out. That particular day was blustery, with a northwest gale ripping the tops off the waves. Seas broke everywhere, and nearly everyone was in port. La Jenelle's starboard anchor - the only one out – began to drag. There were only two crewmen aboard, and they were unable to stop her drift. Only 23 minutes Later, she struck the sandy beach west of the Port Hueneme breakwater, her stern just missing the rocks. La Jenelle began to list as she took on water. The crew stayed aboard, attempting to pump her dry so she could be righted, but the seas were pouring in from many smashed portholes and windows making their efforts fruitless. A helicopter arrived to rescue them as the ship settled further into the sand.

The La Jenelle proved to be quite an attraction. Crowds flocked to Silver Strand Beach to see the stranded behemoth. Surfers paddled out to the stricken ship to wander among passageways canted at impossible angles, reminiscent of the film, Poseidon Adventure. Salvers picked over her bones, tearing away loose brass hardware and anything else of value. Her plates began to buckle under the incessant pounding of the surf as one compartment after the next was destroyed. A fire, perhaps started by vandals, gutted her interior. La Jenelle became a real hazard in time, for it was impossible to keep people off her. Eventually a souvenir hunter fell from the wreck and was drowned. By then, the owners had faded from the scene during the litigation that follows such an incident. A Navy team cut the top off the ship and brought in rocks to fill in the carcass. La Jenelle was transformed into a new arm for the Port Hueneme breakwater.

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