The New York and Cuba Mail Steamship Company

The turbo-electric powered liner Morro Castle, completed in 1930 along with her sister Oriente, became infamous four years later on 8th September 1934 when a serious fire destroyed her off New Jersey and claimed 133 lives. Oriente, on the other hand, had a long career of 27 years, mostly as an American Army troop transport from 1941 until broken up in 1957. They were owned by the New York and Cuba Mail Steamship Company, which had been incorporated in 1881 but was more popularly known as the Ward Line, founded by James Otis Ward in 1841.

Ward Line

The chandlery and freight forwarding business of James Otis Ward flourished and quickly grew to operate his own sailing ships in service between New York, the Eastern seaboard, Caribbean, South America and Europe. After the death of James Otis Ward in 1856, his son James Edward Otis took over the business, sold the chandlery to his brother, and reinvigourated the business as J. E. Ward & Company with an office at the foot of Wall Street. Shipping services were reduced to only a regular service between New York, Nassau and Cuba. The sugar ports of Cienfuegos, Santiago, Camaguey, Matanzas and Havana in Cuba provided the main homeward cargo, along with Cuban mahogany, tobacco, molasses, Mexican henequen cactus, used for making hammocks, ropes and hawsers, sisal grass and coffee. In 1877, the first steamships joined the company, and four years later Ward and his investors incorporated the New York and Cuba Mail Steamship Company.

The Santiago of 2,359 grt was completed at Chester (Pennsylvania) in 1879 and sailed with the steamer Cienfuegos of 2,332 grt, built in 1883, on a regular route from New York to Nassau, Santiago de Cuba and Cienfuegos for sugar. Cienfuegos was wrecked on Eleuthera Island in the Bahamas in 1895, but Santiago was in use for Ward Line and later Mallory Line until she sank in 1924 off Cape Hatteras (NC) with the loss of 25 lives. Two ships of the Alexandre Line, City of Washington and City of Alexandria, with services to Cuba and Mexico, were taken over in 1888, and during the 1890s the fleet was much enlarged, increasing from eight ships in 1890 to fourteen ships in 1895 and to twenty five ships in 1900. After the death of James E. Ward in 1894, his partner Henry Prosper Booth took over the company. The Spanish American War of 1898 saw the entire fleet requisitioned by the U.S. Army and Navy as troopships, with foreign flag ships having to be chartered for the regular service.

New liners were ordered and came into service as Morro Castle in 1900 from the William Cramp & Sons yard at Philadelphia. She was a steel twin screw liner of 6,004 grt, 4,685 dwt and 3,732 net tonnage with three passenger decks and an awning deck. She had dimensions of 400 feet by 50.3 feet with a depth of 26 feet and a draft of 18 feet, and was twin funnelled with two thin white bands on her black funnels. She had large square windows on her Main Deck below the white painted superstructure, a very early example on what today has become standard on most cruise ships. She had a service speed of 17 knots from two sets of quadruple steam expansion engines by the builder. She was named after the Spanish fortress at Havana begun in 1589 and completed in 1630 that was later captured by a land attack by the British in 1782 but was handed back to Spain in the following year. ‘Morro’ in Spanish means a rock that is very visible from the sea and thus serves as a navigational landmark. El Morro, the Spanish name for the castle, was designed by the Italian military architect Giovanni Baptista Antonelli, as a polygonal walled fortress with two landward bastions around a deep moat. Three castles were begun by the Spanish in 1588/89 at Havana, with the Castillo de San Salvador de la Punta directly opposite El Morro to provide accurate crossfire across the shipping channel. The lighthouse at the seaward end of El Morro was completed in 1844.

The next largest liners in the fleet were the sisters Havana and Mexico of 5,667 grt and 6,125 dwt, also built by Cramp in 1898/99, and with service speeds of 17 knots. Morro Castle sailed with Havana and Mexico on the regular route between New York, Havana, Progreso on the Yucatan peninsula and Vera Cruz in Mexico. Antilla, Bayamo, Camaguey, Guantanamo and Santiago (2) were purchased from Strick Line of London from 1904 onwards to increase the size of the fleet more rapidly. Two new subsidiaries were formed at this time to evade foreign taxes as the Compania Cubana de Navegacion for cargo services in the West Indies, and Compania Mexicana de Navegacion for the passenger and cargo service to Eastern Mexican ports. Ward Line was acquired by Charles Wyman Morse in 1907, who also owned Eastern Steamship Lines, Clyde Line and Mallory Line, but he was bankrupted in the following year. The management of the Ward Line then joined forces with the other lines to form the Atlantic, Gulf and West Indies Lines (Agwi Lines) in 1908, and Ward Line would operate under this holding company for the rest of its existence.

The sister liners Havana (2) and Saratoga (3) of 6,391 grt, completed in 1907, were requisitioned during World War I, and two large liners completed in 1918 as Orizaba (2) and Siboney of 7,582 grt were also under Navy requisition until the end of 1919. The latter pair had accommodation for 306 passengers in First Class, sixty in Second Class, and 64 in Third Class, and were returned to begin their commercial service from New York to Havana and a Transatlantic extension to Spain. This was short lived for only a year before the Transatlantic service was withdrawn to serve only Havana. Alfred Gilbert Smith was President of Ward Line in 1920 and William D. Macy was Vice President, and a fleet of thirteen steamers was being traded to Cuba and Mexico.

Ward Line vessels moored at the Plaza de San Francisco in Havana, but trading was only marginally profitable during the 1920s due to poor management, expensive refits and route cutbacks, with United States Government subsidies rescuing the company from 1924, and which by 1930 was experiencing a precarious existence. The Government in 1929 financed two new luxury liners, Morro Castle (2) and Oriente, to combat foreign competition on the New York to Havana and Mexico routes.

Morro Castle (2) And Oriente

This pair of liners, the subject of this article, were of 11,520 grt and were designed by Theodore Ferris and were similar in appearance to the twin funnelled sisters of Orizaba (2) and Siboney of 1918, and the new liners were two of the finest liners in the American Merchant Marine. Morro Castle (1) completed in 1900 had been laid up in 1924 and scrapped two years later, so the name of the large fort guarding the entrance to the shipping channel at Havana was free to be used again. They were ordered from the Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company at a cost of $5.5 million each, with Morro Castle launched first on 5th March 1930 and Oriente on 15th May 1930. Morro Castle made her maiden voyage from New York to Havana on 23rd August 1930 followed by Oriente in December of that year. They had dimensions of 508 feet by 71 feet with a moulded depth of 39 feet, net tonnage of 6,449, and service speed of 20 knots with a maximum of 21 knots. They were twin screw, powered by oil fired boilers passing steam to two steam turbines connected to two electric motors by the General Electric Company of Schenectady (New York). The second of their two funnels were dummies, and their twin propellers were of sixteen feet in diameter and revolved at full speed at 144 revolutions per minute, and 1,910 tonnes of fuel oil were carried in their double bottom tanks.

They had cruiser sterns and their navigating bridges were equipped with the latest equipment of Marconi radio, direction finders, signalling apparatus and electric light. They could carry 6,900 tonnes of cargo, of which 113,200 cubic feet was refrigerated, and consisted of plenty of Caribbean fruit and produce, particularly bagged sugar. They had accommodation for 420 First Class passengers and one hundred in Tourist Class, and carried a crew of 220. They were the largest liners of a fleet of ten ships of the New York and Cuba Mail Steamship Company in 1930. Passengers could enjoy the upper Sun or Sports Deck with games of shuffleboard, quoits, deck golf or ‘horse racing’ using small wooden model horses. The Promenade Deck was enclosed at the fore and aft ends and contained most of the First Class public rooms, while ‘A’ Deck below Promenade Deck contained some of the First Class cabins. There were three further passenger decks below ‘A’ Deck in their lower hulls named ‘B’, ‘C’ and ‘D’ Decks. Funnel colours were black with two thin white bands, and the sisters flew a white swallowtail houseflag with a black ‘W’ inside a thin black circle.

First Class Public Rooms

The First Class Dining Room was two decks in height with balconies running around the upper level. This splendid room was crowned by a colourful mural in the style of Watteau, and was lavishly decorated with paintings, pink curtains at the windows, and side serving tables. Passengers had the choice of tables for two, four or six and there was a long bar at one end of the room. The Farewell Dinner and Gala Dinners were held in this sumptuous and lavishly appointed room.

The First Class Lounge and Ballroom on Promenade Deck was stately, cool, restful and graciously inviting. It was two decks in height with balconies running around the upper level, and access from this mezzanine to many of the First Class Suites. It was traditionally decorated with fireplaces, louvred curtains at the windows, and comfortable sofas and armchairs. There were pianos provided for evening musical entertainment, and cosy corners for after dinner gatherings or conversations for planning the remainder of the evening.

The First Class Deck Ballroom doubled as a nightclub for evening entertainment, and had a less formal atmosphere and was preferred by many passengers. Dancing instruction was given in the morning, with tea dances in the afternoon, and formal dancing in the evening with dancing contests and prizes. In the original ship’s brochure, the three piece orchestra stood on a raised dais in the shape of a Viking longboat complete with curved bow, sail and shields but this was never fitted.

The First Class Smoking Room on Promenade Deck had a calm, masculine atmosphere with a central barrel vaulted roof and skylight at its upper level. Large paintings of maritime and battle scenes adorned the upper level walls, while the lower level was finished in dark, mahogany wood. This room was identical in both Morro Castle and Oriente, except for the painting above the fireplace at one end of the barrel vaulted ceiling.

The First Class Tea Room decor was bright and breezy with beautiful vistas of the sea and sky through the broad windows. Elegant tables were provided for card playing and the serving of refreshments in this very spacious room. Shipboard masquerade parties were hosted here and in the nearby Deck Ballroom.

The First Class Writing Room on the port side of Promenade Deck also served as a passageway between the First Class Lounge and First Class forward staircase lobby. This room was a delightful retreat for letter writing, and there were large locker cupboards at each end. It was here in one of the lockers that the fatal fire on Morro Castle started.

The First Class Library on the starboard side of Promenade Deck opposite the First Class Writing Room with a funnel exhaust space between the two rooms. It also had two locker cupboards, one at each end, and there were well stocked bookshelves to while away the time in reading.

The First Class Suites were mostly on ‘A’ Deck below Promenade Deck and were large cabins fitted with double beds, easy chairs, dressing tables and plenty of drawer space in free standing wooden furniture. Natural light entered the suites via three portholes in the outside suites, and most had en suite toilets and showers.

The Children’s Playroom was on Sun Deck, tucked away aft near the gymnasium and equipped with sandbox, playtables and numerous toys. The Sun Deck and enclosed parts of Promenade Deck to both port and starboard were popular places for tea and coffee served to passengers sitting on deckchairs. At the after end of Promenade Deck, there were awnings for shade, and ‘sea spray’ showerheads on deck for cooling off. After the loss of Morro Castle in 1934, a beautiful full width tiled pool was fitted on Oriente in this area as well as an outdoor bar to make her more attractive to passengers and replaced the ‘sea spray’ showerheads.

Loss Of The Morro Castle (2)

Morro Castle (2) sailed on her outward and homeward voyages between New York and Havana, while Oriente, Orizaba (2) and Siboney sailed between New York, Havana, Progreso and Vera Cruz, with their return voyages omitting Progreso on the Yucatan peninsula. Passengers were few in number as the new sisters had been completed at the start of the worst ever trade Depression. By 1932, some fifteen million Americans were unemployed and only wealthy Americans travelled to Cuba on vacation. Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected President in the same year and promised Americans a ‘new deal’ and was to be in office for an unprecedented twelve year period. Prohibition was ended in 1933, and in the following year he annulled the agreement that America would intervene in Cuban interests if considered necessary, in return for the continued possession of the Guantanamo Naval Base on a 99 year lease. However, American interests continued to dominate Cuban economic life after the fall of the Cuban Government of Gerardo Machado in 1933, with Fulgencio Batista taking control of the Army in the Sergeants’ Revolt and remaining in charge of Cuba until 1959 and the victorious armed revolt of Fidel Castro.

Morro Castle (2) sailed from Havana on 5th September 1934 with 555 people including crew on board on the two and one half day voyage of 1,200 miles to New York. Two days out, Capt. Robert Wilmott unfortunately died during the evening from an apparent heart attack, and Chief Officer William Warms assumed command. A few hours later, at 0245 hours on 8th September Steward Daniel Campbell noticed smoke coming from a locker in the First Class Writing Room used to store stationery and winter blankets. The fire was probably deliberately started by a disgruntled crew member, but despite all efforts to extinguish the flames the fire spread and was reported to the bridge.

Chief Officer William Warms sounded the fire alarms at 0300 hours and split his officers and crew into two groups, one group to fight the fire and the other to assist the passengers. The Chief Officer and the crew did not appear to be on top of the situation, and had to drag fire hoses from other areas to fight the flames as Capt. Wilmott had ordered the removal of fire hoses from Promenade Deck after a passenger had slipped on water from a leaky hose and successfully sued the company for damages. Chief Officer Warms did not slow the liner down but made an attempt at 0310 hours to bring the ship around oblique to the 40 mph northeasterly winds in order to slow down the spread of the fire.

Finally, at 0323 hours Chief Officer Warms sent out a Mayday call but by this time Morro Castle was ablaze from bow to stern. Several ships as well as the U.S. Coastguard acknowledged the signal and made for her location. The flames had now reached the bridge and it was abandoned, with chaos and panic everywhere with the engines stopped at 0329 hours and the engine room evacuated. Six of the dozen lifeboats were lowered from Sun Deck, occupied mainly by crew members and a few passengers. The New York to Bermuda three funnelled Furness, Withy liner Monarch of Bermuda reached her fairly quickly and took on 71 survivors, the American cargo ships Andrea F. Luckenbach and City of Savannah picked up 22 and 65 people respectively. A further 150 survivors were rescued by fishing boats and Coast Guard vessels, and the last survivors reached the New Jersey coastline in the lifeboats of the now charred and smoke damaged liner.

Morro Castle was off Asbury Park on the New Jersey coastline only twenty miles south of New York harbour. This coastline stretches from Sandy Hook in the north to Cape May in the south, with the residents of the Victorian beach residential area of Asbury Park watching in horror as the charred hull of Morro Castle drifted ashore at 0735 hours on their idyllic holiday beach. The Coast Guard vessel Tampa had tried to take her in tow but the hawsers had snapped and further attempts were abandoned. The abandoned hulk of Morro Castle continued to burn and smoulder for many days afterwards, with thousands of New Jersey residents flocking to the beach to see the smoke and damage. The photographs taken at this time from the shore reveal a liner with her Sun Deck or Boat Deck buckled and damaged beyond belief with six remaining lifeboats on the port and starboard sides hanging uselessly from the davits and pointing at crazy angles. The hull was completely charred and scorched with all of her black hull paint burnt off, and they showed the intensity of the flames and smoke that had cost so many lives in such a short time.

The subsequent Court of Enquiry into the disaster and the loss of 133 lives revealed that this was the worst disaster ever to befall an American registered merchant vessel. Testimony from surviving passengers revealed that no fire or safety drills were ever conducted, and no boat assembly instructions were given. Crew members testified that they had never received any training whatsoever as to their duties in the case of a fire or emergency. Wages were low and conditions of service for American seafarers were bad, and this was one of the main points of the recommendations of the Court to increase wages immediately and vastly improve conditions and safety training. Eight of the lifeboats of this almost brand new liner were unlaunchable with crew incompetence reaching unbelievable heights. Lifejackets had never been shown to the passengers, and had never been strapped on in any form of safety drill. The Senate of the U.S. Government passed new laws on crew training and measures to combat low pay and morale, as well as proper safety and boat drills to be carried out immediately a passenger liner left American shores.

Passenger litigation claims for damages against Ward Line reached over $13.5 million, and the company was rocked by two further disasters to its ships at this time. The sinking of the chartered liner Mohawk of 5,900 grt, built in 1925, from the associated Clyde-Mallory Lines, and the grounding of their owned liner Havana built back in 1907, very shortly after the destruction of their flagship was a public relations disaster for Ward Line. It never really recovered from these three disasters, with the Ward Line name immediately dropped in favour of the ‘Cuba Mail Line’. Hull colours of Oriente and the other liners became light grey, funnel colours were changed with a white five pointed star added between the two white bands, and the white swallowtail houseflag changed completely to a black houseflag with a white five pointed star inside a thin white circle.

Oriente and the remaining liners Orizaba (2), Siboney, Mexico (3) ex Colombia, and Puerto Rico ex Haiti, were requisitioned for war duty as troopers at the end of 1941. The sisters Colombia and Haiti of 5,236 grt had been the first passenger liners built for Colombian Mail Line in 1932 and had been purchased by Ward Line in 1938 for the Cuba to Mexico service.

They were built by the famous Newport News yard and had accommodation for 139 First Class and 24 Tourist Class passengers on three passenger decks for a route from New York to Haiti, Jamaica, Panama and Colombia. None of these liners were returned to Ward Line in post-war years, and Oriente remained in the service of the U.S. Army as the trooper Thomas H. Barry and was handed over to the U.S. Department of Commerce in 1950 and broken up in 1957.

Ward Line Finale

In 1947, a cargo only service was briefly reinstated by six war built standard types with passenger accommodation limited to a few passengers and certainly under a dozen to circumvent regulations for carrying a doctor onboard. They had names beginning with ‘Agwi’ and were owned and registered under Agwilines Inc. and sailed on the old Ward Line routes from New York to Havana in Cuba and Vera Cruz in Mexico. Unfortunately, Agwilines Inc. was liquidated in 1954 as profits were elusive, and a group of American investors bought the Ward Line name and attempted a service with foreign flag cargo ships briefly for a year without success. A year later, the Cuban steamship company Compania Naviera Garcia purchased the Ward Line name and interests and sailed as the Ward-Garcia Line until 1959, when the military victory in Cuba of Fidel Castro and the formation of a new Communist Government brought an end to trading.

The Ward Line name had traded for 114 years under the American flag, and the name of Morro Castle had gone down in maritime history in infamy. However, during their short careers with Ward Line, the luxury liners Morro Castle (2) and Oriente had made over 750 weekly return voyages up and down the Eastern Seaboard of America. Their legacy lives on in the many safety laws passed by the Senate of the U.S. Government after the fire on Morro Castle (2) to keep the cruise passengers of today safe.

It is an interesting fact that two members of the American delegation to the first SOLAS meeting in London at the end of 1913 were Homer L. Ferguson, President of the Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company, and Alfred Gilbert Smith, Vice President of the New York and Cuba Mail Steamship Company. Morro Castle (2) and Oriente were built by Mr. Ferguson’s company for Mr. Smith’s company, and this clearly shows that safety at sea regulations are an ongoing process and one can never become complacent in these safety at sea regulations. The first 1914 version of SOLAS was passed in response to the sinking of the Titanic, prescribing fixed numbers of lifeboats and other emergency equipment along with safety procedures including continuous radio watches.