The cargo liner articles contained herein were published by and for Mooremack Employees Ashore and Afloat.

Seven New Ships

("The Mooremack News," April 1946)

(Courtesy of Vincent Fiorenza)

Mrs. Styles Bridges, wife of the United States Senator from New Hampshire, crashed a bottle of champagne against the prow of a new ship in the yard of the Ingalls Shipbuilding Company at Pascagoula, Mississippi.  Thus the cargo-passenger vessel Mormacgulf was started clown the ways and a $21,000,000 building program was launched. 

A few weeks ago, papers were signed which formalized the transfer to Moore-McCormack of the Mormacsaga, sister ship of the Mormacgulf. And with that gesture, this building program was completed.  Between the first launching and the final acceptance, seven ships had been launched, tested at sea, and accepted. 

These are not ordinary ships. In fact, their records individually and collectively thus far have drawn attention from shipbuilders and operators and from shippers and travelers in both the North and South Atlantic trades.  They were specially designed for Moore-McCormack Lines.

The first four of the group – the Mormacgulf, the Mormacisle, the Mormacdawn, and the Mormacland—have been assigned to the American Republics service to the East Coast of South America.  The other three—the Mormacmail, the Mormacpenn, and the Mormacsaga have been assigned to the American Scantic run to Scandinavian and Baltic ports.  From the very start of their operation, the quality of the performance to be expected of these ships was indicated clearly.  The Mormacgulf on her maiden voyage maintained a speed of 18.85 knots on the run from Santos to Trinidad.  Then the Mormacmail, first of the group assigned to the American Scantic service, reached Gothenburg in eight days, eight hours, and eleven minutes.

Several maritime publications, particularly those interested in the engineering aspects of shipping, have carried detailed stories of the new ships, with very favorable comment editorially.  They emphasized such features as the spacious holds, the heavy-lift equipment, the refrigerated Space, the deep tanks, and the Cargocaire equipment.

Each of the ships is 492 feet long and has 17,600 displacement tons, moulded beam of 693-1/2 feet and draft of 283 feet.  Each ship is equipped with twenty ten-ton booms, which are an inducement to shippers of heavy and cumbersome freights.  Cargo space includes 70,000 cubic feet of refrigerated space per ship, and Cargocaire equipment is in each ship.

These ships were designed during that period when the war’s end was approaching and when enthusiasm for the potentialities of the “new world” was at its peak.  This enthusiasm was caught by the designers, and by the officials of Moore-McCormack Lines, too, whose highest ambition has always been to extend to their shippers the best that can be produced.