Mormacgulf Aids Distressed Ship

("The Mooremack News," SPRING 1955)

(Courtesy of John-Paul DeRosa)

An Associated Press dispatch from Valparaiso in mid-March told of the Pacific Republic liner Mormacgulf’s role in the rescue of two passengers from the Chilean liner Villarico in the Straits of Magellan.

Les Byrnes, the Mormacgulf’s radio officer, sent this message:

"A relief ship from Punta Arenas is on the way to take off the remaining 100 or more passengers.  The ship has a huge hole in the bottom and the stern is well up on the rocks and the emergency generator evidently is keeping the remaining passengers warm.  The passengers we have aboard came in a lifeboat manned by her sailors."

Captain I. Molaug was master of the Mormacgulf, which operated from U.S. Pacific Coast ports through the Panama Canal along South America’s east coast to Buenos Aires, thence through the Straits of Magellan to Callao, Peru, and again north to U.S. Pacific ports.

Thousand Dollar Coffee

("The Mooremack News," October 1948)

(Courtesy of Vincent Fiorenza)

An event that aroused considerable interest in coffee circles in both Brazil and the United States, and which was of great economic importance in the Brazilian State of Parana, was the loading recently of the millionth bag of the 1947/1948 Parana coffee crop aboard the Mormacgulf at Paranagua.

According to a report from Frederic S. Crocker, managing director of the Rio de Janeiro office, the occasion was marked by a ceremony attended by several Brazilian notables.  Mr. Crocker traveled aboard the Mormacgulf from Santos to Paranagua and represented Moore-McCormack at the ceremony, witnessed also by the Honorable Moyses, Lupion, Governor of the State of Parana, and his staff; the Mayor of Paranagua; the head of the Parana-Santa Catarina Railway; and leaders in the trade.

After a luncheon aboard the Mormacgulf, at which Mr. Crocker and Captain L. E. Cudahy, master of the vessel, played host, the official party moved to the pier to observe the loading of the specially-marked coffee bag.  The bag, however, was not destined to sail.  It was put back on shore after the token loading and then put up for auction for the benefit of the Paranagua Church, which needed repairs at the time. It was sold for one thousand dollars — undoubtedly one of the highest prices on record for a single bag of coffee.

Television in Rio

("The Mooremack News," December 1949)

(Courtesy of Vincent Fiorenza)

One of the most famous landmarks in the world, Sugar Loaf mountain, which rises from the sea at the entrance to Rio de Janeiro harbor, soon will present a changed appearance, as modern science advances in Latin America.

Some time in January, the first television antennae in Latin America will be erected atop the 2,300-foot high mountain, known to world travelers as “the sentinel of Rio,” and shortly thereafter Television Tupi will begin transmitting television programs to the several hundred sets already in Rio.

The equipment for the television transmitter, relays and the studio camera was unloaded from the Moore-McCormack cargo liner Mormacgulf recently and will be installed by technicians of the manufacturer, General Electric. Over thirty tons of equipment was brought in by the Mormacgulf.