SHIPS OF THE U.S. MERCHANT MARINE 



SINCE the turn of the century, the snowy vessels of the United Fruit 

 Company's Great White Fleet have been plying the Caribbean. For 

 nearly fifty years, travelers, teachers, ambassadors and men and women of 

 international good will have trod their decks. Coundess tons of machin- 

 ery and manufactured goods have been transported to our southern neigh- 

 bors; and the capacious holds of this great armada have carried millions 

 of bunches of bananas to the markets of the world. 



The ports served by the Great White Fleet include Havana and Santi- 

 ago, Cuba; Kingston, Jamaica; Cristobal and Balboa, Panama; Barran- 

 quilla and Cartagena, Colombia; Puerto Limon, Costa Rica; Tela and 

 Puerto Cortez, Honduras; Puerto Barrios, Guatemala; and Belize, Brit- 

 ish Honduras. Soon the new port of La Libertador, Dominican Repub- 

 lic, will be added to the list. In addition to the Caribbean trade, United 

 Fruit vessels also serve various Pacific ports of Panama, Costa Rica and 

 Guatemala. 



The Great White Fleet comprises a variety of sturdy ships. Six of these 

 — the Antigua, Chiriqui, Quirigua, Jamaica, Talamanca and Veragua — 

 carry passengers, and can accommodate ninety-nine in first class cabins. 

 All staterooms face the sea; there are spacious decks and salons, and each 

 of the ships has a permanent outdoor swimming pool. The six sister ships 

 offer weekly cruises to the Caribbean from the ports of New York and 

 New Orleans. 



As of December 7, 1941, the ships of the Great White Fleet went into 

 wartime gray. They rendered gallant service on the battle fronts of the 

 seven seas. Twenty-one were lost through enemy action. 



Now a new segment of the Great White Fleet has been built. Eighteen 

 fine, modern, fully refrigerated ships have joined the famous fleet. Nine 

 are single-screw vessels capable of 16 knots; they are 385 feet ii^^ inches 

 in length, and are of 9,338 tons displacement. Although they are pri- 

 marily refrigerated cargo vessels, each is equipped to handle twelve pas- 

 sengers in commodious outside staterooms. The names of these nine are 



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