MS Gripsholm (1924)

MS Gripsholm was an ocean liner, built in 1924 by Armstrong Whitworth in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England, for the Swedish American Line for use in the Gothenburg-New York City run. She was of great historical importance as the first ship built for transatlantic express service as a diesel-powered motor vessel, rather than as a steamship.

Initial service

From 1927 onwards, the Gripsholm made transatlantic passenger crossings and regular recreational cruises. Gripsholm was one of the first ships to call at the Canadian Pier 21 immigration terminal in Halifax, Nova Scotia and made 101 trips with immigrants to Pier 21.[3]

Exchange and repatriation ship

From 1942 to 1946, the United States Department of State chartered Gripsholm as an exchange and repatriation ship, carrying Japanese[4]

Passengers of note

Regular service

Ernest Hemingway, American novelist, short story writer, and journalist, sailed with wife Pauline Pfeiffer from Mombasa to Villefranch in early 1934, and again with her in January 1938 from Southampton to Nassau after his return from Spain reporting on the Spanish Civil War.
Anton Koschany, Canadian news producer, W5, immigrated to Canada as a child on the sailing of March 22, 1956 from Bremerhaven, in company of his mother and sister.
Count Zsigmond (Sigismund) Széchenyi, Hungarian hunter and writer, sailed from Mombasa to Villefranch in early 1934 after his hunting expedition in East-Africa.
Greta Garbo, actress. Did a press conference onboard August 8, 1932.

Exchange and repatriation ship

Joseph Alsop, not as a Naval Press Officer stranded in Hong Kong, but as a news reporter.
Gilberto Bosques, Mexican Consul General in Marseille, credited with issuing 40,000 visas to fleeing Spanish Republicans, Jews and other persecuted individuals in 1939-1943, on board (with his wife and 3 children) the MS Gripsholm sailing from Lisbon March 6, 1944, after having been imprisoned at the Rheinhotel Dreesen in Bad Godesberg for one year.
Cornell Franklin, former chairman of the Shanghai Municipal Council, was repatriated from Shanghai in 1943, taking the Gripsholm from Goa.
Joseph Grew, US Ambassador to Japan, was repatriated from Tokyo in 1942, taking the Gripsholm from Lourenço Marques.
Milton Helmick, judge of the United States Court for China, was repatriated from Shanghai in 1942, taking the Gripsholm from Lourenço Marques.
Olive Ireland Hodges, longtime principal and missionary teacher at Yokohama Eiwa Girls School.[8]
Saburō Kurusu, Japanese peace envoy who was in the US when Pearl Harbor was attacked, was repatriated to Japan via Lourenço Marques in 1942.
Kichisaburō Nomura, Japanese ambassador to the United States at the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor, was repatriated to Japan along with Kurusu in 1942.
Pedro Inzunza McKay, Mexican diplomat, native of Mocorito, Sinaloa, subsequently Mexico's ambassador in Cuba and Brazil, on board the MS Gripsholm, with his French wife Marie Louise, sailing from Lisbon March 6, 1944, after having been imprisoned at the Rheinhotel Dreesen in Bad Godesberg for one year.
Gregon A. Williams, Marine Corps Officer; Assistant Naval Attaché in Shanghai, was repatriated from Shanghai in 1942.
May De Sousa, American actress famous for operetta; was repatriated from Chapei Civilian Assembly Center in Shanghai in 1943.
Grace Drummond-Hay and Karl Henry von Wiegand, journalists for the Hearst newspapers, returned from a Japanese camp in Manila, Philippines in December 1943.[9]

country	Sweden
owner	Swedish American Line
builder	Armstrong Whitworth & Co. Ltd.‡R1R‡
yard number	999
launched	26 November 1924
completed	November 1925
maiden voyage	21 November 1925
in service	1925–1954
fate	Sold to Germany, 1954

MS Gripsholm (1924)

Initial service

Exchange and repatriation ship

Post-war service and renaming

Passengers of note

Regular service

Exchange and repatriation ship

External links

References