USS Moccasin (ID-1322) — BrandWiki

USS Moccasin (ID-1322)

Overview

*1903: Prinz Joachim *1917: Moccasin *1920: Porto Rico

namesake	1903: Prince Joachim Albert 1917: moccasin
owner	1903: Hamburg America Line 1917: US Shipping Board *1923: NY & Porto Rico SS Lines
operator	*1920: Munson Steamship Line
registry	1903: Hamburg 1919: 🇺🇸 New York
route	1903: Hamburg – Mexico 1906: New York – Caribbean
builder	Flensburger Schiffbau, Flensburg
yard number	218
launched	21 March 1903
completed	4 October 1903
commissioned	into US Navy, 26 February 1918
decommissioned	from US Navy, 2 June 1919
identification	1903: code letters RNBJ by 1913: call sign DSP 1918: Naval Registry ID-1365 US official number 215812 by 1920: code letters LJGW *
fate	scrapped 1933–34

USS Moccasin (ID-1322) was a cargo liner that was launched in Germany in 1903 as Prinz Joachim. The US seized her in 1917. In 1918–19, she was renamed Moccasin and briefly served in the United States Navy. In 1920, she was returned to US merchant service and renamed Porto Rico. She was scrapped in 1933 or 1934.

As Prinz Joachim, the ship took relief to Jamaica after the 1907 Kingston earthquake, and she contributed to relief after the 1910 Costa Rica earthquakes. She survived running aground off Jamaica in 1910 and in the Bahamas in 1911.

Prinz-class ocean liners

Between 1901 and 1903, HAPAG had seven new cargo liners built, each named after a prince of the House of Hohenzollern. Five of them were single-screw, all built to the same dimensions, and formed a class. Reiherstieg Schiffswerfte & Maschinenfabrik in Hamburg built Prinz Eitel Friedrich and SS Prinz Waldemar. AG "Neptun" in Rostock built Prinz Sigismund

Peacetime HAPAG service

HAPAG registered Prinz Joachim at Hamburg. Her code letters were RNBJ. In October 1903, she joined her sister ship Prinz August Wilhelm on HAPAG's route between Hamburg and Mexico.

In September 1905, the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company (RMSP) announced that it would start running a fast passenger service between New York and Jamaica. HAPAG responded by announcing that it would put Prinz August Wilhelm and Prinz Joachim on its Atlas Service, which ran various routes between New York and the Caribbean.[2] In June 1906, HAPAG announced that it would transfer its cruise ship Prinzessin Victoria Luise to the New York – Jamaica route, and that Prinz Eitel Friedrich, Prince Waldemar, Prinz August Wilhelm, and Prinz Joachim would all work the route between New York and Colón via Kingston.[3]

On 14 January 1907, an earthquake struck Kingston. New Yorkers formed a relief committee, which had Prinz Joachim loaded with relief supplies including food including barrels of beef, flour, and lard.[4] She was to sail on 19 January, but fog delayed her until the next day.[5][6]

On 5 June 1907, Prinz Joachim reached New York from Central America carrying passengers including former President of Honduras Marco Aurelio Soto, and the US explorers Hiram Bingham III and Alexander H. Rice Jr.[7][8]

On 4 November 1909, just after Prinz Joachim docked in New York, the Purser's personal steward let himself into the Purser's office, unlocked the safe, stole $8,065 in US currency that passengers had entrusted to the Purser, and then absconded from the ship.[9] It was the first such theft from a ship in New York for 25 years.[10]

On 9 January 1910, Prinz Joachim was leaving Kingston for Colón when she ran aground on soft mud. The German cruiser SMS Hertha (1897) went to her assistance.[11] The next day, both her sister ship Prinz Eitel Friedrich and Hertha tried to pull her free, without success.[12] However, by 11 January, she had been refloated, undamaged, and resumed her voyage to Colón.[13]

In April and May 1910, a series of earthquakes destroyed the city of Cartago, Costa Rica. Prinz Joachim was in Puerto Limón at the time, and contributed her ship's doctor and five of her stewards to a relief expedition that was sent by train to Cartago. The five stewards were all former Imperial German Army nurses.[14]

By 1910, Prinz Joachim was equipped with wireless telegraphy. By 1913, her call sign was DSP. In the fall of 1910, Prinz Joachim made a 51-day Caribbean cruise. She used her wireless to report her progress to HAPAG's New York office. The cruise included a visit to Colón, which coincided with President Taft visiting Colón aboard a United States Navy squadron. Prinz Joachim displayed an illuminated sign of more than 2,000 electric lights saying "Welcome Taft".[15]

Aground off Samana Cay

On Saturday 18 November 1911, Prinz Joachim left New York for Kingston. The former Congressman William Jennings Bryan and some of his family were among her passengers. At 03:40 hrs on 22 November, she grounded on rocks off Samana Cay in the Bahamas.[16] Prinz Joachim sent wireless signals calling for help, but received no answer for "several hours", because not all ships carried wireless equipment, and not all those that did carry it had enough wireless operators to man their receivers 24 hours a day.[17]

The Ward Line steamship Seguranca was the first ship to arrive to help. She took off all 84 of Prinz Joachim's passengers, plus some of her mail.[18]

A number of boats transferred passengers between the two ships. At the end of the operation, a high sea drove one of Prinz Joachim's boats off course, and prevented it from returning to the ship. It had 18 crew, commanded by her second officer.[19]

US Latin American services

On 2 June 1919, Moccasin was decommissioned and returned to the USSB.[37] By then, she was registered in New York, and her code letters were LJGW. On 15 August 1919, the USSB invited bids to repair her and convert her to burn oil fuel. Tietjen & Lang Dry Dock Company won the contract with a bid of $390,000. The USSB appointed the Munson Steamship Line to manage her as one of six ships on a cargo and first class passenger service to and from the east coast of South America, also serving the Caribbean and Central America.[41][42]

On 27 December 1919, Moccasin was due to leave New York on her first voyage on the new service.[43] This was only three weeks before Prohibition in the United States was due to be implemented. The USSB's lawyers claimed that the new law would not apply to USSB ships once they were outside the 3 nmi limit of the USA's territorial waters. However, the USSB Chairman, John Barton Payne, ordered that liquor would not be sold on its ships.[44] This cast doubt on whether the new service could compete against ships registered in other countries, which did not have prohibition. The USSB therefore considered selling the ships instead.[45] By the time Moccasin left New York, 14 passengers had cancelled, and only 36 embarked. She also carried 7,000 tons of general cargo.[42]

Moccasin called at Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands and Rio de Janeiro, and reached Buenos Aires on 26 January, 25 days after leaving New York. Argentinian newspapers praised her passenger accommodation, but commented on how small she was, and that she looked "unpainted".[46] She left Buenos Aires on 1 February.[47] However, before Moccasin had reached her destination, the USSB announced that it was considering transferring her to the New York and Porto Rico Line service to Puerto Rico.[48] Payne admitted to the Congressional Commerce Committee that the liquor ban compromised the viability of the new service to South America.[49]

Shortly after her return to New York, Moccasin partly sank at her berth in the Erie Basin at Red Hook, Brooklyn.[1] The USSB began an investigation on 3 March 1920. This was one of a series of mishaps that befell ships that the US had seized from Germany. The USSB claimed that there was no evidence of sabotage, despite a rumour that her seacocks had been opened.[50] After the accident, she was reconditioned at Brooklyn Navy Yard.

By June 1920, the USSB had renamed the ship Porto Rico, and appointed the Porto Rico Steamship Company to run her to and from Puerto Rico. By 1923, the New York & Porto Rico Steam Ship Lines owned the ship. She was scrapped in 1933 or 1934.