The Saga of the S.S. Princess Louise by Geraldine Knatz, Ph.D.
The Saga of the S.S. Princess Louise
by Geraldine Knatz, Ph.D.
The Port of Los Angeles in the 1960s had all the makings of a gripping detective novel: corruption, graft, secretly-taped meetings, indictments, an unexplained death and a Pulitzer Price-winning expose by the Los Angeles Times. Bringing the Princess Louise floating restaurant was just one of the many scandals that erupted during that turbulent era. The SS Princess Louise was a Canadian passenger vessel that shuttled tourists from Vancouver to Alaska. Built in 1921, she was part of the Canadian National Railroad’s Princess fleet and stayed in service until 1964. The ship was purchased by Gerald Sutton who brought it to Los Angeles Harbor, converting it to a floating restaurant that opened on Terminal Island in 1966. The venture was a success, attracting nearly two thousand visitors a day.
It was common knowledge around the port that the idea to bring the Princess Louise to Los Angeles Harbor was the brainchild of Harbor Commissioner James G. Watson. But just how involved was he?
A Los Angeles Grand Jury had been empaneled to investigate the nefarious goings-on regarding another harbor controversy- a proposed World Trade Center on Terminal Island. But the grand jury decided to dig into the chronology of events leading to the Princess Louise’s installation as a harbor attraction. The investigation revealed that Commissioner Watson had loaned money to Sutton’s Princess Louise Corporation while ensuring him the lease would be approved. Watson was charged with conflict of interest in the Princess Louise matter and found guilty. Watson was fined $1000 and barred from ever holding public office again. Watson appealed his conviction, maintaining the loan to the Princess Louise Corporation had been made by his wife and he had no financial interest in the operation. The state court of appeal affirmed his guilt and Watson appealed to the California Supreme Court which refused to hear the case.
In 1978, attendance was dwindling. The Princess Louise was moved from Terminal Island to Berth 94 in San Pedro. By now, there were just too many options for waterfront dining. The new location could not save the business. San Pedro restauranteur Marion Perkov purchased the ship in 1984 but was unable to make is successful. It closed for business in 1989. It was repossessed by the Bank of San Pedro, which planned to make improvements and get the ship ready to sell. The ship attracted no buyers.
Watson moved to Nevada. A decade later, the Nevada governor sought to appoint Watson to the Nevada State Development Authority but Watson was bound by his sentence to never serve in public office. Watson hired San Pedro attorney Clifton Hix to seek dismissal of his case. The same judge that had originally sentenced Watson called his dismissal one of the “nice things a judge gets to do” when a guilt party has served his sentence and completed probation.
Watson was finally free to resume public service but the ship he cared about was not so lucky.
On October 10, 1989, a security guard stationed on the ship while it was at Bethlehem Steel Shipyard (later Southwest Marine) heard a loud crash. The ship began to list. He jumped off the ship as it rolled. Suspecting foul play, the ship’s insurer, Lloyd’s of London, initially refused to pay on a claim but the Bank ultimately prevailed. They sold the ship for one dollar to a salvage company that refloated the ship, hoping to sink it off Catalina Island as an artificial reef. But the ship sank in 900 feet of water in the San Pedro Channel while being towed out to its final resting. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency wanted the ship moved to its assigned location, but it was clear there the ship would remain deep in Davy Jones’s Locker.
For more stories about the history of the Port of Los Angeles, see Geraldine Knatz’s new book, Port of Los Angeles, Conflict, Commerce and the Fight for Control.
With years of research and more than 200 maps and images, Geraldine Knatz shapes an insightful story of the Port of Los Angeles, from its early entrepreneurs to the city’s business and political leadership, and the inevitable conflicts that arose between them. Knatz digs into the back stories of the key players in a hardcore, well-documented piece of storytelling at its best. Port of Los Angeles matches a topic—the history of Los Angeles Harbor—with someone of unquestionable authority to tackle the subject. Knatz worked nearly four decades at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, her last eight years as Executive Director at Los Angeles. In this remarkable book, her expertise shows. Port of Los Angeles reads like a script for another Chinatown, only this time it's about saltwater and controlling the waterfront, not drinking water and controlling the land. Knatz takes readers on a journey that will educate and inspire, and fills these pages with real-life intrigue, masterminds, and politics extraordinaire. Port of Los Angeles will leave the world's maritime aficionados spellbound and historians in awe. A must-read for anyone who treasures the history of Los Angeles. "The Port of Los Angeles made this city. This very well might be "The Study" of what made modern Los Angeles." —William Deverell, Director, Huntington-USC Institute on California and the West