S.S. Catalina

William Wrigley Jr. had this ship built at the San Pedro shipyard in 1924 to carry his customers to the island he owned. The Great White Steamer ran the twenty-six miles to Avalon for half a century, moved something near twenty-five million passengers, ferried troops through the Second World War, and retired in 1975. Then no museum, port, or city would take her. She ran aground at Ensenada in 1997, sat half-sunk for more than a decade, and was cut up for scrap in 2009.

What the plaque says

Commonly referred to as the Great White Steamer, the ship was specially built by William Wrigley to serve his Catalina Island as a passenger ferry. She was christened on May 23, 1924. During World War II, she was requisitioned for use as a troop carrier, but in 1946 she resumed her voyages to Avalon.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• The Port of Los Angeles — 0.8 mi
  The busiest container port in the country, sitting on ground that was dredged into existence: marsh, then landfill, then Pier 400.
• Terminal Island and Furusato — 1.4 mi
  Three thousand Japanese Americans built a village here they called Furusato, and in February 1942 were given forty-eight hours to leave it.
• Drum Barracks — 2.6 mi
  The Union Army built its Southern California headquarters in a county that had voted against Lincoln two to one, and stabled the Army camels here.
• The Banning Museum — 3.0 mi
  The man who made a harbor out of an open bay: freight, dredging, the first railroad in Southern California, and a cupola for watching ships.

More markers nearby

• Liberty Hill Site — 0.7 mi
• Site of Home of Diego Sepúlveda — 1.1 mi
• Timms' Point and Landing — 1.5 mi
• Casa de San Pedro — 2.1 mi