SS
Ocean Explorer I, built as the great SS General W. P. Richardson
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With
Reuben Goossens
Maritime Historian,
Author, CruisenShip Reviewer and Maritime Lecturer
Please
Note: All ssMaritime and other related maritime & cruise
sites are 100% non-commercial and privately owned. Be assured
that I am NOT associated with any shipping or cruise companies or
travel or cruise agencies, etc! Although having been in the
passenger shipping industry since 1960, I am now retired but
having completed features on well over 700 Classic Liners and
Cargo-Passengers Ships, I trust these will continue to provide
you the classic ship enthusiast the information you are seeking,
but above all a great deal of pleasure!
SS Ocean Explorer I
Ex: Sapphire Seas, Emerald
Seas, Atlantis, President Roosevelt, Leilani, LaGuardia,
General W. P. Richardson
SS Emerald Seas Photo Album

Above we see the
Ocean Explorer as the Eastern Steamship Lines SS Emerald Seas
Please Note: All images (except those
marked otherwise) are from 1977 & 1978 SS Emerald Seas
brochures. This fine ship operated cruises from Miami to the Bahamas
for around twenty years. The Brochure is from the authors
private collection.
Obviously this ships as revealed on Page One
has undergone a good number of refits since the images on this
page, yet she remained a beautiful and a modern, perfectly
maintained cruise ship, one we would like to have seen cruising
for much longer! As she was so greatly loved, being a ship for
the genuine cruise lover with all the facilities one could dream
about! However, being a steam ship she was a costly ship to
operate, and this was the main reason for her eventual demise in
2004.

Two SS Emerald
Seas Brochures containing the images below
From
the authors private collection

Showtime in
the Mayfair Ballroom

Mayfair
Ballroom

Mayfair Lounge
Bar

Aquarius Club
Bar

Dining Room

Her magnificent aft
decks with the Terrace forward of the Pool

The Terrace

Outside Twin

Outside Twin

Inside
Single/Two-Berth Cabin

Emerald Seas
Glass
From
the authors private collection
We have been unable to locate any
interior photographs of the Emerald Seas in her later years. If
you are able to help me, it would be much appreciated!
Additional
Photographs
I received an email from a Carole Revetti; I
came across your website and noticed you were looking for
pictures of the Emerald Seas. Our high school used to go on this
ship for our senior cruises. (Edited).
Below are several photographs of the Emerald
seas from those days. Thank you Carole!

Emerald Seas
at anchor
Provided
by Carole Revetti

A fine bow shot
Provided
by Carole Revetti

Above and below: an
excellent study of her radar mast, funnels, and lifeboats. All
look in superb condition!
Provided
by Carole Revetti

1980
Postcard of the SS Emerald Seas

This fine
postcard was provided by Mr. Harold Garwood of Jeffersonville,
IN. USA who with his family cruised on her in 1980

The
back of the postcard provided by Mr. Harold Garwood - USA

A portside view of
the SS Sapphire Seas
Photographer
unknown *See Photo notes at the bottom of the page
After her days as the SS Emerald Seas, she was
sold in 1992 to the Greek Festival Cruises and was renamed Sapphire
Seas but she sadly remained mostly laid up, but she was retained
in pristine condition. She operated various services, but in 1994
she was relocated in San Diego USA, for a short time to operate
day cruises between San Diego and Ensenada, being a popular port
at the very northern tip of Mexico, being a voyage of just 109k
67m each way, and shipboard guests could spend some time
enjoying the Mexican atmosphere.
In April 1998, she was renamed Ocean Explorer
I, she was sent to Lisbon Portugal, where she became a hotel ship
for the Lisbon Expo98 World Fair and she remained
there from Wednesday May 20, to Saturday October 3, 1998. Upon
her return to Greece she headed for Eleusis Bay (Piraeus)
where she was laid up. She again operated a few summer cruises
under charter during 1999.
Then
from November 20, 1999 to March 25, 2000, the SS Ocean Explorer I
was chartered by the World Cruise Company of Ontario Canada and
she operated a 130 Day around the World Voyage. The Ocean
Explorer I, visited seven continents, twenty-three countries, and
thirty-five ports. But she proved once again too costly to
operate and future world cruises were cancelled, thus she was
laid up again, but she did make some seasonal cruises around the Mediterranean.

The SS Ocean
Explorer is seen at anchor at Eleusis Bay in 2004
Photographs by the
late Captain Yiorgos Graikos
Then in April 2004, the Ocean Explorer I was
sold to Indian breakers and soon she headed for the breakers
beach and was duly broken up. Obviously, being an old steam ship
with a rather deep draught, she became uneconomical for the
modern cruise industry therefore her decline. It was a sad loss
indeed, but she did have a good run and many people had a
wonderful time on her and countless memories will remain of this
rather special ands unique ship!
Return to
Page One of the SS
Ocean Explorer I feature
Blue
Water Liners sailing to the distant shores.
I watched them come, I watched them go and I watched them
die.
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Photographs
on ssmaritime and associate pages are by the author or
from the authors private collection. In addition there
are some images that have been provided by Shipping Companies and
private photographers or collectors. Credit is given to all
contributors. However, there are some photographs provided to me
without details regarding the photographer/owner concerned. I
hereby invite if owners of these images would be so kind to make
them-selves known to me (my email address may be found only on www.ssmaritime.com),
in order that due credit may be given.
This
notice covers all pages, although, and I have done my best to
ensure that all photographs are duly credited and that this
notice is displayed on each page, that is, when a page is
updated!
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