S.S.Angelo Petri...interesting story..

and here's what I dug up.
Just finished Thomas Pellechia's very interesting book "Wine..." on the history of
the wine trade. A fascinating read...highly recommended.
Thomas mentioned the sinking of the S.S. Angelo Petri off the coast near SanFrancisco
in 1960. My immediate thought..is that wine still down there in DavyJones Locker and
should I rent some scuba gear and go down and take some tasting notes on the wine??
Turns out, not sure Thomas' story of it's demise is quite correct.
S.S. Angelo Petri was a tanker ship that was fitted w/ stainless steel tanks and
owned by Louis Petri of Associated Vintners. From 1957, it hauled Petri's Escalon-
produced wine from Stockton thru the PanamaCanal to the EastCoast, where the wine was
off-loaded and bottled at AV bottling lines in NewYork/Philadelphia/Boston. He was able
to save 10 cents/btl and undercut the price of the up&coming Gallo Bros, who were strongly
competing w/ Petri/AV to become #1.
On the return trip, the S.S.Angelo Petri filled those tanks w/ "edible oil" for sale
in Calif (bringing coals to Newcastle?).
According to Leon Adams, the S.S.Angelo Petri plied its trade from 1957 until it was
sold in 1972, the ship's name being changed about 1970 from S.S.Angelo Petri to
S.S.California. It then apparently disappeared from the registry of ships shortly
thereafter; its ultimate fate a mystery.
The S.S.Angelo Petri started life as the tanker Sacketts Harbor in 1943, built by
Bethelem Steel (no relation to Jed Steele) and served in the Pacific thru the War,. On
returning from Japan to Calif in 1946, in suddenly broke in half off the Aleutian
Islands. Surprisingly, it was the fore half that sunk, the aft half remained afloat and
with power. A rescue vessel started to tow it int harbor in Alaska at too high a speed
and the captain was afeared of taking on more water. So he cut the tow line, fired up the
engines, and proudly sailed into harbor backwards under its own power. This aft half
served as a portable power supply in Alaska for a number of yrs.
Sometime afore 1957, the aft half was towed to a shipyard and refitted with a bow
end (probably Louis Petri got a real deal on the aft half), stainless steel tanks
installed, and then served a grand & glorious history until it was sold in 1972 and
subsequently sold. In 1960, it lost power just off the entrance to SanFrancisco Bay
and nearly foundered on the shoals. However, the CoastGuard Cutter Tanney rescued it and
towed it into SanFrancisco safely. No record of its sinking then.
Amazing what you can find with Google ("S. S. Angelo Petri wine"). And now you know
the rest of the story.
Would be curious if anyone has any further info on S.S.Angelo Petri??
Tom

Great research, Tom -- thanks.

I've got more on the story at home and will revert. Source was a bit unlikely -- sherlockian.net , the website devoted to Sherlock Holmes.

Petri was a sponsor of the Sherlock Holmes radio program -- I have a couple of tapes from the series. The Petri wines and the ship were mentioned in the ads.

Your research will get me off my butt and make me transcribe a couple of the advertisements. I'll post them in due course.

Regards, Bob

Ah, Tom, you have discovered one of about a dozen typos and errors I discovered--after publication of course.

The word "nearly" somehow got sunk instead of the ship.

But here is what Thomas Pinney says about the return trips to California:

"On its return, the Angelo Petri carried cargoes of liquid sugar, grain neutral spirits, corn oil, molasses, and other liquid foods, as well as soda ash. Its ballast tanks, separate from the others, carried lubricating oil."

[Jenise]

This aft half
served as a portable power supply in Alaska for a number of yrs.

As a former Alaskan, you have no idea how happy this sentence made me. Nothing ever goes to waste up there.

Tom, look this up: Sheldon, Jerome F.: The Untold Chapter in the Saga of the Angelo Petri.
Sea Breezes Vol. 74, Liverpool, 2000. p 283, ill.

Tom, I was a commercial banker in the 60's and 70's working in the Transportation Department of a major bank with HQ in San Francisco. I was well acquainted with the "Angelo Petrie". The story you relay is very close to my recollection. I am not certain my information is more accurate but it is somewhat more detailed.

First, the ship was completed near the end of WW2 and was one of the most advanced tanker designs at the time. For example it was diesel/electric powered rather than a steam/boiler powered vessel. She used a cleaner burning refined diesel oil rather than "ship bunkers" which was typically low quality fuel oil or even crude oil in some cases. It was very much like the power plant in our big diesel locomotive trains rather than the old steam locomotives. Most modern ship of today use this technology. She was also fitted with "stainless steel" tanks from the start as she was designed to carry corrosive chemicals used in fighting the war.

I was told that she was on her maiden voyage when she ran into a storm in the northern pacific. Her bow broke off in heavy seas and sank. The closest port was Anchorage, Alaska. To avoid further damage, the captain did limp to safety going astern or in reverse. The difference between high and low tide in Anchorage in near 37 feet so he ran her aground at high tide so as to avoid blocking other harbor traffic. After the war she was pulled further ashore and abandon for salvage. No one did the salvage at that time because of the then remote location and easier pickings elsewhere.

A few years later the city of Anchorage had maintenance and repair problems with it's own electrical generating plant. Parts and repairs to their land based generator were expected to take at least a couple of weeks to complete. With that in mind, city officials and utility workers quickly began a project to upright the ship and restart her "diesel electric" generators. They were in good order so a drop cord was plugged into the ship and connected to the cities electrical grid. She supplied temporary power until the city could complete repairs on it's own generator. The city then decided to invest a little money in maintaining the ship for use as a "standby generator" in the event of future similar problems. She served in this manner for a number of years until the city upgraded and expanded it's power generation system with more conventional backup systems. At that time the ship was offered up and sold for salvage.

Without revealing any private personal information the ship was purchased as a personal investment by a well known Federal Government official who had knowledge of her unique attributes. She was re floated and towed to the lower 48 to be refitted with a new bow and refurbished to go into charter trade.

She was contracted to haul "grape mash" under charter from California to New York State. I believe it was Taylor who took the first contracts. The word at the time was that Taylor could not get enough grapes in the east to meet the demand so they needed to import the "mash" from California. Rather than "deadhead" back to California (go back empty) she was also chartered to carry "caustic soda" on the return trip. Apparently, there was a supply shortage for this chemical product in California so it was a profitable charter voyage for the ships owner going both ways. It was my understanding that "caustic soda" was an effective cleaning agent for the stainless steel tanks so that only rinsing with a "Butterworth" machine was required before re loading with "grape mash".

I relocated to the east coast to work on Wall Street in the mid 70's so my knowledge ends there! I hope you find this as fascinating as I did then and now. I suspect that there is little public knowledge due to the private ownership of the vessel that prevailed at the time.

Al Grove

Very interesting story, Al. Thanks for sharing your recollections about it.
Tom

Wow - great stuff there, Al! Thanks very much for that.

Interesting story indeed, and like Mike I thank everyone for sharing! Prior to this era I believe the railroad dominated “freighting” between the east and west cost and made thing quite difficult for anyone to compete with the “big boys”. But with the opening of the Panama Canal and shipping “by sea” made The Italian Swiss Colony (Allied Grape Growers and later United Vintners) a “household” national brand.
“Welcome back” both Thomas and Bob. Good to see your names once again!

Salute

Interesting story indeed, and like Mike I thank everyone for sharing! Prior to this era I believe the railroad dominated “freighting” between the east and west cost and made thing quite difficult for anyone to compete with the “big boys”. But with the opening of the Panama Canal and shipping “by sea” made The Italian Swiss Colony (Allied Grape Growers and later United Vintners) a “household” national brand.
“Welcome back” both Thomas and Bob. Good to see your names once again!
Salute

Uhhhhh...Victor. If you look at those posts..Al dredged up an old post of mine from Aug 2006.
But it was fun to reread my original post again.
Tom

I recall in '72-'73 a "Chablis" by the gallon from Petri for $4.00, mostly Thompson Seedless, that could be drunk without significant ill effect. It was a different world...

Thanks to all of you for sharing this information about the SS Angelo Petri. My father served as the radio officer on this ship for 36 days in 1966, yet I've been unable to secure vessel log books from any of the NARA locations. The only port information that I could find came directly from Dad's mariner documents which indicated the sailing was intercoastal and coastwise with stops in San Francisco, L.A., and Balboa (then the Canal Zone). As much of a wine lover as he was, I find it ironic that he never mentioned the history of this ship. Great stuff!

I had my first and only seamans job on the Angelo Petri from late June 1966 to late August. I was an inexperience messman. I dont remember but one name of anyone on the ship. I boarded in Houston Tx. We sailed inter coastal to Lake Charles, Louisiana where we took on what I believe was Caustic soda at the Pittsburg Plate Glass plant. We went thru the canal and first stop was San Pedro California. We may have discharged the soda there. Then on to San Francisco where the ship went into dry dock for about 10 days. Lived off ship and got paid. We than went to Stockton and loaded the wine then direct to Bayonne N.J. I got drafted and had to get off ship. If anyone knows anyone that has information about the ship at the time please respond. jcase@ldcv.com

I had my first and only seamans job on the Angelo Petri from late June 1966 to late August. I was an inexperience messman. I dont remember but one name of anyone on the ship. I boarded in Houston Tx. We sailed inter coastal to Lake Charles, Louisiana where we took on what I believe was Caustic soda at the Pittsburg Plate Glass plant. We went thru the canal and first stop was San Pedro California. We may have discharged the soda there. Then on to San Francisco where the ship went into dry dock for about 10 days. Lived off ship and got paid. We than went to Stockton and loaded the wine then direct to Bayonne N.J. I got drafted and had to get off ship. If anyone knows anyone that has information about the ship at the time please respond. jcase@ldcv.com

Thanks for sharing your story, John.
Tom

[Jenise]

What an interesting read with all the inputs from people with some prior association with that ship. Even I have a very tangential association--my long ago ex was the PM for several additions to that PPG plant.