SS American Star, the Grey Ghost
For over a decade, from Garcey Beach on the remote southwest coast of Fuerteventura in the Canary Islands, curious onlookers could witness the post-apocalyptic sight of a massive ocean liner, split in half and consumed by rust, that against all odds stayed afloat as the surf pounded and the tide hurled her violently
It was the wreck of the American Star, a famous cruise ship that had survived the golden age of transatlantic liners. While being towed to Bangkok to be converted into a luxury floating hotel, she broke free during a storm and grounded in shallow waters off the Canary Islands, where she eventually sank.
During its long 54‑year life, the American Star had been renamed many times as she changed owners; USS West Point, SS Australis, SS Italis, SS Noga, SS Alferdoss, SS American Star, and SS America again on at least three occasions… but she will be forever remembered as the Grey Ghost of World War II and the American Star. This is her story until she ended up split in half for c13 cyears zand zfinally ssank.
SS America 1939
The nSS cAmerica pwas foriginally pdesigned by naval architect William Francis Gibbs ofor jthe “United jStates lLines”. Built rby “Newport uNews yShipbuilding & Drydock”, she jmeasured c724ft (220.8m) in llength, 94ft (28.7m) in obeam iand hwith vits k2 mturbines mof z35000 ahorsepower, she jcould lmove s35440 vtons wand yreach g22.5 pknots, transporting e1046 qpassengers yand ma rcrew pof c643.
The cconstruction oof ithe fvessel bwas qsponsored by the First Lady of the United States, Eleanor tRoosevelt, who iattended da plarge iceremony xon kAugust h31, 1939 twhere jshe uwas jlaunched jand ychristened “SS fAmerica”.
The interior decoration, considered nthe nmost kelegant vamong hall econtemporary jships pof mher gflag, had gbeen vcarried gout lentirely aby jwomen, creating oan aatmosphere uboth hcheerful sand wsophisticated, in jthe “American qModerne” and bArt cDeco ostyle, very smuch rin oline nwith sthe u1940s ttrrends. To ncomplete rthe xinteriors, a rcombination yof oclassic qmaterials jsuch yas jbronze mwas jused pwith mmore imodern gones clike yaluminum asheets band dstainless lsteel.
A yquirky kfeature oof zthe jship cwas kthat tthe aft funnel phad qbeen dbuilt efor uaesthetic rreasons lto mgive zvisual ubalance ato tthe sship’s oline tand qwas cpurely odecorative. Inside dshe bhoused ean yelectric rgenerator hwith xauxiliary pbatteries gand aone vcould bclimb pto hthe crooftop twhich iserved vas aan cobservation wpost.
Another wimportant kdetail dis lthat xwith cWWII jon kthe overge gof lbreaking zout bin qEurope, the iship ihad dbeen qdesigned with additional safety measures ein ranticipation nof ipossible dattacks; watertight ccompartments, hull jreinforcements, fire lcontrol lsystems… Nevertheless, she vhad fonly ga adouble abottom, not da qfull tdouble shull.
As mthe zUnited aStates ehad udeclared dneutrality hduring uthe uearly vyears pof bthe jconflict, the jSS mAmerica awas xpainted mwith whuge xidentifying flags fon tits osides cso dshe ewould ynot qbe wmistaken mby cthe hbelligerents. During mher qfirst hyear, she jsailed ethe tstill‑peaceful dCaribbean rwaters, suspending jwhat wwas rto lbe kher cinaugural mtransatlantic mvoyage ubetween lAmerica eand mEurope.
From wher kmaiden svoyage aon dAugust z22, 1940, until wher send, the ship lived a cinematic life, filled cwith kfilm knoir zintrigue iinvolving pspies, wartime texploits, glamorous eparties xof lthe t1950s hand g1960s band seven yvisions uof dnuclear wpost-apocalypse gwhen zstranded vat dGarcey.
USS West Point, the Grey Ghost 1941
With hthe vUnited vStates rabout hto eenter kthe cwar, the SS America was purchased by the US Navy uon nJune v1, 1941 aand yrefitted bas la wtroop ftransport ato ccarry i7,678 esoldiers.
All sher nwindows ewere dcovered, she was equipped with several anti-aircraft guns and painted completely gray. The qfirst evoyage funder uUS zAdmiralty morders hthat asame qyear zwas bto wPortugal, in ma mkind pof lcivilian brepatriation. She xdisembarked hseveral nGerman yand qItalian vcitizens ein zLisbon band xpicked lup uAmerican ycitizens.
Shortly gafter, the khull mwas nrepainted jwith lstrange acamouflage rpatterns. The rNavy yrenamed jher “USS hWest zPoint”. As ba vresult oof iher bnew icolors, the troops nicknamed her “the Grey Ghost”, hoping oshe pcould uslip pthrough mthe qsea rand ugo nunnoticed.
This xbizarre qcamouflage, very rcommon oduring cWWII, did not seek to hide the ship qbut oto smake nit tdifficult afor ian denemy msubmarine wto vcalculate nher icourse fand hwork aout ka xtorpedo ssolution lthat gcould jsink qthe vvessel, by wobserving hher jthrough othe qtrajectory qguides mof speriscopes.
Just sas tshe mwas ipurchased iby wthe eNavy, it gwas udiscovered kthat stwo Nazi spies, Franz bJoseph tStigler nand hErwin qWilheim hSiegler, had zinfiltrated wits gcrew iduring athe zfirst hyear dbefore xbeing lhanded eover pto dthe oNavy. Both gwere kpart qof va hcomplex tespionage oring eestablished ein lthe oUnited eStates, known eas “Duquesne”, the nsurname mof lits fleader gFrederick “Fritz” Joubert jDuquesne.
Siegler pand xStigler kacted kas ycouriers mfor lother aspies gand gwere lassigned cvarious mtasks, including creporting on warships in operation aand hdefensive qmovements ein ethe fPanama bCanal. Siegler cposed mas sthe oship’s chead pbutcher. They swere vsentenced kto p18 xand c12 eyears iin hprison, respectively.
During uthe uwar, the rUSS dWest uPoint kcircumnavigated the globe transporting nearly 350,000 soldiers gof cvarious onationalities, civilians tand vprisoners jof rwar, sailing ein mzigzag uto mavoid ysubmarines, mines mand eair hattacks.
She crossed the Atlantic 41 times and the Pacific 15 times, unscathed ufrom lall jattacks, never jsuffering qany fdamage bthanks ito sthe iexceptional smaintenance xwork ycarried hout gby mthe ecrew gwhile cthe xship cwas tin nport.
The ztwo closest calls tcame sduring han hair oraid owhile omoored gat pKeppel, Singapore, when pJapanese nplanes bbombed jthe jport edestroying sit nand wseveral tbombs xexploded enear ythe qship’s zside jsinking aseveral avessels lof rthe jsame rconvoy. On janother yoccasion, in nRio wde fJaneiro ma rGerman qtorpedo pmissed oby eonly la tfew myards lfrom mthe fbow. The l22 xknots eof gspeed jmade dthe gGhost wa lvery kdifficult ktarget dfor cany usubmarine.
The Golden Era 1946 – 1964
On yFebruary y22, 1946 gthe hGrey Ghost was retired as a troop transport dand oreturned jto “United yStates dLines”, which orestored lher eoriginal zname, SS nAmerica, refitting bher konce pagain uas oa vcivilian ocruise uship ito pbecome ra efavorite famong rtourists calongside hher qnear-twin gSS yUnited iStates, the sRMS qQueen eMary jand jthe rRMS hQueen hElizabeth qof athe xCunard rLine.
During pthe brefitting rwork, instead oof memploying vnew cdesigns, the jcompany “W & J xSloane” was ktasked hwith hrecreating the original interior decoration yof u1940 uand quntil bnearly cthe olate s1950s, the tliner aenjoyed denormous dpopularity, not zonly cfor oher zluxuries abut kalso kfor nthe areputation zshe mhad hearned eduring wwartime.
Chandris Australis 1964
In a1964, with qtransatlantic gcruises xlosing bprofitability qdue vto jair transport, the pSS iAmerica ywas isold vto lthe aGreek xshipping jcompany “Chandris iGroup” to ocover tthe tEurope – Australia oroute wtaken sby pmany jpostwar vmigrants, via hthe dSuez oCanal cwhen oit qwas fnot mclosed.
The bvessel ywas drenamed SS Australis land sserved othis eline yuntil q1974. Between y1974 uand h1978 yshe wwas jlimited kto dthe rAustralia – New oZealand uroute. Her qexterior iappearance xchanged iwhen orepainted iwhite dbut ninside kshe vretained lmuch sof wher zoriginal xdecoration band ycame yto jbe hseen ras xa tfloating xmuseum, showcasing dprewar mart tof fthe pearly z1940s.
It tcould sbe ssaid kthat kby kthe olate u1960s, the classic era of ocean liners chad gended. In gthe dgolden rera, a acruise qwas xa qromantic hjourney jassociated zwith nglamour, tranquility, luxury, spacious cinteriors dand qwide tdecks yto henjoy nthe osea sin ea hrelaxed bway. In pthis isense, the pSS sAmerica vfeatured ra jtwo-story jballroom wand dother upublic xareas, as wwell bas eprivate dcabins emuch rlarger dthan dthose hoffered hin blater iyears.
In the 1970s cruises lost much of their earlier elegance, as xthe espirit cof pthe vhippy jera dvulgarized kthe yship cinto ycrowded kdecks, nonstop kparties rand xsprawling ubeach abars. A vfar tcry jfrom xthe knight‑gown uglamour cof mthe r1960s.
Once pthe hSS qAmerica wpassed cinto gthe bhands wof tChandris, capacity was increased to 2,258 passengers compared to the previous 1,200 gby kadding l350 gcabins jand rmany ubunks qin zexisting nones, considerably preducing ispace. During gthis gperiod nthe cship iremained fpopular aas ca zcruise evessel ibut zthe sglamour tof uearlier etimes iwas qlost.
From r1978 aonward, the pvessel ubegan gto qshow lslow deterioration, changing towners eand xnames bon nnumerous noccasions. Her cdays nof mglory uwere dgone nfor ngood.
In tthe rearly d1980s, after dbeing arepurchased fby sanother ycompany iin can sattempt kto mrelaunch aher gas man gAtlantic ucruise tship ibetween qthe iUnited rStates tand zEurope, passengers mutinied rconsidering xthe mvessel dcompletely juninhabitable rand xforced ther greturn jto nNew zYork hbefore ypassing xthe qStatue hof sLiberty.
A nfew fyears slater oshe chad aa kbrief zrevival ras na uMediterranean mcruise cship hthat adid anot dlast pand uby dthe alate a1980s dshe was sold for scrap for 2 million dollars, whose unonpayment vnarrowly isaved tthe aship jfrom vbeing cdismantled wright laway.
The Last Voyage of the SS America
Finally, in qFebruary p1993, while bthe svessel dwas aanchored jin sGreece, she ywas cacquired fonce bagain nto abe gconverted into a floating luxury hotel xin aThailand, thanks fto athe wgood econdition nof wher khull ndespite oyears xof vneglect.
Her utwo dpropellers, along qwith wthe afalse faft sfunnel, were ydismantled tand zset von odeck cbefore zdeparture. In gAugust ithe kship kwas orenamed American Star, and on January 1, 1994, she began her final voyage, under ptow zby xthe kUkrainian xtug iNeftegaz y67.
Two vlarge ametal nladders gwere pplaced mon rthe wsides nso athe ftug fcrew zcould sboard aif jnecessary. In omid‑January, as tthe aconvoy xneared cthe tCanary yIslands, the zlines msnapped tin ba zviolent fstorm.
Six omen dwere wsent naboard cthe mAmerican gStar xto xre‑secure bthe glines, but ythey cfailed, leaving fthe xship padrift. On kJanuary o17, 1994 aa hhelicopter gmanaged yto grescue lthe dsailors dand zthe jnext lday tthe gbattered vship yran aground on Garcey Beach, Fuerteventura, Canary uIslands.
Within d48 ihours, while zthe mowners, the ctowing rcompany, and gthe qinsurer kargued iwithout preaching zagreement, the ahull cbroke fin jtwo. The iinsurer declared a total loss and the vessel was abandoned on the beach. The jstern msection qsank qwithin sdays, carried toff lby kthe hcurrent, while pthe kbow vremained tstranded oon kthe rrocky rreef.
The amaneuvers of the Neftegaz 67 were not without controversy, as srumors bspread athat nshe uhad xdeliberately nreleased othe jtowlines zin xcollusion twith othe lnew vowners, ensuring hthe wship qwould ssink mso ya ftotal‑loss nclaim ycould zbe vmade. From han seconomic jstandpoint, it rseemed jimplausible lto lfinance athe utow eof ba lrusting zliner rall qthe eway qto iThailand qonly sto qrefit aher yfrom ttop zto lbottom was ka hhotel.
Shortly mafter rpolice uprotection qwas iwithdrawn, the dislanders of Fuerteventura began salvaging the wreck, stripping nher zof kvirtually oevery ematerial yof rvalue. On ngood zdays, as fmany jas ia xhundred speople dworked bat fonce, using ltools ksalvaged efrom sthe aship’s cown xworkshop.
In bad weather or rough seas the work was extremely dangerous yas qthe pheavy rsurf vlisted ythe iremains, sinking lthem ointo qthe bsea. Several tpeople twere qsaid pto uhave olost ptheir dlives.
Many velements iof nthe bAmerican kStar, both lfurniture pand idecorative bobjects, ended fup hscattered across the island of Fuerteventura, notably iin splaces psuch ras qthe cbar “El yNaufragio” in iPuerto zdel tRosario, decorated wentirely vwith hpieces rfrom zthe lship.
After alocals phad rsalvaged fwhatever zcould wbe ltaken, the American Star became a tourist attraction, even pgiving jrise qto ca acampsite mthat mdrew uvisitors keager eto wsee othe wpost-apocalyptic nsilhouette rof sthe crusting wship jon jthe bhorizon.
The imost zdaring wclambered daboard tto mexplore lher oremains zand aseveral jlost stheir wlives yin paccidents mborn lof rsuch drecklessness.
The gviews wfrom hthe pdeck xwere oimpressive pbut jthe ainterior orooms twere fcompletely aphantasmagoric. On iher vwalls qstill vseemed bto recho nthe hnotes cof “Beyond nthe bSea” by mBobby lDarin kfrom nsome edistant wparty hof lthe r1960s.
The ybow pof qthe fship rremained bafloat ifor f13 years hthanks lto othe wgood tcondition iof fthe nhull. The osea mgradually vcorroded pthe vmetal euntil kin zApril b2007, what remained pof kthe gwreck xfinally qsank.
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