Former Catalina residents, now living in Northern California, recently sent in a photo of the last remnants of a piece of Catalina history. The Cabrillo Steamer, a wooden hull steamship, was one of the early transportation ships to bring visitors to Catalina Island.
The ship was made by the Banning Brothers, who owned the Wilmington Transportation Company before they purchased the island. Tourism was booming by the end of the 1800s and the Bannings had two ships built, the SS Hermosa II and then the larger SS Cabrillo, launched in 1904, according to reports on Wikipedia and by photo librarian on flickr.com.
The Cabrillo could carry 1,200, but soon was also too small to meet the demands of visitors to the island, which would lead to the construction of the larger steamers, the SS Catalina and SS Avalon.
According to Wikipedia, the Cabrillo was sold sometime between 1947 and 1950 and taken to Northern California where it was going to be used as a hospitality establishment. Those plans never came to fruition and the ship was eventually stripped of all useful parts and scuttled at Cuttings Wharf on the shores of the Napa River.
Which brings us back to our contributors, Lee and Grace Amari, former Avalon residents who had a family home on Catalina Avenue. The Amaris eventually relocated from Los Angeles to Sonoma, where they purchased a Skipjack 20 and named it “Reel Lucky.” With this boat they often travel and fish on the Napa River, where they shot a photo of the hull of the Cabrillo, or at least what little is left of it. They have seen it decay over the years.
As for the “Reel Lucky,” it is big enough to make the crossing to Catalina and small enough to tow the 450 miles from Sonoma to Long Beach, when the Amaris want to visit their beloved island. Their most recent trip back to Catalina was in June of this year, to celebrate their grandson’s 13th birthday.
“Of course, we fished the green pier in early a.m., and the old pro helped grandson with plenty of kelp bass to keep very busy,” Lee said. “My personal best was back in 1968 when I caught a 27-inch, 12-lb. Calico. Still love Avalon.”
