My kind of ship! She earned this title due to her numerous rescue operations at sea. This was one beautiful ship and is remembered for all the right reasons. What a time for ocean travel. It was effectively the “jet-set” before the jet. The ocean liners took people across the ocean in style. Celebrities would ride them back and forth, much like seventies rock stars did on jets, to be with their famous friends and have new adventures. So today we will take a look at a great ocean liner that was a hero to many.
The SS Île de France was one of the great French ocean liners of the 20th century. Built for the French Line, she entered service in 1927 and quickly became known for something other than speed records. While ships like the White Star liners and Cunard’s express liners competed for the Blue Riband (unofficial award for the fastest crossing of the Atlantic), SS Île de France became famous for her elegance, Art Deco interiors, and later, her remarkable rescue work at sea. Passengers loved her modern style, and she helped establish France as a major player in transatlantic travel during the years between the World Wars.
When World War II began, her civilian career was interrupted. Like many liners of the era, she was converted into a troopship and carried thousands of soldiers during the conflict and traveled over 400,000 miles. After the war, she was extensively rebuilt and returned to passenger service in 1949. The postwar years were among her most successful. She once again carried travelers between Europe and North America and became one of the most recognizable ships on the Atlantic.
In 1953, she rescued the crew of the Liberian freighter Greenville, getting 25 out of the 26 crewmen. Her finest hour came in July 1956 after the collision between the Italian liner SS Andrea Doria and the Swedish liner MS Stockholm. Upon receiving the distress calls, Île de France altered course and rushed through the night toward the disaster scene. Her crew worked tirelessly to take hundreds (over 750) of survivors aboard from lifeboats. In total, she rescued more people than any other ship involved in the operation. The sight of her brightly illuminated sign arriving out of the darkness brought hope to frightened survivors who had spent hours waiting on the cold Atlantic.
Because of that rescue, Île de France earned the nickname The Saint Bernard of the Seas; it was a fitting title. Long after her days as a luxury liner were forgotten, people remembered how she answered the call when it mattered most. She remained in service until 1959 before being retired and eventually scrapped, but her legacy lives on as one of the great rescue ships in maritime history. Celebrities also loved this ship. Bogart and Bacall, Joan Crawford, Errol Flynn, Alan Ladd, Lena Horne, Rita Hayworth, Ernest Hemingway, Marlene Dietrich, and more.
After she was retired from passenger service, part of her final career was in the 1960 film The Last Voyage. The producers needed a large ocean liner that was about to be scrapped so they could stage realistic scenes of a ship in distress. The Île de France fit the bill.
However, there was one catch. The owners did not want the famous French liner portrayed as sinking on screen. So the filmmakers changed the ship’s identity for the movie. They painted over her name and transformed her into the fictional liner Claridon. During filming, they flooded compartments, smashed interiors, and staged explosions and damage to the once great ship.
If you see some pictures of her with 3 funnels and then two, there is a reason. After the war, when she was restored to an ocean liner, she went from 3 funnels to two shorter ones.
