Created by producer Paul Hoefler and photographed by Willard C. Hahn, this early 1960s educational film “Operation Freighter” provides a look at the SS Hawaiian Farmer. At the time the “Farmer” was working the sea lane between San Francisco and Hawaii as part of the Matson Navigation Company aka the Matson Line (and now more well known as Matson Inc.). The ship was both a cargo and passenger vessel, one of at least four operated by the company (the others being the SS Hawaiian Refiner, SS Hawaiian Citizen and SS Hawaiian Rancher).
The film shows the ship and describes its layout and the purpose of its various decks and facilities. The roles of the ships crew are described and the movement of cargo on and off the ship.
Some notable content — At 3:55, purebred cattle bound for the famed Parker Ranch on the island of Hawaii are shown. At 5:09 a sextant is used to measure the ship’s position. At 17:50 circus lions from a circus that toured Hawaii, are shown loaded on the ship for a return to the mainland.
Hawaiian Farmer was a 7914 ton C-3 freighter, built San Francisco 1944 as the Sea Sturgeon. Matson bought it in 1947 and sold it in 1971 to shipbreakers.
Matson, Inc. is a U.S. owned and operated transportation services company founded in 1882. Matson, Inc.’s subsidiary Matson Navigation Company provides ocean shipping services across the Pacific to Hawaii, Alaska, Guam, Micronesia, the South Pacific, China and Japan. Matson founded the historic Moana Hotel (now part of the Moana Surfrider Hotel complex) and the Royal Hawaiian Hotel in Waikiki on the island of Oahu.
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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com
