Matson purchases two “Mariner” type ships, the fastest and most modern at the time, and converts them to one-class passenger liners for a South Pacific service. The Mariposa and Monterey, formerly the Pine Tree Mariner and the Free State Mariner, enter the South Pacific service in 1956. A new era of luxury in South Pacific sea travel begins. The ports of call on this route included Tahiti, Auckland, Sydney, Suva, Pago Pago, Honolulu and San Francisco.
