Cruising into the Past

2022 Q3

In April, Matson received a telephone call from Carol Glazier, who was in possession of a Super 8MM film titled South Seas Cruise Adventure – S.S. Mariposa / S.S. Monterey, one of several travel films produced for Matson as part of a marketing campaign so passengers could “relive their adventures, or plan a future trip.”
Glazier was living in American Samoa in 1958. “At that time, a Matson vessel came in every two weeks with much fanfare. My mother, a New Zealander, came to visit me, and of course, she arrived on either the Mariposa or the Monterey.” Glazier recently uncovered the film while going through her late mother’s possessions. She contacted Matson and offered the film for our archives.

Produced in the early-mid 60s, the silent film follows Monterey as it journeys out of San Francisco. The film highlights passenger activities, including shuffleboard, skeet shooting, and swimming. A line-crossing ceremony featuring King Neptune initiates those crossing the equator for the first time. The footage also includes some local scenery from Bora Bora, Tahiti, Rarotonga, New Zealand, Australia, Fiji, American Samoa, and Hawaii.

For nearly five decades, beginning in the 1920s, Matson’s famed “White Ships” passenger vessels were the crown jewels of the Pacific and were instrumental in developing tourism in Hawaii and the South Pacific.

Watch a digital version of the 18-minute film here.