MS West Honaker - South African Service

South African Service

In February 1929, West Honaker was bareboat chartered by the for the new Pacific–South Africa Line, an around-the-world venture under the management of J. J. Moore & Company. The Pacific–South Africa Line service—the world's only all-diesel around-the-world service, as described by the Los Angeles Times—sailed from Los Angeles to South Africa via the Straits of Magellan, across the Indian Ocean to Japan and China, across the Pacific to San Francisco, and back to Los Angeles. West Honaker's first voyage in the South African service was planned for November, but upon her arrival from New York to begin the service, it was discovered that she had cracks in her engine mountings and her cylinder head. West Honaker made her way to San Francisco, where parts were fabricated for the $100,000 repair. This kept her out of service until March 1930.

West Honaker departed on her long-delayed maiden voyage for the Pacific–South Africa Line in mid March, and began a second voyage for the line in late October. West Honaker's service continued uneventfully until early 1932. On 2 March of that year, West Honaker collided with steamer Ernest H. Meyer in a snowstorm on the lower Columbia River, near Astoria, Oregon. Both ships suffered damage, but neither needed assistance to reach Portland. West Honaker had just finished undergoing general repairs in drydock in Portland prior to the collision, which caused about $30,000 in damages. The filed suit against the Portland Steamship Company for the cost of repairs, which were completed by mid March.

In mid-June, the bareboat charters of the three vessels still sailing for Pacific–South Africa—West Honaker, West Cusseta, and Crown City—were cancelled. At the end of each ship's voyage in progress, the ships were returned to the . At the time of the announcement, West Honaker was in South African waters. The Los Angeles Times reported that preferential tariffs for British-flagged ships for lumber from British Columbia—a major cargo carried by the line—were responsible for the termination. It's not known when West Honaker completed her final trip, but in late June she was still shown in South Africa by a notice in The New York Times. After this mention, West Honaker disappears from contemporary news accounts. By 1939, West Honaker had been laid up in a reserve fleet in the James River.