SS Exochorda - Notes

Notes

^ a: A ship named Exochorda and member of the pre-war "4 Aces" is not in the lineage of the post-war Exochorda. The pre-war Exochorda had been converted to military transport USS Harry Lee, later sold to Turkish Maritime Lines and renamed Tarsus.

^ b: In 1964, American Export Lines merged with Isbrandtsen Co., becoming American Export-Isbrandtsen Lines.

^ c: Brochures and print ads published by American Export Lines identified their quartet of ships as "4 Aces", as opposed to "Four Aces" (see 4 Aces ad).

^ d: Miné (pronounced "MEE-nah") Okubo, a Japanese American author and artist, was best known for her book, Citizen 13660, published in 1946 and winner of the 1984 American Book Award. Through artistry and brief text, the book recounts her experience while being held in the Japanese American internment camps at Tanforan and Topaz, during 1942. By virtue of its location, Okubo's Mediterranean mural was in view of all Exochorda passengers entering or leaving the ship by way of the main gangplank, which connected to the main foyer.

^ e: Saul Steinberg, a cartoonist and illustrator, well known for his many "New Yorker" magazine cover drawings, created large murals for Exochorda and other "4 Aces" ships. Stevens contained three Steinberg murals, all in located in the aft lounge on Promenade deck. A large, 11-panel mural was located above the bar, and two smaller, single-panel murals were located on the walls opposite the bar, one on the starboard side and one on the port. The large mural aboard sister ship, Texas Clipper, the former Excambion, was the subject of a Texas Parks and Wildlife Department video that described the serendipitous discovery of the mural prior to sinking Texas Clipper as an artificial reef off Brownsville, Texas. When asked to estimate the value of unusually large (22 ft.) mural,—according to Dale Shively, Artificial Reef Coordinator for Texas Parks and Wildlife—the Steinberg Foundation responded, "not millions of dollars, but it's probably at least six figures".

^ f: An accomplished American artist from New York, Loren MacIver painted a different dining room mural for each of the new "4 Aces" ships.