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The American Ship That Was First Launched Into The Water Using 3.5 Tons Of Rotting Bananas
A large U.S. freighter used a vast quantity of the yellow fruit to help get from dry land to water in 1941
Ships are large and very heavy vessels that navigate smoothly in the water, but can be a real bear to move while they are still on land. Various methods have been used to carefully get them into the water, but it’s hard to imagine anything more bizarre than a ship that was launched in Texas just prior to World War II by using more than three tons of rotting bananas as a lubricant.
In Beaumont, Texas on January 23, 1941, a 413-foot ship weighing 7,400 tons and named the Cape Lookout. was launched into the Neches River using a very special aid. Typically, ships used oil/grease to lubricate skids and help ease the massive load, but the 95 or so tons needed proved to be so expensive that an alternative was used — rotting bananas.
The Maritime Common Freighter was the first freighter ship built in Texas since World War I, gaining notoriety after the length of time that had elapsed. On the day of its triumphant transition to the water, Audrey Louie Jones, the granddaughter of U.S. Secretary of Commerce Jesse Jones, smashed a bottle of champagne over the hull to officially…
