Description
The MUNARGO (SAFR 21357, HDC1298) trim and stability booklet was produced by the Munargo Line Company in New York in November
1939 and includes general stability notes, as well as trim and stability diagrams. The diagrams are diazo, with crayon overlay,
and show the vessel in profile. The booklet was approved by the Technical Division Bureau of M. I. & N. Department of Commerce
in December 1939. The collection is open for use.
Background
The MUNARGO was built in 1921, in Camden, New Jersey, by the New York Shipbuilding Corporation. Prior to World War II, it
was a passenger vessel operated by Munson Steamship Lines and the Munargo Line Company. (Munson went bankrupt around 1938.)
The ship traveled from New York to Nassau, Miami and Havana during the years 1928-1940. For the first few years of U.S. intervention
in World War II, the MUNARGO was used as a troop transport ship. It was berthed at the U.S. Army base in Brooklyn, New York.
The ship was then converted into a U.S. Army Hospital Ship called THISTLE. In January 1944, the 206th Hospital Ship Complement,
which was based at Camp Stoneman, California, a staging area for the San Francisco Port of Embarkation, was assigned to the
THISTLE. During 1944, the ship was used to evacuate patients from Italy and North Africa and served as an evacuation hospital
during the invasion of southern France. By January 1945, the THISTLE had crossed the Atlantic Ocean 11 times. The vessel was
decommissioned
as a hospital ship in March 1946 and converted for use as a dependent carrying ship in the Pacific. The THISTLE served in
this capacity until October 1947. After that, the ship was taken out of service and remained part of a reserve fleet. It was
scrapped in 1958.