USS Comfort (AH-3) - Interwar Civilian Service

Interwar Civilian Service

The former liner was reacquired by the Ward Line in 1927 and underwent a major refit — removal of one of its stacks and modernization of its interiors — at Todd Shipyard in Seattle, returning to passenger service in the following year. Havana was placed on the New York–Cuba service, where business thrived, in part because of Prohibition in the United States. Ward Line cruises to Havana were one of the quickest and least expensive ways to what one author called "alcohol-enriched vacations". The success of the Cuba routes attracted the attention of Cunard Line who added service from New York to Cuba with select cruises of Mauretania in 1928, a full season of cruises on Caronia in 1929, and the addition of Carmania the following season. This perceived threat to American shipping interests was met by the Ward Line by the acquisition of two new ships. The new ships, Oriente and Morro Castle, became the top of the line, and Havana was demoted to a third tier ship in terms of luxury and spaciousness, behind Siboney and Orizaba.

On 6 January 1935, Havana ran aground on Mantanilla Reef (27°22′N 78°41′W / 27.367°N 78.683°W / 27.367; -78.683) north of The Bahamas. Although one passenger died of "apoplexy" during the evacuation of the ship, all the passengers were evacuated on the steamers El Oceano and Peten. These two steamers along with United States Coast Guard Cutters Vigilant and Pandora had come to the stricken ship's rescue. The ship had run aground in a well-known shoal area and near a visible marker buoy. The captain, Alfred W. Peterson, was found guilty of an "error in judgement in navigation" by using dead reckoning instead of more precise methods of setting course. The grounding of Havana was second of three public relations disasters that befell the Ward Line in a four-month span; the fire and sinking of Morro Castle in September 1934, and the sinking of Mohawk (chartered to replace the grounded Havana) on her maiden Ward Line voyage in January 1935, were the other two. After these three incidents, the "Ward Line" name was dropped in favor of the less familiar "Cuba Mail Line" moniker by July 1935.

Havana remained on the reef for three months before being refloated, repaired, and renamed SS Yucatán. Yucatán remained in passenger service for the Cuba Mail Line until 1940, when she was converted to a freighter. On 29 November 1940, Yucatán sank at her pier in New York. After again being refloated and repaired, the ship was renamed Agwileon and assigned to the Cuba Mail Lines parent organization, the Atlantic, Gulf, & West Indies Steamship Lines (the "AGWI Lines"), and remained in service as a freighter.