SS The Emerald

The Emerald as Santa Rosa for Grace Line, c. 1960

The new Santa Rosa and Santa Paula entered service on the New York to South America and the Caribbean for Grace Line. The Santa Rosa made its maiden voyage on Oct. 10, 1958, when it became the largest ship ever to make the voyage up the Hudson River to Albany, N.Y.[9] She also became the first major passenger liner to make her maiden appearance in New York harbor from the north.

In the early morning hours of March 26, 1959, Santa Rosa was returning to New York in heavy fog. She was 22 miles east of Atlantic City, N.J., when she collided with the tanker SS Valchem.[12] No one was injured on the liner but four crewman on the tanker was killed and 16 were injured. Santa Rosa’s bow punched a cavity extending halfway into the tanker and caused flooding of the lower engine room with resultant loss of power. Two boilers were also demolished.[13] The funnel of the Valchem and adjacent vents were scooped off the tanker and carried onto Santa Rosa’s bow.[14] Santa Rosa sustained heavy damage but was repaired and returned to service.

In 1970, the Grace Line merged with Prudential Lines to become Prudential-Grace Line. Santa Rosa sailed for another year but in 1971, passenger operations ceased and both she and the Santa Paula were laid up at Hampton Roads in Virginia and put up for sale.[11] In 1975, Santa Rosa was obtained by the U.S. Department of Commerce and in 1976, she was sold to Vintero Corp. of New York City and renamed Samos Sky.[5] She was intended to operate South American service once again, but this venture failed and she remained idle.[5] In 1989, she was sold to Coral Cruise Lines, part of the Lelakis Group, and towed to Greece that December. In March 1990, Samos Sky arrived in Chalkis, Greece and was renamed Pacific Sun and then, later that year, Diamond Island.[5][15] At the cost of $70 million, she was converted into a cruise ship; her superstructure was expanded, whilst her hull remained largely unaltered and she retained her original steam turbine engines, which were renovated with parts from the former Santa Paula.[5][16] The work was finished in 1991.[5]

The Emerald, modernised, in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, 1999

The modernised ship entered service under Regency Cruises as the popular Regent Rainbow in 1992,[15] until Regency Cruises suffered extensive losses and was declared bankrupt in 1995. Regent Rainbow was placed under arrest that November.[6] In December 1996, Regent Rainbow was sold to Louis Cruise Lines and renamed The Emerald.[15] In 1997, she was chartered to Thomson Cruises to operate cruises for the British market.[6] During her time with Thomson she became the company's most popular ship,[17] and remained in service with them until October 2008, when she was dropped in favor of a larger, more modern and economical vessel.[18] Hereafter, she saw limited further service for Louis until 2009, when the company announced that she was being laid up and most likely would not sail again.[19]