S.S. - Steam Ship or Sailing Ship?

[Colorado Dreamer]

There is an ongoing debate on our dock about if S.S. (As in SS Minnow) stands for Sailing Ship or Steam Ship.

I trust someone here will have the real answer.

[shadow]

I was always under the impression that S.S. stood for Steam Ship.. This is coming from old sea dogs and naval personnel that I know. Just what I heard.. Would like to hear from other well aged sea dogs..

[martinworswick]

on lake wakatipu in new zealand there is a steamship which runs for tourists, its called the t.s.s. earnslaw and according to the leaflets about the history of the boat t.s.s. stands for twin screw steamer, so i would imagine s.s. stood for steam ship

[Ex-Calif]

I always thought SS was Steam Ship and SV was Sailing Vessel.

[stuartcnz]

Just speculation, but since sailing was the predominant from of propulsion for ships until steam came along. Could it be that sailing ships didn't have a designation, apart from their names and steam ships, when they arrived, used S.S. to differentiate them from sailing ships. Then of course followed the designations of M.V. and S.V.

[Ex-Calif]

Here's a nice compilation at Wiki...

Ship prefix - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Colorado Dreamer]

Originally Posted by Ex-Calif

Here's a nice compilation at Wiki...

Ship prefix - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Dan,
What a great article. Thanks for the link.
- Michael

[delmarrey]

There was the SS America to the SS Yosemite............ and so on.

The Maritime Heritage Project: Captains, Ships, Passengers in 1800s California

[witchcraft]

SS = steam ship SV= sailing vessel MV=motor vessel. At least in this day and age.
Fair Winds
SV Witchcraft