Okay, It's 1943, and I'm a Nazi spy trying to get out of town. Where do I go to get a ship for, oh, Argentina? Was there a specific passenger wharf? Or did the ships go out of Oakland?

Thanks in advance for any help.

-- Sheldon Townsend (sheltown@bentonrea.com), December 30, 2002

Answers

In 1943, San Francisco was still a major port. Since WWII was on in 1943, the vast majority of shipping was military in nature. The major Pacific Coast liners such as the Lurline were taken over by the Navy for troop transports. There would certainly be freighters gfoing to Latin America though, and many of those ships would be docked along the Embarcadero. There was a strong military presence around any shipping facilities for port security reasons, so this factor would have to be kept in mind. There were shipping lines that specialized in the South America trade but this was intterupted by the war so specific pier numbers would be hard to guess at. Also, some peacetime freight piers were put to use as repair facilities during the war (eg. the Matson docks).

-- D. A. Martinich (dutchm@dcn.org), December 31, 2002.