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Balboa Shipyard by Bennie Mattox |
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| The Balboa shipyard was the most impressive on the West Coast. Founded by
the von Balboa family near the turn of the century, the facility spewed forth a flotilla
of commercial, military and pleasure sea craft.
The Balboa Shipyard was truly a family affair including the naming of the passenger liner Andrea-Doria, after Balboa's daughter and her dog. Rodreguiz "Rocky" von Balboa had a yacht build to his own specifications to become the Balboa. In the early years all of the ships were built of wood. As shipbuilding technology evolved, iron then steel were used. During the war years the shipyard employed 5,000 San Diego shipbuilders. Troop carriers such as the Poseidon helped carry the war into the pacific. The only unfortunate feature of all Balboa's ships was that they ultimately either sank or ran aground somewhere. There does not seem to be any reasonable explanation for this, but it did make it hard for the Balboa family to follow their family motto of "Never get off the boat" when their boats were always getting out from under them. |
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 Table of Contents San
Diego Hysterical Society home page. |
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