SS President Hoover SS " President Hoover " was a Dollar Steamship Lines ocean liner . She was completed in 1930 and provided a trans - Pacific service between the USA and the Far East . In 1937 she ran aground on an island off Taiwan and was declared a total loss . She had a sister ship , , that was completed in 1931 , was made a troopship in 1941 and was lost in 1942 . Building . Dollar Lines ordered both ships on 26 October 1929 . The Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company of Newport News , Virginia , USA built the two ships , completing " President Hoover " in 1930 and " President Coolidge " in 1931 . They were the largest merchant ships built in the USA up to that time . First Lady Lou Henry Hoover launched and christened " Hoover " on December 9 , 1930 . Each ship had turbo - electric transmission , with a pair of steam turbo generator s generating current that powered propulsion motors on the twin propeller shafts . General Electric built the turbo generators and propulsion motors for " Coolidge " but Westinghouse built the turbo generators and propulsion motors for " Hoover " . 12 oil - fired Babcock & Wilcox high - pressure boilers supplied the steam for " Hoover " s turbo - generators . The electric propulsion motors produced 26 , 500 shp at 133 RPM . " Hoover " s accommodation was air conditioned and there was a ' phone in every cabin . There were swimming pools on deck , gymnasiums , a dance floor and Otis elevators . Décor was in contemporary Art Deco style and the First Class lounge was decorated with murals by the artist Frank Bergman of New York . Robert Dollar had bought his first ship in 1895 , founded Dollar Lines in 1903 and was now 87 years old . On August 6 , 1931 , three days before " Hoover " was launched , he toured her and declared " " This ship is a wonder " " . Dollar lived until May 1932 , just a few months after " Hoover " and " Coolidge " made their maiden voyages . Trans - Pacific service . " Hoover " and " Coolidge " ran between San Francisco and Manila " via " Japan and China . The United States Postal Service subsidised them to carry mail , which helped Dollar to run the two ships at a profit . However , the Japanese invasion of Manchuria in 1931 – 32 , the Japanese attack on the Great Wall in 1933 and the Japanese invasion of China starting in July 1937 all deterred US travel to the Far East , and Dollar Lines became increasingly unprofitable . Bombed in the Yangtze River . After the Battle of Shanghai had broken out in August 1937 , " President Hoover " was diverted from Hong Kong to evacuate US nationals from Shanghai . She was moored in the Yangtze River , awaiting clearance to enter the Wusong River to reach the Port of Shanghai when , despite a - long US flag draped on her top deck abaft the bridge to identify her to aircraft as a neutral US ship , the Republic of China Air Force mistook her for the Japanese troopship " Asama Maru " and bombed her . One bomb hit " Hoover " s top deck , killing a crewman from the mess hall . Fragments from another bomb penetrated the main saloon , wounding six crew and two passengers . One of " Hoover " s radio officers transmitted a distress call stating that Chinese aircraft were attacking her . Both an IJN destroyer and a Royal Navy cruiser came in response , but in the event only medical help was needed . Different sources date the incident as 14 or 30 August . Despite her casualties " Hoover " sustained only minor damage , but she aborted the rescue mission to Shanghai and returned to San Francisco for repairs . Chiang Kai - shek , leader of China ' s National Military Commission , had known Robert Dollar and was reportedly furious that his aircraft had attacked his late friend ' s ship . He threatened to have the officer responsible executed until he found that it was his chief air force advisor Claire Lee Chennault . Chiang ' s wife Soong May - ling had hired Chennault only two months previously , and the Generalissimo relented and instead paid the Texan a $ 10 , 000 bonus soon afterwards . Aground on Kasho - to . After repairs " Hoover " returned to service , departing from San Francisco on 22 November 1937 for Kobe and Manila . She was barely more than half - full , with only 503 passengers . During the voyage the Dollar Lines management signaled " Hoover " s Master , George W Yardley , " " You must be in Manila , absolutely urgent that you arrive not later than 6 a . m . 12th December , make all possible speed " " . " Hoover " s course from Kobe to Manila avoided Hong Kong , Shanghai and the Taiwan Strait in order to keep clear of the Sino - Japanese War zone . Instead " Hoover " took an unfamiliar course down the east coast of Taiwan , which since 1895 had been . The Japanese colonial authorities had turned off the lighthouses in Taiwan so " Hoover " navigated by dead reckoning . A strong monsoon blowing from the northeast made it difficult to calculate her course accurately , and a heavy mist made exremely poor . At about 0100 hrs on 11 December ( local date ) " Hoover " struck a reef about from the shore of Zhongliao Bay on the north coast of Kasho - to ( 綠島 ) , a volcanic island about off Taitung City in south - eastern Taiwan . Her bottom was torn own as far aft as her engine room and she came to rest with a slight list to port . At about 0200 hrs " Hoover " fired distress flares and her radio officer sent an SOS signal . The Hamburg America Line cargo ship D / S " Preußen " received the SOS and arrived around dawn , but the heavy sea and shallow water prevented her from approaching close enough to help . Captain Yardley tried at first to refloat the ship by having the crew jettison cargo and bunker oil overboard . Thick black fuel oil spread over the sea and onto the beach , either deliberately discharged or through the reef damaging the ship ' s bunkers . But as the monsoon continued to blow from the northeast , and lightening " Hoover " only helped the wind and strong waves to drive further onto the reef until she was only from shore . A junior member of the Purser ' s department , Eugene Lukes , recalled : " . . . the general alarms went off , and we were getting all the passengers out , getting everybody up on deck . It was blowing , the seas were starting to smack against the side of the ship , it was pitch black . And pretty soon we could see little bobbing lights along the shoreline , little oil lanterns so we obviously stirred up the natives . As it got lighter we could see that we had ripped out the bottom almost clear back to the engine room . There was a lot of oil , and it oiled the sea and the beach . There was no backing off , so we had to get the passengers ashore . We lowered the lifeboats with people in them . " Some of the villagers of Zhongliao fled to the mountains because at the sight of " Hoover " close to shore , and the sound and sight of her distress flares , they feared that the Sino - Japanese fighting had reached their island . With the dawn , villagers realised what had really happened , and put to sea in motor fishing boats to help . Abandoning the ship . " Hoover " s crew prepared to evacuate passengers . In order to keep boats on course between the ship and the shore in the monsoon wind , they put a wire cable ashore and tautened it with a winch aboard ship . In each boat two crewmen wearing strong gloves , one each in the bow and the stern , would slide their hands along the cable to guide boats from ship to shore . Some passengers alleged that " Hoover " s crew were inexperienced , and that when trying to get the wire cable ashore to prepare for the evacuation they capsized two of the lifeboats in shallow water . At low tide around 1300 hrs Yardley ordered the evacuation of the passengers . " Hoover " s crew lowered her lifeboats , villagers approached with their boats and both ferried passengers ashore . It took about 15 minutes for a boat to make each trip along the cable from ship to shore . Because of the black oil on the water , some of the women passengers were reluctant to step from the lifeboats to wade ashore , so crewmen carried them . At about 1500 hrs the flagship of the Japanese 4th Fleet , arrived with an unidentified to observe and protect " Hoover " . It took 36 hours from the line being secured to the last passenger being brought ashore . No lives were lost , but some passengers suffered hypothermia in the December wind and cold and were treated by the ship ' s doctor . From where they landed the survivors had to walk about to Zhongliao village . There as many as possible were accommodated in the village school , with the remainder being distributed to villagers ' houses . According to " Time " , while the passengers were being taken ashore a small number of the crewmen aboard " Hoover " plundered the ship ' s liquor supply . " According to Dr . Claude Conrad , a missionary official of Washington , D . C . : " A majority of the ship ' s crew came into camp more or less incapacitated and abusive from the effects of free indulgence in the ship ' s liquor stores . Out of control of officers partially in the same condition , many of the crew men continued most of the night terrorizing passengers and natives . " However , when the liquored seamen began hunting for women passengers sleeping in scattered houses ashore , some officers and other passengers formed a vigilante group to protect them . There was no actual molestation . There would have been no disturbance at all ashore , said some of the passengers , if the Hoover ' s officers had been permitted by Japanese police to land with their guns . " Other witnesses reported that some of the passengers also got drunk . Repatriation from Kasho - to . The US Navy had sent two s to help : from Manila and from Olongapo Naval Station . However , in the heavy sea they made only and did not arrive until 1245 hrs the next day , 12 December . A Japanese officer from " Ashigara " boarded " Alden " and cleared the two US warships to enter Japanese territorial waters . " Alden " sent a party of two officers and 15 enlisted men aboard " Hoover " to secure her specie vault , whose contents included registered mail and other valuables , and both destroyers sent landing parties ashore to restore order among the survivors . On 12 December at about 1500 hrs a Japanese cargo ship , " Toriyama Maru " , arrived to deliver food and other necessities to the survivors . On 13 December American Mail Line ' s SS " President McKinley " arrived offshore . On the morning of 14 December news reached " Alden " and " Barker " that two days earlier Japanese aircraft had sunk the US gunboat USS " Panay " in the Yangtze River near Nanjing . " Alden " and " Barker " discreetly prepared racks of ammunition for their 4 " / 50 caliber gun s , but the IJN ships continued to stand by and assist . " McKinley " moved closer inshore and embarked about 400 of " Hoover " s passengers and about 230 of her crew . Japanese Navy flat - bottomed boats brought them from the shore out to meet " McKinley " s boats and a motor launch , which then ferried them out to the liner . " McKinley " then left for Manila , leaving behind " Hoover " s officers , steerage passengers and the last 100 of her crew on Kasho - to . On 15 December Dollar Lines ' SS " President Pierce " arrived and rescued " Hoover " s steerage passengers , officers and remainder of her crew . USS " Alden " remained guarding the wreck until 23 December , when the Japanese authorities took over . Aftermath . Many failed attempts were made to rescue the ship . In February 1938 " President McKinley " returned , bringing Chinese laborers and Dollar Lines personnel who carried out some salvage and recovery work . Dollar Lines surveyed the ship and concluded that she would be a constructive total loss . Dollar Lines stripped what it could from the wreck and then sold her for $ 500 , 000 to the Kitagawa Ship Salvage Company , It took the Japanese salvagers the next three years to break up the wreck . By then Dollar Steamship Lines as a company had ceased to exist . In June 1938 " Hoover " s sister ship " President Coolidge " was arrested for an unpaid debt of $ 35 , 000 , and in August 1938 the United States Maritime Commission intervened by reorganising the company as American President Lines . Members of the US public gave money to the American Red Cross for a lighthouse to be built near Zhongliao village on Kasho - to ( now called Green Island ) . Lyudao or Lutao Lighthouse was designed by Japanese engineers , built by local islanders in 1938 and is high .