Boats for war and for peace

An abandoned ship yard and humble strip mall are all that remain of what was once the largest shipbuilding operation in Orange County.

Ask any old skipper and he’ll remember the South Coast Co., a Newport Beach shipyard operation responsible for several Navy commissions and dozens of custom yachts that graced the Pacific Ocean.

During its heyday in the 1930s and 1940s, South Coast Co. was widely recognized as one of the most complete shipping yards for designing and constructing world class fleets.

“They had one of those ‘Yes, we have it,’ and ‘Yes, we can do it’ attitudes that you don’t find nowadays,” said historian Tom Skahill, who is working on a book about the company.

Company founder Walton Hubbard was responsible for dozens of ship designs, but his most famous was Brilliant, a more than 100-foot racing yacht that drew admiration from fans around the world for the boat’s elegant function and its speed in the calmest conditions.

“It was an amazing ship that captured a lot of people’s imagin- ations,” Skahill said. “One of the dream boats everyone would like to have but few would ever come near.”

Besides its design capability, the company was known as a building powerhouse that could quickly pump out watercraft of all sizes on short notice.

The company boasted 450 employees at its peak after World War II and was a prime shipbuilder, securing a half a dozen government contracts under the leadership of company President Walter Franz.

Expecting production to cool after the Allies defeated Japan, Franz returned his company to recreational boat development, only to transform it again a few years later with the start of the Korean War.

Competing against 300 other ship-building companies, South Coast eventually won the rights to build a fleet of 144-foot mine sweepers, built with a wooden hull to avoid magnetic detection, as well as nine smaller sweepers.

Much of the company’s success is attributed to Franz, a Pasadena native who came to the company in 1934 as a dock worker and eventually worked his way up to president in 1948. Franz was an inspiring regatta competitor who took first place in a Bay Area race with “Andale,” a boat designed by South Coast that was only 2 days old when taken out to sea for the contest. He was also an avid airman and pilot who flew a Beechcraft Bonanza on business trips and traveled around the world several times.

The South Coast Co. eventually closed its doors in 1963 after losing several key military contracts and competing with cheaper yachts made overseas. Skahill said the loss of the industry giant created a void for the maritime community that has never been fully filled.

“It was a sad day, especially for the craftsman who appreciates good work,” he said. Brilliant was the apple of many boaters’ eyes.dpt.05-god-1-CPhotoInfoR71PKR0J20060405ix7zrekn(LA)Brilliant, left, is a custom yachts designed and built by South Coast Co., which closed its Newport Harbor boatyard in 1963. dpt.05-god-2-BPhotoInfoR71PKRCT20060405ix7zrokn(LA)