Fishing Sampans Docked at Kewalo Basin in 1951
On the right (above) is the bow of the Ilima. And as can be seen from the advertising illustration (below), this same vessel played a major role in a low-budget 1958 Hollywood movie called Ghost of the China Sea, which was filmed on and offshore of O‘ahu.
The film’s story was set in the Philippines and other China Sea locations at the start of World War II in late 1941. At the time, the Japanese military was successfully taking over and occupying large areas. A small but diverse group manages to evade the Japanese on this boat. Although some are killed off, the main romantic couple survives to be rescued by the United States Navy, in true Hollywood style. (DeSoto Brown Collection)
Mahalo to DeSoto Brown for the images and text.
