This small passenger ship has not, like the other ships mentioned on this page, escaped the breakers torch, and although she survived for only 3 years in her static role as a museum ship in the province of Zeeland, The Netherlands, this small vessel survived such a long time in active service as a passenger liner between the Canary Islands which she started in the same year as the Titanic, 1912 (!), that she is worth it to be mentioned here.
Built by the Caledon Shipbuilding & Engineering Co. in Dundee, Scotland, the Viera y Clavijo was part of a fleet commissioned by the Compañía de Vapores Correos Interinsulares Canarios. The Viera y Clavijo had an incredibly long career, starting 1912. The ship was named after José de Viera y Clavijo (1731–1813), the most famous historian and polymath of the Canary Islands, who wrote the definitive General History of the Canary Islands.
She survived both World Wars and the Spanish Civil War, eventually being absorbed into the Compañía Trasmediterránea fleet in 1930. She continued sailing until 1976, totaling 64 years of service! In November 1976, the Spanish shipping company Trasmediterránea sold the Viera y Clavijo to to the Dutch industrialist Johan van der Marel for approximately $83,000 (roughly 5.7 million pesetas at the time). While Van der Marel was primarily a shipbreaking and salvage firm based in Ouwerkerk (province of Zeeland, The Netherlands), the Viera y Clavijo was spared the torch due to her historic value as one of the last “Correíllos Negros” (Black Mail ships). After arriving in the Netherlands, the ship was renamed Jomar (a portmanteau often used by the Van der Marel family) in 1978 and registered in Duiveland (Zeeland). She was converted into a floating museum and restaurant in Zierikzee, where she served as a prominent landmark and museum ship under her original name Viera y Clavijo.
Unfortunately, maintaining a vintage steamship is an expensive labor of love. Despite the efforts to preserve her as a museum, the Viera y Clavijo eventually fell into disrepair. After several years of service as a static attraction in the Netherlands, she was eventually scrapped in 1984 at the Van der Marel yard in Ouwerkerk, though parts of her (like the engine) were saved by maritime historians.
