The S. S. ''Minnow'' is a fictional

charter boat Yacht chartering is the practice of renting, or chartering, a sailboat or motor yacht and travelling to various coastal or island destinations. This is usually a vacation activity, but it also can be a business event. There are two main kinds ...

on the hit 1960s television

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ...

Gilligan's Island ''Gilligan's Island'' is an American sitcom created and produced by Sherwood Schwartz. The show's ensemble cast features Bob Denver, Alan Hale Jr., Jim Backus, Natalie Schafer, Tina Louise, Russell Johnson and Dawn Wells. It aired for th ...

''. The ship ran aground on the shore of "an uncharted desert isle" in the south

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the conti ...

, setting the stage for this popular situation comedy. The crew of two were the skipper Jonas Grumby and his first mate Willy Gilligan, and the five passengers were millionaire

Thurston Howell III Thurston Howell III (mentioned in the opening credits as: "The Millionaire") is a character on the CBS television sitcom ''Gilligan's Island'', which ran from 1964 to 1967, and later in syndication. Portrayal Howell, portrayed by veteran charact ...

, his wife

Lovey Howell Lovey Howell (née Wentworth), is a fictional character from the 1964 television show ''Gilligan's Island'' played by Natalie Schafer. The character is a rich socialite married to millionaire businessman Thurston Howell III. Character summary W ...

, movie star

Ginger Grant Ginger Grant is a fictional character portrayed by actress Tina Louise in the 1964 to 1967 television sitcom ''Gilligan's Island''. Character summary Born in New York City on September 1, 1937, Grant is a "movie star" and would casually ment ...

, professor Roy Hinkley, and farm girl

Mary Ann Summers Mary Ann Summers is a fictional character in the television sitcom ''Gilligan's Island'' which ran on the CBS network from 1964 to 1967, and has run more or less continuously since in reruns. She was played by actress Dawn Wells. Character s ...

. The shipwreck was first seen in the season 1 episode " Two on a Raft", which begins with the crew and passengers awaking on the ship. Several times in the course of the series they plan ways to repair the ''Minnow'' to get off the island. In the episode "Goodbye Island", Gilligan discovered glue that was believed to be waterproof and permanent. However, it was later revealed that the glue was temporary and before they could push the repaired ship out to sea, the entire vessel literally fell to pieces. There are many other references to the ship in the rest of the series, such as in the episode "Court-Martial", where an investigation was launched into the ''Minnow'''s disappearance, which at first determined that the Skipper was responsible, then later concluding that the Skipper wasn't aware that a storm was coming. It is also revealed in this episode that the reason for the ''Minnows wreck was that Gilligan threw its anchor overboard without a rope attached to it.

Origin of its name

minnow Minnow is the common name for a number of species of small freshwater fish, belonging to several genera of the families Cyprinidae and Leuciscidae. They are also known in Ireland as pinkeens. Smaller fish in the subfamily Leusciscidae are c ...

is a very small bait fish, but the TV boat was actually named for

Newton Minow Newton Norman Minow (born January 17, 1926) is an American attorney and former Chair of the Federal Communications Commission. He is famous for his speech referring to television as a " vast wasteland". While still maintaining a law practice, Mi ...

,Associated Press, "Nostalgic Ride", ''Express'' (Washington, D.C.), Sep. 16, 2008, p. 21. who ''Gilligan's Island''

executive producer Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the making of a commercial entertainment product. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights ...

Sherwood Schwartz Sherwood Charles Schwartz (; November 14, 1916 – July 12, 2011) was an American television screenwriter and producer. He worked on radio shows in the 1940s, but he now is best known for creating the 1960s television series '' Gilligan's Isla ...

believed "ruined television". Minow was chairman of the U.S.

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdicti ...

(FCC) in 1961, and is noted for a speech in which he called American television " a vast wasteland". The

ship prefix A ship prefix is a combination of letters, usually abbreviations, used in front of the name of a civilian or naval ship that has historically served numerous purposes, such as identifying the vessel's mode of propulsion, purpose, or ownership/n ...

''S. S.'' is used for ships that are powered by steam. However, the show's writers did not follow this convention and in some instances depicted it having

spark plug A spark plug (sometimes, in British English, a sparking plug, and, colloquially, a plug) is a device for delivering electric current from an ignition system to the combustion chamber of a spark-ignition engine to ignite the compressed fuel/ai ...

s or being

diesel Diesel may refer to: * Diesel engine, an internal combustion engine where ignition is caused by compression * Diesel fuel, a liquid fuel used in diesel engines * Diesel locomotive, a railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engi ...

-powered.

S. S. ''Minnow II''

The S. S. ''Minnow II'' was a successor boat purchased by the Skipper from insurance money for the first in the 1978

made-for-TV movie A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made for ...

'' Rescue from Gilligan's Island''. At the end of that movie, the cast and boat are wrecked on the same island, as shown by

Gilligan Gilligan is a fictional character played by Bob Denver on the 1960s TV show ''Gilligan's Island'' and its many sequels. Gilligan, affectionately called "little buddy" by the "Skipper", is the bumbling, dimwitted, accident-prone first mate of th ...

's discovery of a plank with "''Minnow'' I" on it. How they knew to call the first vessel "I" before there was a second is not explained. This version of the ''Minnow'' got destroyed in another ill-fated storm due to Gilligan removing the magnet for the compass during their voyage and the castaways ended up marooned back on the very same island they had escaped months before.

''Minnow III''

The ''Minnow III'' is the plane built by the Professor in the 1979 made-for-TV movie '' The Castaways on Gilligan's Island,'' the sequel to '' Rescue From Gilligan's Island''. It does not have the prefix "S. S.", as it is not a

steamboat A steamboat is a boat that is marine propulsion, propelled primarily by marine steam engine, steam power, typically driving propellers or Paddle steamer, paddlewheels. Steamboats sometimes use the ship prefix, prefix designation SS, S.S. or S/S ...

(nor were its boat predecessors).

''Minnow IV''

The ''Minnow IV'', also introduced in '' The Castaways on Gilligan's Island'', is a small whaling boat run by The Skipper and Gilligan as a shuttle between the island and cruise ships for its passengers who are coming to the island.

Restoration

In 2008, the boat used in the opening of the second and third season color episodes, previously named the ''Bluejacket'', was based at Schooner Cove Marina on the east side of Vancouver Island, in Nanoose Bay, British Columbia. Having put the boat through a major restoration, the new owner planned to use it for charters and sightseeing tours. The owner equipped it with an old life preserver with "S. S. ''Minnow''" on it, as well as other show items.

References

External links

Original ''Minnow'' found!

{{DEFAULTSORT:Minnow Gilligan's Island Fictional ships