A name probably coined by the United Fruit Co. from the Spanish words "ti" and "viveres" and roughly translated as "your food."
Tivives, a United Fruit Co. refrigerated ship built in 1911 at Belfast, Ireland, was chartered at New York City by the Navy on 5 July 1918 from the United Fruit Co. and commissioned the same day.
Assigned to the Naval Overseas Transportation Service, Tivives loaded 1,603 tons of beef and eight motor trucks and, on 13 July, sailed in convoy for France. The Allied ships reached Gironde on the 28th and, the next day, moved to St. Nazaire where she discharged her cargo. The ship next proceeded to Verdon whence she sailed in convoy on 15 August for home. After reaching New York City on the 26th, she underwent minor repairs, took on 1,704 tons of beef, and got underway on 2 September, bound once more in convoy for Europe. After unloading at Rochefort, the refrigerated ship departed Verdon on the 30th and returned to New York on 13 October. Only six days later, Tivives steamed out of New York harbor and headed eastward across the Atlantic with more beef for General Pershing's "doughboys." She reached Verdon on 6 November.
Five days later, as the ship was discharging her cargo, Germany signed the armistice ending hostilities. One week thereafter, Tivives headed home; and she reached New York on 3 December.
There, she took on 1,857 tons of beef and butter and got underway on Christmas Day. The ship reached Verdon on 4 January 1919, unloaded her cargo, picked up a cargo of American military equipment, and sailed for the United States on the 22d. The ship reached New York on 5 February but, 10 days later, began her last naval crossing, laden with beef for Europe. She moored at Verdon on the last day of February and, after delivering her beef, set her course homeward on 15 March.
After reaching New York on the 27th, the ship began preparations for demobilization. She was decommissioned on 25 April and returned to her owner.
Photo added January 2008
