How Gilligan’s Island Boat Got Its Name (and Where to Visit It Today)

THE SS fish of Gilligan’s Island is as famous as its first mate, and there is an interesting story behind the doomed ship’s name. Younger Viewers May Know Better Gilligan’s Island because of the season 2 episode of The office“Booze Cruise”, when Michael Scott (Steve Carell) sings the theme song and dubs each member of Dunder Mifflin by a different character’s name. For everyone else, Gilligan’s Island is one of the classics of 60s TV, as well as color television of the 70s and 80s, when it went into syndication.

Although not all Gilligan’s Island It’s aged better, there’s still a lot to love. From the incredible cast Gilligan’s Island to the inventions of coconut and bamboo, there is a lot to enjoy in the series. Of course, the SS fish needs to be mentioned. And the SS fish which takes Gilligan and his passengers to the unknown island in the first place. In the introduction theme, revealed the SS fish ran aground in the South Pacific, stranding everyone on the island. There are some attempts to repair the boat, but the castaways’ efforts inevitably fail.

The name SS Minnow is a criticism of former FCC Chairman Newton Minow

Executive producer Sherwood Schwartz was angry with Minow

Ostensibly, the SS fish is named after the small fish, but supposedly, Gilligan’s Island executive producer Sherwood Schwartz named the boat after U.S. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Newton Minow (through TarltonDireito Library). On May 9, 1961, the newly appointed Minow gave a notorious speech at the 39th Annual Convention of the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) in Washington, DC. There, he spoke about the “vast wasteland” that TV had become, berating networks for not taking responsibility for the content they aired.

Minow’s comments led to some radical changes in television production, changes that Schwartz denounced as “death sentence“for the independence and integrity of programming. He said of Minow,

“The year [that I began working on Gilligan’s Island] It was 1963 and the three networks were already beginning to use the dictatorial power that Newton Minow, president of the Federal Communications Commission, had given them. Mr. Minow’s famous “vast wasteland” speech at the 1961 NAB convention was provoked by the quiz show scandals, the payola investigations, and the general low esteem in which television was held. Probably unintentionally, this speech had a far more devastating impact than the conditions it criticized… The shocking consequences of this assignment of responsibility by Mr. Minow and the FCC gave ABC, CBS, and NBC absolute authority over everything what happens. your living room on network television.”

To one-up Minow, Schwartz decided to name his show’s useless boat after the FCC chairman, with an unnamed crew member saying:

“No one can say that ‘Gilligan’s Island’ did not have a hidden meaning. I was surprised to discover recently from Sherwood Schwartz that our sunken ship, the SS Minnow, was named after someone. It was named in dubious honor of the man who, Sherwood insists, , ‘ruined television’.”

However, Minow never seemed to be bothered by the mockery and it was reported that he and Schwartz ended up having a friendly correspondence over the years (via complete blood count).

The restored SS Minnow can be visited on Vancouver Island, Canada

The boat is used for fundraising events

For fans who want to experience what it was like to ride the SS goldfishthey are in luck. In 2008, the boat was restored by Ken Schley and John Briulo, co-owners of one of the four boats that competed in the SS fish in the series (via complete blood count). The 11-metre vessel was previously in the care of Scotty Taylor of Parksville, BC, who was unaware of the boat’s legacy. Taylor bought it from another man who beached it on a reef in Hecate Strait in northern B.C. Taylor docked next to Schley’s boat for years.

Schley knew it was the SS fish immediately, and with Briuolo, he paid US$100,000 for the boat and worked US$200,000 on it. The repairs were worth it and the SS fish has been restored to near-perfect condition (via Kelland Ventures). Schley and Briuolo now offer the Gilligan’s Island boat for fundraising events, sailing SS goldfish outside its marina in Schooner Cove on Vancouver Island, Canada.