Pan American Airways acquired the ship and made modifications for use as a "hotel" ship and surface link for its Clipper service based in Nouméa to Australia before it acquired landing rights in Australia.
By September 1940 the ship was in Sydney for overhaul.
The combination air-sea link between San Francisco and Sydney, made necessary by early British air lines' opposition to landing rights, was to be on a seven-day schedule with the ship's twenty luxurious staterooms providing the sea link for forty  passengers at a cost of about £24 Australian.

The war in Europe was intruding with the German raider Orion having sunk ships and been active off New Caledonia in mid August 1940 and even flying a reconnaissance aircraft over Nouméa that observed pro-de Gaulle and anti-Vichy crowds in public areas.
Changed plans were indicated by early September with reports in connection with a report of high level visitors, including Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney, chairman of Pan American's directors, arriving by Clipper in Auckland by way of Nouméa that the yacht was purchased as a "floating air base" and not as a surface connection to Australia.
The tense political situation contributing to these decisions is noted in a report of Mr. Vanderbilt's description of Nouméa with crowds demonstrating in favor of General de Gaulle under the guns of a Vichy warship, the Dumont d'Urville.
By mid September 1940 agreement had been reached on sharing routes, part of Pacific defense plans reached at a Wellington, New Zealand conference, resulted in plans for the ship's surface shuttle being replaced by its use as a floating transit hotel in Nouméa's harbor while the wartime political situation on the French island was resolved with the September 19 arrival of de Gaulle's representative Henri Sautot backed by HMAS Adelaide.

By May 1941 the ship was described, in contrast to a somewhat shabby but free Nouméa, as lying a half mile out in the harbor, a "dazzling white motor yacht" the "embodiment of smartness and comfort" with American officers and drink stewards, Melanesian deck hands and Japanese waiters that make passengers feel like millionaires at least for a night.

The political situation's resolution in Nouméa resulted in the ship and routes being under Free vice Vichy French control of the Pan American air link until U.S. entry into the war.
Pan American Airways acquired the ship and made modifications for use as a "hotel" ship and surface link for its Clipper service based in Nouméa to Australia before it acquired landing rights in Australia. By September 1940 the ship was in Sydney for overhaul. The combination air-sea link between San Francisco and Sydney, made necessary by early British air lines' opposition to landing rights, was to be on a seven-day schedule with the ship's twenty luxurious staterooms providing the sea link for forty  passengers at a cost of about £24 Australian.
The war in Europe was intruding with the German raider Orion having sunk ships and been active off New Caledonia in mid August 1940 and even flying a reconnaissance aircraft over Nouméa that observed pro-de Gaulle and anti-Vichy crowds in public areas. Changed plans were indicated by early September with reports in connection with a report of high level visitors, including Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney, chairman of Pan American's directors, arriving by Clipper in Auckland by way of Nouméa that the yacht was purchased as a "floating air base" and not as a surface connection to Australia. The tense political situation contributing to these decisions is noted in a report of Mr. Vanderbilt's description of Nouméa with crowds demonstrating in favor of General de Gaulle under the guns of a Vichy warship, the Dumont d'Urville. By mid September 1940 agreement had been reached on sharing routes, part of Pacific defense plans reached at a Wellington, New Zealand conference, resulted in plans for the ship's surface shuttle being replaced by its use as a floating transit hotel in Nouméa's harbor while the wartime political situation on the French island was resolved with the September 19 arrival of de Gaulle's representative Henri Sautot backed by HMAS Adelaide.
By May 1941 the ship was described, in contrast to a somewhat shabby but free Nouméa, as lying a half mile out in the harbor, a "dazzling white motor yacht" the "embodiment of smartness and comfort" with American officers and drink stewards, Melanesian deck hands and Japanese waiters that make passengers feel like millionaires at least for a night.
The political situation's resolution in Nouméa resulted in the ship and routes being under Free vice Vichy French control of the Pan American air link until U.S. entry into the war.
Lyndonia (1920)