SS Aquarama was built as Marine Star, one of five breakbulk cargo ships of the United States Maritime Commission (USMC) type C4-S-B5 having that C4 design variant.

[6] The American Hawaiian Steamship Company operated Marine Star for WSA under a General Agency Agreement for the remainder of the war and until 9 August 1946.

[5] Wisconsin & Michigan Steamship Co., a subsidiary of Sand Products Company of Detroit,[7][8] had Marine Star taken to Todd Shipyards at Brooklyn, New York, where her old superstructure was cut down.

[3] The president of the Sand Products Corporation at the time, Max McKee, wanted the Aquarama to be an ocean liner for the Great Lakes.

Aquarama was briefly docked at Sarnia, then Windsor before returning to its original name of Marine Star in 1995 and moving under tow to Buffalo.

On August 3, 1995 the Marine Star was berthed at the Cargill Pool Elevator where it stayed until it was towed overseas to Aliağa, Turkey for scrap in September 2007.

Some of the ship's safety features included its all-steel construction, the smoke detection system, four 135-passenger lifeboats, the latest in radar, and closed circuit television for viewing the stern.