 After 16 years on San Francisco Bay, the Argentina-Uruguayan Navigation Touring Company purchased "Yosemite" for $70,000 in 1939, and paid Bethlehem Shipbuilding $35,000 to modify the ferry to reach the Rio de la Plata under its own power.The ferry was renamed "Argentina" and equipped with structural reinforcement, new keels, additional fuel and water tanks, a radio, and quarters for a 21-man crew.Captain Eduardo M. Saez of the Uruguayan Navy sailed from San Francisco on 16 April 1940 on a 9,000 mile (15,000 km) voyage to Montevideo via the Panama Canal.