ARUBA’S SHIPS

By: Bill Moyer

PART II - THE TANKER
After World War II, Standard Oil of New Jersey published a beautiful book telling the histories of all its tankers during the war. Crews were interviewed, logs were cited, and detailed accounts were thus recorded, especially of the ships that went down or that survived attacks. My Dad treasured the book, end so have I.  Its title is Ships of the Esso Fleet in World War II, copyright 1946 by Standard Oil Company of New Jersey, Eugene Holmen, Chairman of the Board, wrote the forward. Altogether, it lists 135 tankers in the Esso fleet.
The fleet may have held a particularly warm spot in the hearts of the directors of Jersey because it ‘was a custom to name many of the ships for members of the rd end founders of the company The Paul H. Her-wood, for example, which I think was the one I sailed on at the of one, and the C. 0. Still men, another one we traveled on in the early years, were named for directors. There ‘was also the W. C. Teagle, the H. M. Flagler, the F. H. Bedford, Jr., the Edward L. Doheny, the William Rockefeller, end the J. A. Mowinckel. Some ships had more conventional names, such as the Esso Aruba, Esso Bolivar, and Ease Raleigh. One was called, simply, Clio, I can’t imagine how she got in there. I remember when the Ease Bolivar end Ease Aruba were attacked--in the Esso Bolivar’s case, it was on March 8,1942, just three weeks after the February 16 attack on Aruba itself by the U- 156.
Because Aruba was a desert island and needed considerable supplies (food, water, clothing, construction supplies, etc.), part of the Ease fleet was adapted to carry this materiel—-the ships were the C. 0. Still men, Ease Aruba, Ease New Orleans, Esso Raleigh, F. H. Bedford, Jr., J. A. Mowinckel, Peter Hurll, and Ease Bolivar. These ships ‘were especially near and dear to us on the island. When we traveled by tanker, these typically were the ones that carried us, and we awaited their arrival with pleasure because of the things they brought us. (Not only necessities, but things like new books for the Library and new books, comic books and magazines for the newsstand by the post office.)
 

THE ESSO BOLIVAR
The Esso Bolivar had her ‘fore deep tank” and six of her wing tanks” reserved for fresh water. Still, she was able to carry 95,000 barrels or mere of oil at a time, and from 1939 through the end of the war she made 94 voyages and carried a total of 9.3 million barrels. On February 26, 1942, she left New York commended y Captain James M. Stewart, a total crew of 44 officers and men plus 6 navy gunners, carrying fresh water, supplies for the commissary, (and two crates of household goods of my Aunt Mabel and Uncle Lon, because they had just moved to Aruba!), and deck cargo. She was armed ‘with a 4-inch stern gun end four 30-caliber machine-guns, one on each wing of the bridge end two on the afterdeck. The vessel also had a degaussing system for protection against magnetic mines. At 2:30 a.m. on the morning of March 8, the Bolivar was about 30 miles southeast of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The weather was clear, the sea was calm, and there was bright moonlight. Perfect hunting conditions for a U-boat!
A loud bang was heard and a shell barely missed the ship. The Navy gunner ran from the wheelhouse to the stern gun, the Second Mete sounded the general alarm; the Captain was aroused, put on his life jacket and rushed to the bridge, ordering the Radio Operator to send an SOS. Moments after the message was sent, a second shell was fired, this one knocking out the radio with shrapnel. Captain Stewart ordered a zigzag course as more shells began exploding on the after deck. The sub bed found the range. A fire started in the galley which drove the men away from the stern gun. The same shell that hit the galley also cut the line to a fuel tank on deck. ‘Which fed the fire? Bulkheads caved in from the intense heat and flames shot 50 feet up the ventilator, and hatches. Chief Engineer McTaggart said, the submarine was firing shells as fast as a clock ticks, accurately and with no let-up. Every few minutes someone was getting hurt or killed.” Finally a shell struck the steering gear and the ship started going around in circles. The bridge signaled for the engine to be stopped, and the Chief Mete gave the order to abandon ship. Then shells began hitting the wheelhouse, am! Captain Stewart was killed.
Number 3 Lifeboat was on fire and No. 4 was hanging by one davit. Men jumped into the see or climbed down a Jacob’s ladder end swam around. Finally a life raft was released on the after deck, and Lifeboat 1 ‘was lowered into the water. It was riddled with shrapnel end sank to the gunwales, supported only by its buoyancy tanks. The Chief Mate was mortally ‘wounded end Chief Engineer Mc Taqgart took command. So many dead am! Injured were lying about the boat that the others couldn’t row. Several jumped overboard and pushed it away from the ship.
The submarine, meanwhile, spent about two hour, trying to sink the ship by shellfire without wasting a precious torpedo shot, but shortly before daybreak it fired a torpedo into the starboard side of the Esso Bolivar, blowing part of the cargo several hundred feet into the air. McTaggert’s lifeboat was about 700 feet from the ship by that time. The Bolivar listed to starboard but stayed afloat! The sub then circled the ship twice, playing a searchlight over it. Then two star shells exploded overhead-they were from a U.S. Navy vessel! The submarine submerged and was not heard from again. The men in the lifeboat kept pulling other survivors from the sea, some of whom were being attacked by sharks. Lifejackets were taken off and placed under the thwarts to give the lifeboat mere buoyancy and the bodies of the dead men were lowered into the sea.
A total of three rafts had gotten into the water, it turned out. One of the rafts had. several Navy gunners on it. After the submarine left and the star shells burned out, they spotted a flashlight moving along the rail of the Bolivar-it was Wiper Matthew Carlo. who had been knocked unconscious end was now awake, calling; “Don’t leave me.” They managed to paddle over and get him. Some men on the raft had rubber life saving suits on-by cutting up the suits the men in the lifeboat were able gradually to plug the shrapnel holes in their boat. They also used parsnips and carrots that were floating around from the Bolivar’s cargo Then a small plane appeared, carrying civilian photographers who had come out to take pictures of the ship, followed by a military plane and, finally, a minesweeper. On the ‘wag back to Guantanamo, the sweeper was met by a destroyer. A Navy ambulance was waiting at the pier to help the wounded as they came ashore in Cuba. On the way in, the survivors of the Bolivar radioed the Base Commandant, saying they believed the Bolivar could be saved and requesting permission to return to it. After checking photographs of the ship, he agreed, and sent them back to the Bolivar on a net tender, accompanied by a salvage party of 25 men.
The net tender, Mulberry, reached the Bolivar at about 9a.m. the following morning. She was till burning, and had a 20 degree list. Pumpman Eberling, an experienced man who knew the ship well, shifted ballast and straightened the ship up. A good supply of carbon tetrachloride was still aboard, which was used to fight the fire in the paint locker. A small diesel engine for the degaussing system was used to supply electricity to auxiliary pumps which eventually started the ships boilers which in turn provided steam to extinguish the fire. (McTaggart had to dive several times into the four or five feet of water filling his office before he found the copper jumper that was needed to transfer electricity from the degaussing rig generator to the ships main electrical system) Little by little, damage to the steam lines was repaired, and the pumps for lubricating oil and coaling water were started. Shortly after two that afternoon, the Bolivar was under power, gradually increasing its speed to 8 knots. By 5 p.m. she was in Guantanamo, but could not dock because of a fire still burning in the cork insulation of her refrigeration room. This fire lasted for three days more and was only extinguished when acetylene holes were cut in the bulkheads and the cork could be torn out.
The hole made by the torpedo was about 50 feet long and 35 feet deep, extending downward almost to the keel. there were also 30 large shell holes in the hull and superstructure. Seven men of the crew were killed in the attack, including the captain and first mate, and one of the Navy gunners was killed. Of the survivors, two were lost later that same year when the C. 0. Stillman and C. J. Barkdull were attacked. Eight others survived other U- boat attacks that year and in 1943.
 

THE ESSO ARUBA
I still remember very well when we heard that the Esso Aruba (our namesake as well as one of our special supply vessels!) had been hit, and I remember sailing on her later in the 1940’s and being shown by the crew where the torpedo had struck. This is her story as told by the official chronicle. The Esso Aruba was built in England in 1931, 500 feet long, 65 feet wide, 36.75 feet deep, and with a capacity of 107,569 barrels of oil (15,145 dwt.) During World War II she made 116 voyages end delivered 11 million barrels of oil. In 1942 she had a crew of 41 plus 13 Navy gunners. Her Captain was Frank Pharr.
In late 1942 the Esso Aruba sailed from La Guaira with 104,170 barrels of diesel fuel, went to Trinidad and then joined a convoy heading toward New York. At 11 p.m. on the night of August 27/28, in bright moonlight, about 120 miles southeast of Guantanamo, at least one submarine broke through the naval defense of the convoy. Three tankers were torpedoed in quick succession, the Esso Aruba being the third one hit. The other two-the Rotterdam, and an Eagle tanker named the San Fabian-sank. The Aruba survived.
The torpedo entered the No. 6 tank and blew up inside the ship. The deck was blown 20 feet into the air. Captain Pharr rang the general alarm, summoning all hands to the lifeboats, and ordered the engine stopped. According to Captain Pharr, a 16 year old messboy, quartered about 30 feet from where the torpedo struck, slept right through the explosion and alarm and had to be dragged from his bunk. When the Captain inspected the damage, he saw that the ship was blown nearly in two. Port tanks 6 and 7 were entirely open to the sea, but as oil flowed out and seawater flowed in, the net effect was to maintain the ship’s balance and keep it from capsizing, the Chief Engineer reported the machinery still was in good condition, so Capt. Pharr ordered the engine restarted. They moved ahead at about 8 knots and beached the ship in Guantanamo Bay. The Cities Service Missouri was brought alongside, and with the help of a wrecking tug, the Aruba’s oil was transferred to the Missouri. The Aruba was then patched up sufficiently for it to sail on to Galveston, where permanent repairs were made. She reentered service Feb. 13, 1943.
 

THE I. C. WHITE
Germany did not attack Holland until May 10, 1940 (and that is when the German freighter Antilla was surrounded by Dutch marines at Malmok and was scuttled by her Captain.) But Hitler had attacked Czechoslovakia March 15/16 1939, and Poland on Sept. 1, 1939. Great Britain and France had declared war on Germany Sept. 3, 1939. Esso tankers began to be involved with German U-boats as early as 1939. Captain William Mello’s tanker, the I. C. White, was torpedoed and sunk on Sep. 27, 1941 , long before the U. S. was formally at war with Germany.
The I. C. White was bulltinl920 by Sun at Chester, Pennsylvania. She had a 11,365 dwt capacity, allowing her to carry 78,220 barrels of oil. Her speed was 10.3 knots. In 1941 she made a number of voyages, running between Venezuela and Aruba to Providence, R.I., Fall River, Mass., New Haven, Charleston, and Newport News. On her last voyage she was bound from Curaçao to Cape Town, South Africa.
According to Captain Mello, “The I. C. White was steaming fully lighted. The Panama flag was flying, with two spotlights on it. The ship’s sides were painted with Panamanian flag colors and the funnel bore Panama Transport Company markings. I had just left the bridge and was on the way to my cabin when the vessel was hit. The second mate, Mr. Hewitt, told me that the telegraph was placed on “stop” and “Finished with engines”. The ship was hit at about No. 7 or No. 8 main tank on the starboard side. An explosion took piece which at once set the tank afire and also the after house, making it impossible for anyone to go aft from amidships or to get amidships from aft. Capt. Mello ordered the men into the lifeboats.
From three lifeboats and a raft, the 34 surviving members of the crew (three man had been killed) watched their ship go down about four hours after she was struck. After sun up, they shifted men so there were 17 each in the two non-leaking lifeboats. Captain Mello decided to steer west northwest toward the coast of Brazil, which he calculated was about a five or six day sail. According to Chief Mate Isaac Vincent, “On our journey in the lifeboat we did not experience too much difficulty. We had sufficient water and biscuits. The wind and current were with us and the weather was warm. The sun was very hot, but it did not burn us because we were covered with oil...in six days we sailed nearly 500 miles. We were picked upon Oct. 3 by the SS West Nilus...”. The two lifeboats had separated deliberately to increase the odds of at least one being rescued, and the other was picked up about 40 miles off the coast of Brazil by the steamship Del Norte. In Rio de Janeiro, all were transferred to the “palatial Moore & McCormack liner Brazil” and returned to New York, arriving Oct. 20, 1941.
Five of the survivors of the I. C. White were on other ships that were attacked later in the war (one was Second Mate on the Esso Aruba when she was hit.)
 

THE F. H. BEDFORD, JR.
The Bedford had a German crew in early 1939. When the British and French declared war on Germany, she was sailing from Buenos Aires to Aruba, arriving there September 15. The immediate problem was to replace the German crew. An American crew was sent from New York on the Esso New Orleans and the Santa Paula. The U.S. consul arranged transit visas for the Germans and they all were taken to New York on the Santa Rosa and transferred there to the Italian vessel, Yulcania, which took them onto Lisbon. The Bedford was then sent to New York where in December, 1939, it was modified for special Aruba service. Refrigerated space for transportation of fresh meat and produce were installed, and some of the tanks were cleaned and lined to carry 4,100 tons of fresh water. (983,213 gallons of water) Separate pumps were put in for the fresh water and booms were added to permit the handling of general cargo. She was then intended to be kept on the Aruba-New York run, replacing the Esso New Orleans, which had been assigned to U.S. Navy service.
The Bedford was built in 1930 in England. Her capacity was 17,460 dwt- 137,816 barrels of oil. She was 542 feet long, 70 feet wide, and 38.75 feet deep (draft 30.25 feet.) She had twin screws end a speed of 12.3 knots. She was a sister ship of the Peter Hurll, J. A. Mowinckel, Heinrich von Riedemann, and J. H. Senior. She survived the war, having made 86 voyages and carrying 9.2 million barrels of oil, plus water and stores for Aruba. The list of provisions for the island included supplies for the commissary; tools end equipment for the refinery, drums of lubricating oil, and drums of anti -knock compound. A typical voyages cargo included more than 10,000 cases, cartons, crates, and packages.
 

THE W. C. TEAGLE
The W. C. Teagle was not as fortunate as the Bedford. She ‘was sunk with only one survivor.
The W. C. Teagle was built in 1917 by Bethlehem Steel in Baltimore (Sparrows Point.) She was 516 feet long, 68 feet wide, and 38.25 feet deep, with a capacity of 16,080 dwt--119,3 10 barrels. Her average speed, loaded, was 9.5 knots. Her complement was 45 officers and men (including 3 military gunners.) On August l5, l941, she was returned to the yard for a thorough overhaul and installation of degaussing equipment (to protect against magnetic mines.) She then sailed to Aruba. There she loaded 96,595 barrels of fuel oil and departed the 22nd, making brief stops at Halifax and Sydney, Nova Scotia, before joining a convoy across the Atlantic. The W. C. Teagle was assigned the third station in the tenth column of ships. Her radio was shutoff, since it was the type that produced a signal, even when receiving that could reveal the ships position to submarines. Captain H. P. Barlow was in command.
On the evening of Oct. 16, the weather was squally, with a moderate west northwest wind end heavy sea, though visibility was good between rain squalls. At 8:40 the men on the W. C. Teagle heard an explosion elsewhere in the convoy and saw the glow of a ship on fire. At 9:20, the W. C. Teagle herself was hit and burst into flames, with burning oil spilling into the water. The crew tried to fight the fire but then the ships stern plunged downward, throwing men into the sea. This occurred only about 5 minutes after the explosion. The sole survivor, Radio Operator Norman Houston, reported: “On coming to the surface I saw the bow of the W. C. Teagle standing vertically out of the water and I swam away from her. Shortly afterward I looked to where the ship had been, but she had disappeared. I was in the water for about 5 hours until rescued by one of His Majesty’s corvettes.”

The captain of a nearby Norwegian tanker testified, “I saw the W. C. Teagle, which was off my starboard and slightly astern, suddenly aglow end a flame for several minutes; oil from the W. C. Teagle was also blazing on the water. As the convoy proceeded I saw the W. C. Teagle settling by the stern into the sea. From the time the W. C. Teagle was struck until several hours thereafter, many other vessels in the convoy were torpedoed.” (The Norwegian tanker, too, was sunk, about two hours after the W. C. Teagle went down.) On Oct.18 a German communiqué announced that U-boats had sunk 10 merchantmen and two destroyers “en route to Britain” in a conflict lasting several days. This appeared to refer to two convoys, one of which included the W. C. Teagle.
 

THE THALIA
When Aruba was attacked in the early morning hours of Feb. 16, 1942, the Thalia was on her way from New York to Aruba in ballast. Her Danish crew numbered 41, including the crew for her 4-inch gun aft. At 4 a.m. on Feb. 23, just 46 miles northwest of Aruba, she was struck by two torpedoes about twenty minutes apart, and then a third after the order had been given to abandon ship. A submarine then surfaced and shelled the tanker until she sank at 7 a. m.  However, 40 members of the crew survived.
Ironically, the Thalia was built in Kiel, Germany, in 1926. Her capacity was 13,100 tons-102,270 barrels. She was 469feet long and had a speed of 10.5 knots. From the beginning of the war, she had made 20 voyages and carried 1.69 million barrels before she was attacked.
Early in the morning of Feb. 23 the wind was east northeast, Force 3. The sea was smooth and the sky slightly overcast. The helm was steering a zigzag course to help protect against submarines. Then the first torpedo struck the ship, on the starboard side, abaft of the mainmast. Captain Jens Michelsen ordered a radio message be sent, the rear gun manned, and the lifeboats lowered to stand by for abandoning ship. At 4:20, a second torpedo hit, again on the starboard side, under the bridge. The force of the explosion capsized one of the lifeboats. The gun crew still was not able to see the submarine in order to take any action against it, however. The remaining lifeboats were manned and pulled away from the ship. A third torpedo hit the ship at 4:25. The sub then surfaced and shelled the Thalia with incendiaries which set the ship on fire. After about two hours, the Thalia want down, stern first. The men in the lifeboats radioed their position and asked for assistance, then set sail for the Columbian coast rather than try to sail against the wind to Aruba. Toward noon they met a Columbian fishing boat which directed them to Bahie Honda, where they landed about 6 p.m., February 24, eleven wounded man were given medical treatment in Barranquilla.  The others were flown from Barranquilla to Trinidad and eventually taken to the US. Together with the survivors of the Ease Copenhagen, which had been sunk off French Guiana two days after the Thalia went down? They sailed on the Alcoa Steamship Companies ship, George Washington.
 

THE C. O. STILLMAN
On the morning of June 4, 1942, the second day of the Battle of Midway in the pacific, two tankers sailed from Aruba. One was the C. 0. Stillman, bound for New York with 125,812 barrels of fuel oil. The other was the L. J. Drake. The Stillman had a speed of 9.5 knots, fully loaded, and the Drake was slightly slower, at 9 knots, so it fell behind. The Drake was never heard from again, so is presumed to have been torpedoed end lost with all hands.
The Stillman was built in 1928 at Vegesack, Germany. She had a 24,185 dwt capacity 163,145 barrels of oil - and was 585 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 44.5 feet deep (draft: 33.8 feet.) On that final trip in 1942, her crew consisted of 50 seamen plus 8 Navy gunners. In command was Captain Daniel Larsen.
At 9:l5 on the night of June 5, about 60 miles southwest of Puerto Rico, the Stillman was hit by a torpedo. The crew immediately began abandoning ship. A second torpedo struck at 9:35, and the vessel began to sink rapidly. Capt. Larsen’s subsequent report included the following:  “The sea was moderate, the sky overcast, night pitch dark, wind southeast, Force 4...At 9:10 p.m. I went below with the chief mate to his room for a cup of coffee. Suddenly, at 9:15 p.m., a violent explosion, with a deep low sound, lifted me off my feet....As I got to the wheelhouse I saw the glare of flames abaft the mid-ship house...I instructed Chief Mate Bunsen to open the valves of the smothering system… I rang the engine room to stop the engines...the escape ladders were cut off by flames. I proceeded with the men on the bridge to slide down the ropes, previously rigged for the purpose...lifeboat No. 1 had been destroyed...No. 2 boat could not be approached because of the fire...l heard shouts; Steward Rafael Sanchez reported that some of the men ware trapped by the blaze in the mid-ship house...However, by using an axe they were able to break off a louver covering a port in the forward stateroom, through which they escaped...Arriving aft, we saw that No. 4 lifeboat had been launched. The chief mate called my attention to a dark shape abeam of the ship to starboard; apparently it was the submarine...about 9:35 p.m., a second torpedo hit the ship, again on the starboard side...We were showered with fuel oil and debris but fortunately escaped injury. A seaman on the port raft started shouting, Hurry up! She’s sinking and some of the men with me jumped overboard or slipped down ropes into the see, which was coming up fast...When the water was up to my knees I began to swim towards raft about 50 feet way, but kept on and passed it, for fear of suction. Looking back, I watched the C. 0. Stillman as she sank rapidly by the stern, her bow upright. She had entirely disappeared within 2 to 3 minutes of the second torpedo’s strike.”
Some of the men climbed onto rafts and lashed the rafts together for the night. The next morning, they sighted a plane, but it did not see them. At 11 a.m., however, another plane approached, and swooped low to acknowledge seeing them. It reappeared late in the afternoon, and just before dark a Coast Guard patrol boat picked up all the men on the three rafts. A fourth raft was found, and its occupants rescued, at 9 p. m... Meanwhile, two lifeboats had set sail for the Dominican Republic, reaching it on their own. Three seamen were lost in the sinking. Of the survivors, three were on other ships that were subjected to subsequent attacks. Able Seaman John Lang, lost on the Stillman, had been a survivor of the attack on the Bolivar.
 

THE PAUL H. HARWOOD
The Paul H. Harwood was a regular on the Aruba to New York route. The tanker was built in 1918 by Union Iron in California. It was 453 feet long, 56 feet wide, and 33.5 feet deep (draft 27 feet), with a cargo capacity of 10,840 dwt-78,285 barrels, and a speed of 11.2 knots. It made 65 voyages during World War II and carried a total of 4.57 million barrels of oil.
On July 7, 1942, she was torpedoed about two days out of Key West on the way to Port Arthur, Texas. Her Captain, George Rasmussen, reported: “I was on top of the bridge, asleep on a cot, when I was awakened by the explosion. I saw a black curtain of smoke, water, and debris raising from the after deck around the mainmast....The crew proceeded to their lifeboat stations without confusion. The tanks had been gas-freed and there was no explosion or fire....The torpedo had struck aft at No. 6 tank end I believed there was enough buoyancy in the tanks forward to keep the vessel afloat.” Learning that tanks 5, 6, and 7 were undamaged, about 10 minutes after the torpedo strike, the Captain ordered “Full speed ahead The Paul H. Harwood managed to reach Pilot town, Louisiana, under her own power, and later continued to Galveston for repairs.
The Harwood survived to make the Murmansk Run (to bypass German defenses north of Norway to deliver supplies to Russia) in late 1944 - early 1945. She joined a convoy of about 22 ships, plus a heavy escort, in Scotland. Her cargo was alcohol. The convey reached Murmansk, and then was joined by Russian ships to proceed further east to Molotovsk. The temperature was 3 below zero and the engine had to be kept running at all times to keep the propeller from freezing into the ice. On the way back past Norway, three merchant ships in the convoy were torpedoed. On February 17, the destroyer behind the Paul H. Harwood was sunk. On February 19th, about 20 German torpedo bombers attacked the convoy, and on Feb. 22, another 25 bombers attacked, but the air attacks sink only one additional ship.
 

THE J. A. MOWINCKEL
The J. A. Mowinckel was the second of three ships torpedoed in quick succession in a convoy off Cape Hatters on July 15, 1942. The Captain headed toward shore, but entered a US. Minefield. The ship was hit again, either by a mine or torpedo, and abandoned. It didn’t sink, however, and tugs came out to salvage it. One of the tugs was hit by a mine. Finally the Mowinckel was towed to Hampton Roads for repairs. Of the 46 crew members and 13 Navy men aboard at the time, one crew member and one Navy gunner were killed.
The Mowinckel was built in 1930 at Monfalcone, Italy, and was a sister ship of the Peter Hurll, J. H. Senior, F. H. Bedford, Jr., and Heinrich von Riedemann. She was 540 feet long, 70 feet wide, end 38.75 feet deep, with a capacity of 17, l55 tons-139,764 barrels, and a speed of 12.1 knots.
On June11, 1942, the Mowinckel picked up, from a life raft in the Caribbean, four survivors from a torpedoed Dutch passenger freighter and carried them to Aruba. The Dutch ship, in turn, had been carrying survivors of previous torpedoing from Curaçao to New Orleans! The Mowinckel then steamed to Aruba, from there to New York, end was returning to Aruba when attacked. She was carrying dry cargo, Including refrigerated provisions, and 6,000 tons of drinking water for Aruba. Captain Harold Griffiths was in command. The Mowinckel joined a convoy of 19 vessels including two destroyers, two Navy patrol boats, a Canadian-built corvette and a Coast Guard cutter. When possible, a blimp and several patrol bombers patrolled overhead. At 4:25 p.m. on the afternoon of July 15, however, a sub or subs managed to launch four torpedoes almost simultaneously against the convoy. The first victim was the S. S. Chilore, a 22,000 dwt freighter. A few seconds later, the Mowinckel caught the second torpedo, in her stern. The third hit the S.S. Blueflelds a 2, O63 ton freighter, and the third torpedo was seen passing behind the Mowinckel. The Bluefields sank immediately, but the S. S. Chilore and Mowinckel remained afloat. A submarine surfaced, and crewmen on the S. S. Chilore identified her as “No. 76.  It submerged as planes and escort vessels approached, but bombs and depth charges brought an oil slick to the surface suggesting that the sub had been hit. (German records show that the U-576 was lost July 15 at the location of the convoy.)
Aboard the J. A. Mowinckel, the general alarm had been sounded, the engines had been stopped, and the ship was listing to starboard. The crew started to lower the lifeboats. Captain Griffiths learned that the ship had been hit about 8 feet below the waterline, and a 20 by 20 foot hole had been blown in the hull aft of amidships, penetrating the steering-engine room, gallery, and mess rooms. There was a 6-inch hole in the after bulkhead in the main engine room, rivets were leaking badly in that area and the engine room was filling up with water. The Chief Engineer had a mattress stuffed in the hole and braced with planks, and turned on all the pumps in the bilge to try to keep the water level down. He found, then, that both main engines were still operable, and the Captain decided to try to make for shore. With no steering power, he had to try to steer by changing thrust between the twin screws. The Captain opened the safe so the doctor could get drugs to treat the wounded men.
The ship had moved about 20 miles northwest, towards shore which was still 15 or more miles away, when there was a second explosion. Again the escorts dropped depth charges, and again an oil slick appeared on the surface. This time, Capt. Griffiths gave the order to abandon ship. All four lifeboats were launched. The S. S. Chilore had also suffered additional damage and launched all its boats by this time. Coast Guard patrol craft towed some of the lifeboats to shore. The next day, Capt. Griffiths returned to the Mowinckel with the other officers of the ship, ten crew members, and several Navy officers. They decided the ship could be saved, and salvage tugs were sent out. On July 19, however, the tug Keshena, which was towing the injured Mowinckel, struck a mine and sank in 12 minutes. Other tugs managed to tow the Mowinckel to Hatters Inlet, where she wee beached. Jersey’s Port Engineer, Guy Bennett, went aboard to help re-float the vessel. The pump room was pumped out by a salvage tug after the Mowinckel’s Second Mete dived down into the pump room to set valves in position. The officers and men on the Mowinckel, meanwhile, dug into the stores that had been intended for Aruba-one of them commented that they lived entirely on ice cream and frozen strawberries for a while, as a result of which he never had any desire for strawberry sundaes afterward. Just as the ships’ stern had been raised and she was starting to float, she struck a mine.  With the pumps going, however, the crew was able to keep the ship in balance and she was towed into Hampton Roads.
The damaged freighter S. S. Chilore, on the other hand, got only as far as the entrance to Chesapeake Bag under tow, when she capsized and sank on July 24.
Bill Moyer, Dallas, 1991

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