All Hands Lost Maritime Disasters, Tragedies, and Mysteries at sea. By Darryn J Carroll
All Hands Lost Available at www.allhandslost.com Cover Illustration by David H. Large at Seadragon.com Cover design by Michael Maloney ISBN 978-1-60458-209-3 Copyright 2008 Darryn Carroll, All Rights Reserved 2
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Introduction Shipwreck stories seem to interest most people in one way or another. Some may find the stories horrific while others find romance in the bravery of the captains and the crews that went down with these great vessels. Compiled from hundreds of resources of shipwrecks, lost military submarines, cruise ship disappearances, shark attacks, deadly sea creatures, Bermuda triangle mysteries, mysterious lighthouse deaths, and more. 4
Dedication I wish to dedicate this to my father John Carroll who wrote short stories for the Veterans Administrations monthly magazine. His inspiration kept me going when I often wondered why am I doing this? I would like to thank Captain Lou of Captain Lou s Nautical Talk radio for all his help and contributions. His weekly radio program is required listening for all nautical enthusiasts and can be heard around the world at www.nauticaltalk.com All Hands Lost is also dedicated to all the brave souls who risk their lives every day on our unpredictable oceans and seas. www.allhandslost.com 5
Table of Contents Ship s & Vessel s P. 7 Submarine s P. 93 Bearing Sea Fisherman P. 136 Cruise Ship Disappearances P. 142 Bermuda Triangle P. 157 Shark Attacks P. 163 Deadly Sea Creatures P. 190 Plane Crashes P. 196 Lighthouse Tragedies and Mysteries P. 200 Missing At Sea P. 218 Other Nautical Stories P. 226 Resources P. 228 6
Ships & Vessels RMS Titanic 1500 of 2200 Souls Lost The British luxury passenger liner Titanic sank on April 14-15, 1912, en route to New York City from Southampton, Eng., during its maiden voyage. The vessel sank with a loss of about 1,500 lives at a point about 400 miles south of Newfoundland. The great ship, at that time the largest and most luxurious afloat, was designed and built by William Pirrie's Belfast firm Harland and Wolff to service the highly competitive Atlantic Ferry route. It had a double-bottomed hull that was divided into 16 presumably watertight compartments. Because four of these could be flooded without endangering the liner's buoyancy, it was considered unsinkable. Shortly before midnight on April 14, the ship collided with an iceberg; five of its watertight compartments were ruptured, causing the ship to sink at 2:20 AM April 15. Inquiries held in the United States and Great Britain alleged that the Leyland liner Californian, 7
which was less than 20 miles away, could have aided the stricken vessel had its radio operator been on duty and thereby received the Titanic's distress signals. Only the arrival of the Cunard liner Carpathia 1 hour and 20 minutes after the Titanic went down prevented further loss of life in the icy waters. Many of those who perished on the ship came from prominent American, British, and European families. Among the dead were the noted British journalist William Thomas Stead and heirs to the Straus and Astor fortunes. The glamour associated with the ship, its maiden voyage, and its notable passengers magnified the tragedy of its sinking in the popular mind. Legends arose almost immediately around the night's events, those who had died, and those who had survived. Heroes and heroines, such as American Molly Brown, were identified and celebrated by the press. The disaster and the mythology that has surrounded it have continued to fascinate millions. As a result of the disaster, the first International Convention for Safety of Life at Sea was called in London in 1913. The convention drew up rules requiring that every ship have lifeboat space for each person embarked (the Titanic had only 1,178 boat spaces for the 2,224 persons aboard); that lifeboat drills be held during each voyage; and, because the Californian had not heard the distress signals of the Titanic, that ships maintain a 24-hour radio watch. The International Ice Patrol also was established to warn ships of icebergs in the North Atlantic shipping lanes. 8
On Sept. 1, 1985, the wreck of the Titanic was found lying upright in two pieces on the ocean floor at a depth of about 4,000 m (about 13,000 feet). The ship, located at about 41 46' N 50 14' W, was subsequently explored several times by manned and unmanned submersibles under the direction of American and French scientists. The expeditions found no sign of the long gash previously thought to have been ripped in the ship's hull by the iceberg. The scientists instead have come up with the theory that the collision's impact had produced a series of thin gashes as well as brittle fracturing and separation of seams in the adjacent hull plates, thus allowing water to flood in and sink the ship. In subsequent years marine salvagers raised small artifacts and even a 20-ton piece of the hull from the wreckage. The Titanic story has been told many times and played out in many movies including the blockbuster by the same name in 1997 by director, producer, and writer James Cameron. 9
Cunard liner Lusitania 1198 of 1959 Souls Lost Lusitania was owned by the Cunard Steamship Line Shipping Company, built by John Brown and Company of Clydebank, Scotland, and launched on Thursday, June 7, 1906. Lusitania sailed on her maiden voyage to New York City on September 7, 1907 arriving on September 13, 1907. She was launched and christened by Mary, Lady Inverclyde, on Thursday, June 7, 1906. Lord Inverclyde (1861-1905) had died before this momentous occasion. Starting on July 27, 1907, Lusitania underwent preliminary and formal acceptance trials. It was then she smashed all speed records ever set in the history of the shipping industry. Lusitania was smaller than White Star Line's Olympic class vessels, Olympic, Titanic, and Britannic, and although significantly faster than the Olympics, she was not fast enough to allow Cunard to provide a weekly transatlantic departure schedule. Lusitania departed Pier 54 in New York on 1 May 1915. The German Embassy in Washington had issued this warning on 22 April: NOTICE! TRAVELLERS intending to embark on the Atlantic voyage are reminded that a state of war exists between Germany and her allies and Great Britain and her allies; that the zone of war includes the waters adjacent to the British Isles; that, in accordance with formal notice given 10
by the Imperial German Government, vessels flying the flag of Great Britain, or any of her allies, are liable to destruction in those waters and that travelers sailing in the war zone on the ships of Great Britain or her allies do so at their own risk. Lusitania steamed out of New York at noon that day, two hours behind schedule due to a transfer of passengers and crew from the recently requisitioned Cameronia. Shortly after departure, three German spies were found on board, arrested, and detained below decks. Lusitania carried 1,959 passengers on her last voyage. Those aboard included British MP David Alfred Thomas and his daughter Margaret, Lady Mackworth, American architect Theodate Pope, Oxford professor and writer Ian Stoughton Holbourn, H. Montagu Allan's wife Marguerite and daughters Anna and Gwendolyn, actresses Rita Jolivet and Josephine Brandell, Belgian diplomat Marie Depage, wife of Antoine Depage, New York fashion designer Carrie Kennedy, playwrights Justus Miles Forman and Charles Klein, American theatre impresario Charles Frohman, American philosopher, writer and Roycroft founder Elbert Hubbard and his second wife Alice, American pianist Charles Knight, renowned Irish art collector Sir Hugh Lane, Socialite Beatrice Witherbee, her son Alfred Scott Witherbee, Jr., and her mother, Mary Cummings Brown, American engineer and entrepreneur Frederick Stark Pearson and his wife Mabel, genealogist Lothrop Withington, and sportsman, millionaire, leader of the 11
Vanderbilt family, Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt, and scenic designer Oliver P. Bernard whose sketches of the sinking were published in the Illustrated London News. The family of Major F. Warren Pearl was onboard as well. Audrey, then three months old, survived, reputedly in the bottom drawer taken from the chest of drawers in their state room in the arms of Alice Lines, her nanny. Two of her sisters died in the tragedy. Audrey, now known as Audrey Lawson-Johnston, celebrated her 92'nd birthday in 2007. Lusitania was at approximately 30 miles from Cape Clear Island when she encountered fog, and reduced speed to 18 knots. She was making for the port of Queenstown (now Cobh), Ireland, 70 kilometers (43.5 miles) from the Old Head of Kinsale when the liner crossed in front of U-20 at 14:10. The German sub gave the order to fire, but his quartermaster, Charles Voegele, would not take part in an attack on women and children, and refused to pass on the order to the torpedo room a decision for which he was court-martialed and served three years in prison at Kiel. Another crewman took over, and a single torpedo was launched. It hit under the bridge, and was followed by a much larger secondary explosion in the starboard bow. The torpedo struck just forward of the bridge, sending a plume of debris, steel plating and water upward and knocking Lifeboat #5 off its davits. Lusitania's wireless operator sent out an immediate SOS and Captain Turner gave the order to abandon ship. 12
Water flooded the ship's starboard longitudinal compartments, causing an immediate 15 degrees starboard list. Captain Turner tried turning the ship toward the Irish coast in the hope of beaching her, but the helm would not respond. The torpedo had knocked out the steam lines to the rudder, rendering the controls useless. The ship's propellers continued to drive the ship at 18 knots, forcing water into her hull. Lusitania's severe starboard list complicated the launch of her lifeboats those to starboard swung out too far to conveniently step aboard. While it was still possible to board the lifeboats on the port side, lowering them presented a different problem. As was typical for the period, the hull plates of the Lusitania were riveted. As the lifeboats were lowered, they dragged on these rivets, which threatened to rip the boats apart. Many lifeboats overturned while loading or lowering, spilling passengers into the sea; others were overturned by the ship's motion when they hit the water. It was claimed, without merit that some boats, by the negligence of some officers, crashed down onto the deck, crushing other passengers, and sliding down towards the bridge. This has been refuted in various articles and by passenger and crew testimony. Lusitania had 48 lifeboats, more than enough for all the crew and passengers, but only six were successfully lowered, all from the starboard side. Despite Turner's efforts to beach the liner and reduce her speed, Lusitania no longer answered the helm. There was panic and disorder on the decks. The German sub's captain 13
had been observing this through U-20's periscope, and by 14:25, he dropped the periscope and headed out to sea. Within six minutes, Lusitania's forecastle began to go underwater. Her list continued to worsen and 10 minutes after the torpedoing, she had slowed enough to start putting boats in the water. On the port side, people panicked and got into the boats, even though they were swinging far in from the rails. On the starboard side, the boats were hanging several feet away from the sides. Crewmen would lose their grip on the lifeboat falls as the ship lurched over further, sending passengers in the boats spilling into the sea. Others would tip on launch as some panicking people jumped into the boat. Captain Turner stayed in the bridge until the water rushed upward and destroyed the sliding door, sending him out the imploded windows. He took the ship's logbook and charts with him. He managed to get out and find a floating chair in the water, which he clung to. He was pulled unconscious from the water but miraculously survived after spending 3 hours in the water. Lusitania's bow slammed into the bottom about 100 m (300 ft) below at a shallow angle, given her forward momentum as she sank. Along the way, some boilers exploded, including one that caused the third funnel to collapse, with the remaining funnels proceeding to snap off soon after. Captain Turner's last navigational fix had been only two minutes before the torpedoing, and he was able to remember the ship's speed and bearing at the moment of sinking. This was accurate enough to locate the wreck after the war. The ship travelled about two miles (3 14
km) from the time of the torpedoing to her final resting place, leaving a trail of debris and people behind. Lusitania sank in 18 minutes, 8 miles (13 km) off of the Old Head of Kinsale. 1,198 people died with her, including almost a hundred children. The bodies of many of the victims were buried at Lusitania's destination, Queenstown, or the Church of St. Multose in Kinsale, but many other bodies were never recovered and remain entombed in the wreck. Waubuno All Hands Lost The Waubuno was built in 1865, and departed for her final sail from Collingwood on Saturday November 22 1879 at 4:00 am. She sailed directly into a gale force wind, and was no match for the Bay in a late November storm. The Magnetawan sailed at 10:00 a.m., on the same day, laying over throughout the storm and arriving around noon on Monday. Fear for the overdue Waubuno mounted. 15
The tug "Mattie Grew" was dispatched and although joined by the "Mary Ann" of Collingwood and a local boater who searched with his own private yacht, no trace of passengers or crew was ever found. The last contact humanity had with the ship was a report from a farmer who heard, during the afternoon and at the height of the storm, the sound of her whistle, blowing forlornly and repeatedly, carried on the bitter wind. 24 lives were lost. The mystery surrounding the wreck and the fact that most of the ship has never been found has taken on the life of a legend. It was rumored that a newly married passenger had a dream that the ship would flounder and be lost. She pleaded with her husband, a doctor, to abandon the trip. He explained that everything had been loaded and this was the last trip of the season. They and the others were never seen again. The story caused much distress among the other passenger and crew. As the storm abated the ship set off into the darkness of early morning. The last sighting was by a lighthouse keeper on Christian Island, who reported that the boat was riding well in the rough weather. The ship's whistle was heard from near the Moon River several hours later. The storm gave way to a gale and all were lost. The rescue two days later, found only debris and a crushed lifeboat. Part of the hull was found but the superstructure nor any sign of the 24 people on board ever been sighted. There is some speculation that this wreck discovered in 1959 by divers is not that of the Waubuno. Indian legend suggests that a huge sea monster was instrumental in crushing the boat and taking the souls on board. The so called seechee wave is part of a legend of the Chippewa 16
Indians of Lake Superior. They still speak of the gigantic sturgeon - a monster fish that, with a flick of his tail, was said to destroy the mightiest vessel. The name of this ship also adds to the mystery for Waubuno is an Algonquin Indian name for "Black Magician." The official end of the Waubuno is that it is listed as 'disappeared'. The rudder from the Waubuno is on display at the Huronia Museum in Midland Ontario. It is part of the exhibit detailing the lighthouses and their part in saving the lives of many in this lake, and in particular, the Georgian Bay part of the Great Lakes system. The exhibit is called Alone in the Night. H.M.S Sussex 498 of 500 estimated souls lost Built in the reign of William and Mary, HMS Sussex was Admiral Sir Francis Wheeler's flagship, escorting a fleet of 40 warships and 166 merchant ships to the Mediterranean when she was lost on her first major voyage. Research indicates that her Admiral also had a secret mission; to pay a large sum of money to the Duke of Savoy, an ally of 17
Britain in the War of the League of Augsburg. France under King Louis XIV was then an enemy. Evidence suggests that the payment, most likely consisting of tons of gold coins, was lost with the ship. The fleet was caught in a violent wind storm and facing the risk of being forced against the rocky Spanish coastline, the captain, Sir Francis Wheeler, attempted to tack into the wind and tuck back behind Gibraltar. Water entered the open gun ports and the end came swiftly, while the Admiral slept. The date was February 19, 1694 and the ship was just one day out of Gibraltar. Only two persons survived the sinking and several days later Admiral Francis Wheeler's body, clad in a nightshirt, washed up on shore. The following news story from Captain Lou s Nautical News page at nauticaltalk.com April 1 2007: American treasure hunters have won permission to look for what is believed to be the richest, sunken bounty in history; 9 tons of gold lost in a shipwreck more than 300 years ago off Spain. Odyssey Marine Exploration has concluded negotiations with Spanish officials to resume its search for the wreck of a British vessel, the HMS Sussex. The coins could be worth up to four billion dollars. 18
Keystone State All Hands Lost The Keystone State is yet another victim of a Lake Michigan November storm. At approximately 300 feet long and thirty-four feet wide, she was one of the largest ships on the Great lakes. Her exact age has been disputed over the years, but sailors reported that she was in desperate need of repair when she disappeared during a wicked winter storm that roared across Lake Huron on November 9, 1861. Since she carried no lifeboats, all thirty-three people on board were lost. Ten days later some of her wreckage washed ashore. The great ship herself has never been found and, with no survivors or witnesses, exactly what happened to the Keystone State remains unknown. She is believed to rest at the tip of Michigan's 'thumb'. Portland All Hands Lost In 1890, the Portland Steam Packet Company commissioned the side-wheel passenger steamer Portland for its overnight service between Portland and Boston. A handsome, well-found boat, she remained on this run 19
without serious mishap for eight years. At about 1900 on November 26, 1898, the Saturday after Thanksgiving, Portland departed Boston with between 160 and 190 passengers and crew aboard. Although the Portland Steam Packet Company later claimed to have wired Captain Hollis H. Blanchard to postpone his departure until 2100, in view of the weather, prudence should have dictated a delay. Many other ships scheduled to depart New England ports that night remained at the dock. Two vessels later reported seeing Portland in Massachusetts Bay, but the following night, remains of the ship and her passengers began washing ashore on Cape Cod. The exact number of dead was never determined because the only passenger manifest was lost with the ship. (Ships were thereafter required to make a copy to be left ashore at sailing.) Although some 400 boats and ships of various descriptions were lost along the coast that night, the storm has been known ever since as the Portland Gale. In 1989, divers with the Maritime Historical Group of New England located the wreck lying about 20 miles north of Cape Cod in 300 feet of water. 20