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  • November 30, 1999

Archives For November 30, 1999

Book Review – Fatal Dive

August 28, 2012 — Leave a comment

Peter Stevens

Reporter Peter Stevens’ latest book, Fatal Dive, is an engaging and easy to read work about the disappearance of the US sub USS Grunion off the coast of Alaska during World War II. Launched only a few weeks after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the Grunion’s first combat deployment was against Japanese shipping in the Aleutian Islands. Commanded by Lieutenant Commander Jim Abele, Grunion and her 70 man crew successfully sank 2 Japanese sub-chasers, survived a depth charge attack by a Japanese destroyer and then disappeared with all hands after crippling the Japanese merchantman Kano Maru. Apart from Western Union telegrams declaring the crew members Missing In Action, the relatives of the crew were largely kept in the dark as to the causes of the sub’s loss.

Stevens’ straightforward writing style and the book’s relatively short-length of 175 pages (plus a 60 page appendix containing short bios of each crew member) make it a quick, but thoroughly enjoyable read. Fatal Dive chronicles the life of Lt. Commander Abele, the Grunion’s first combat cruise and subsequent loss, and the dramatic story of her discovery by Lt. Commander Abele’s sons 65 years later. Stevens’ avoids getting bogged down in historical minutiae and instead focuses on the characters in the story from both sides of the conflict. His writing effectively conveys the sense of excitement and danger faced by the Abele brothers and their crew as they work to locate the ship in the treacherous waters of the Bering Sea. Stevens concludes the book with a discussion of the causes of the ship’s sinking and why the US Navy subsequently chose to torpedo any explanation of her loss. Fatal Dive is a great choice for a quick weekend read for any history or mystery buff.

In 20th Century, 21st Century, American Shipwrecks, Book Reviews, Japanese Shipwrecks, Merchant Vessels, Warships, WWII
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Mapping of Charleston’s Civil War Naval Battlefield Completed

August 27, 2012 — Leave a comment
Charleston, SC Civil War

The Attack on Fort Sumter, Currier & Ives

Archaeologists from the University of South Carolina just completed a 4 year long survey of Charleston, South Carolina’s Civil War naval battlefield. While many associate Charleston with the attack on Fort Sumter or the CSS Hunley, the city was the scene of multiple naval engagements and an important port for Confederate blockade runners. The archaeological team created a map of wrecks, gun emplacements and harbor obstructions in 2010 and has spent the last 2 years surveying some of those sites.

Among the sites are the wrecks of several Union ironclads that were sunk in action with Confederate land batteries or by “torpedoes” – early versions of what are mines in today’s naval parlance. The archaeologists also sought the wrecks of the “Stone Fleets” – a fleet of approximately 30 ex-whaling ships and merchant vessels purchased by the US Navy, stripped of all valuable implements, loaded with stone and then sunk as block ships in the approach channels to Charleston Harbor. Because the ships were wooden hulled and had been stripped of most of their metal fittings, the USC team had to rely on side scan sonar, further complicating the task of locating the ships. The remains of Confederate blockade runners were also surveyed by the team, including a set of three wrecks that are now buried beneath dry land due to the shifting sands of the beach. The survey will be helpful not only to historians, but also to the US Army Corps of Engineers and other planning entities for the avoidance of wrecks and other obstructions in the harbor.

In 19th Century, 21st Century, American Shipwrecks, Atlantic Ocean, Civil War Shipwrecks, Conservation, Merchant Vessels, Warships
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SS Richard Montgomery + 1,500 Tons of TNT = Serious Navigational Hazard

August 23, 2012 — 3 Comments
Richard Montgomery

The remains of SS Richard Montgomery
CC Image courtesy of tomylees on Flickr

Today marks the 68th anniversary of the abandonment and beginnings of salvage on the SS Richard Montgomery. The ship ran aground near an approach channel to the Thames River on August 20, 1944 and salvage operations began on August 23rd after it was determined the ship could not be saved. Named after Revolutionary War General Richard Montgomery, the SS Richard Montgomery was a Liberty Ship carrying a cargo of ammunition from the United States to the UK. Liberty Ships were designed by William Francis Gibbs to be cheap, mass-produced cargo haulers for the Allied powers during World War Two. Over 2,500 were built and only two survive today, carrying on service as museum ships – SS Jeremiah O’Brien and SS John W. Brown.

Salvage operations were unable to remove all of its deadly cargo and according to a survey performed in 2010 by the UK Maritime and Coastguard Agency, the wreck has 1,500 tons of high explosives still aboard. Due to the presence of so many tons of TNT, the ship remains a serious hazard to navigation and is closely monitored with yearly surveys by UK authorities. A detonation of the ship’s cargo could occur from natural deterioration, a collision with another vessel or even an act of terrorism and would result in an explosion 1/12th the size of the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The BBC reported in 2004 that UK authorities believe an explosion could cause a 1,000 x 10,000 foot column of debris and water as well as a 16 foot high wave that would swamp low lying coastal areas.

In death, the SS Richard Montgomery has taken on a pop culture life of its own and has been featured in numerous novels and tv shows. It was even the centerpiece of the fictionalized plot of a 1970s novel wherein terrorists attempted to use speedboats to detonate the ship’s explosives and wreak havoc on the English coast.

In 20th Century, American Shipwrecks, Merchant Vessels, UK Shipwrecks, WWII
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SS Central America Still Making Waves

August 15, 2012 — Leave a comment

Lost in an Atlantic hurricane in 1857, the SS Central America took with it ~550 passengers and several tons of gold.  For more than a century it remained lost to the sea until an enterprising Ohioan named Tommy Thompson assembled a team to find and recover the ship. Utilizing cutting edge technology Thompson and his team located the wreck in 1987.  The group salvaged approximately $50 – 100 million in gold from the wreck, however, the conclusion of recovery operations was just the beginning of the story for Thompson. Two days ago, nearly 25 years since the discovery of the wreck, Thompson was to appear in a federal district court to reveal the location of millions of dollars from the recovered gold due to a payment dispute filed by former employees. Unfortunately for salvors, lengthy legal proceedings are not unusual in the realm of admiralty law – another recent example is that of Odyssey Marine’s Black Swan epic court battle which involved the US State Department, sunken Spanish treasure, artwork looted by the Nazis and WikiLeaks.

Thompson’s search for the SS Central America was well documented in Gary Kinder’s Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea as well as several television programs. Although an ingot from the SS Central America is expected to garner $140,000 at auction on September 2 and another ingot sold for a record breaking $8.1 million, Forbes reported in 2006 that Thompson’s last known address was a Florida trailer park.

In 19th Century, American Shipwrecks, Atlantic Ocean, Legal Disputes, Merchant Vessels, Odyssey Marine, Passenger Liners, Treasure Hunting
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