SS David H. Atwater
| History | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Name | SS David H. Atwater |
| Owner | Atwacoal Transportation Co., Fall River, MA |
| Builder | Great Lakes Engineering Works, Ashtabula, Ohio |
| Yard number | 505A |
| Launched | June 1919 |
| Sponsored by | U.S. Shipping Board |
| Fate | Sunk by German submarine U-552, 2 April 1942, between Cape Charles and Cape Henlopen |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Steam cargo ship |
| Tonnage | |
| Length | 253.33 ft (77.21 m) |
| Beam | 43.5 ft (13.3 m) |
| Depth | 25 ft (7.6 m) |
| Crew | 8 officers, 19 men |
The SS David H. Atwater was a
History
The ship began life as the Crabtree, constructed by the Great Lakes Engineering Works of Ashtabula, Ohio for the United States Shipping Board, hull number 505A,[2] and launched in June 1919. She was renamed W.J. Crosby in 1922, for the North Shore Transit Company of Port Huron, Michigan, and in 1929 was sold to the Canada Forwarding Company Ltd. of Port Arthur, Ontario. In 1935 she was renamed David H. Atwater for the Atwacoal Transportation Company of Fall River, Massachusetts, which became her home port.[3]
Sinking
On the night of 2 April 1942, at the height of the U-boat offensive against US shipping known as the
Around 21:00, between Cape Charles and Cape Henlopen,[6] the ship was ambushed by U-552, commanded by Erich Topp, which had followed her underwater. U-552 surfaced about 600 yd (550 m) from the freighter and opened fire with her 88mm deck gun and automatic weapons (possibly including the submarine's 20mm cannon) without warning, one of her first shells destroying the bridge and killing all of the officers. In all, 93 shots were fired from the deck gun, with 50 hits being recorded on the small freighter,[3] which rapidly began to sink. Many of Atwater's crewmen were hit as they tried to man the lifeboats.[7] When Captain Webster was shot, the crew abandoned attempts to launch the lifeboats and leapt into the sea.[8]
Aftermath
The first ship to arrive on the scene was the small Coast Guard patrol boat USS CG-218, the crew of which found a lifeboat holding three survivors and three bodies; the survivors reported that they had dived overboard and swam to the boat. Next on the scene was
Bodies, and lifeboats and liferafts from the Atwater recovered by the Coast Guard were landed at Ocean City, Maryland. It was commonly believed at the time that U-552 had deliberately machine-gunned the Atwater's crewmen in the boats and rafts.[11]
Liberty Ship William Cox
The
Notes
- ISBN 0-85052-822-4.
- ^ "Great Lakes Engineering". ShipbuildingHistory.com. Archived from the original on 16 February 2012. Retrieved 16 October 2008.
- ^ a b "Allied Ships hit by U-boats - David H. Atwater". uboat.net. Retrieved 16 October 2008.
- ISBN 1-55750-087-8.
- ISBN 0-252-06963-3.
- ISBN 9780870217265.
- ISBN 0-7653-0707-3."The crew was not given any chance to abandon ship, and when they tried to do so, their lifeboats were riddled by machine gun fire."
- ^ ISBN 1-55750-362-1.
- ^ a b "Eastern Sea Frontier - April 1942 - Appendix VIII". U-boat Archive. Archived from the original on 2012-08-23.
- ISBN 1-55750-149-1.
- ^ Davis, Arthur T. (2006). "Being a Teenager During World War II at Ocean City, Maryland". Ocean City Life-Saving Station Museum. Archived from the original on 2008-05-09. Retrieved 2008-10-21.
- ^ Bunker, John (1972). Liberty Ships: The Ugly Ducklings of World War II. Naval Institute Press. p. 43.
- ^ "African-Americans in the U.S. Merchant Marine and U.S. Maritime Service". United States Merchant Marine. Retrieved 16 October 2008.
References
- "Item Number: 003671". HCGL: Great Lakes Vessels DB. Bowling Green State University.(Search for vessel name Crabtree)
- Moore, Arthur R. (1983). A Careless Word- a Needless Sinking: A History of the Staggering Losses Suffered by the U S Merchant Marine…During World War II. Kings Point NY: American Merchant Marine Museum. p. 70.
External links
- Photograph of David H. Atwater Archived 2011-07-19 at the Wayback Machine
- Photograph of W.J. Crosby
- "Launching an Industry"
