SS Pendleton
Bow section of Pendleton aground near Pollock Rip Lightship
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History | |
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Name | Pendleton |
Owner |
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Operator |
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Port of registry | Portland, Oregon, United States |
Builder | Kaiser shipyards, Portland, Oregon |
Yard number | 49 |
Launched | January 21, 1944 |
Completed | February 1944 |
Out of service | February 18, 1952 |
Identification | |
Fate | Broke in two, subsequently scrapped |
General characteristics | |
Type | Type T2-SE-A1 tanker |
Tonnage | |
Length | 504 feet 0 inches (153.62 m) |
Beam | 68 feet 2 inches (20.78 m) |
Depth | 39 feet 2 inches (11.94 m) |
Installed power | 6,000 hp Steam turbine |
Propulsion | Single-screw propeller |
Speed | 16 knots (30 km/h) |
Crew | 41 |
SS Pendleton was a Type T2-SE-A1 tanker built in 1942 in Portland, Oregon, United States, for the War Shipping Administration. She was sold in 1948 to National Bulk Carriers, serving until February 1952 when she broke in two in a storm. The T2 tanker ships were prone to splitting in two in cold weather. The ship's sinking and crew rescue (along with the break-up and rescue of its sister ship Fort Mercer) is the topic of the 2009 book The Finest Hours: The True Story Behind the US Coast Guard's Most Daring Rescue by Michael J. Tougias and Casey Sherman. The book inspired the 2016 Disney-produced film The Finest Hours with Chris Pine, which focuses on the Pendleton rescue.
Description
The ship was built as
History
Pendleton was
Pendleton was transferred to National Bulk Carriers of Wilmington, Delaware in 1948.[1] In July 1951, Pendleton ran aground in the Hudson River, New York. She was refloated the next day. The damaged part of the hull would later play a key role in the sinking.[4]
Loss
On February 18, 1952, while en route from
CG 36500 was pounded by waves going over the sandbar out of the harbor, damaging the boat and leaving it without a compass. The crew pressed on and managed to find the stern section of Pendleton anyway, going on to perform a daring rescue of her crew. Webber carefully maneuvered CG 36500 underneath the listing hull and motored the Coast Guard boat back and forth with the waves while Pendleton's crew lowered themselves down the side with a Jacob's ladder. The crew, timing their descent against the rise and fall of the ocean, jumped from the swaying ladder onto the moving deck of CG 36500 while Webber carefully kept his boat under the ladder but clear of the towering metal wall of the broken-up Pendleton.
Nine of Pendleton's 41 crew were lost: eight (including Captain John Fitzgerald) who were on the
With the survivors on board CG 36500, a disagreement developed over how they should be dealt with. Webber eventually decided against attempting to locate and transfer them to USCGC McCulloch, heading for the shore instead. The survivors were safely landed at Chatham.[5]
The rescue of the Pendleton survivors is considered one of the most daring rescues in the history of the United States Coast Guard.
The stern ultimately grounded off Monomoy Island, south of Chatham, at coordinates 41°35′10″N 69°57′45″W / 41.58611°N 69.96250°W, where it deteriorated through the years, and now lies underwater,[8] while the bow grounded on Pollock Rip Shoal.[9] The bow section was sold in 1953 to North American Smelting Co. for recycling at Bordentown, New Jersey.[10] However, it was stranded on June 4, 1953 in the Delaware River and dismantled there circa 1978 by the United States Army Corps of Engineers.[1]
References
- ^ a b c d e f Visser, Auke. "Pendleton". Auke Visser's Famous T – Tankers Pages. Auke Visser. Retrieved September 30, 2014.
- ^ a b c Lloyd's of London (1945). "Lloyd's Register Steamers and Motorships" (PDF). Plimsoll Ship Data. Retrieved September 30, 2014.
- ^ "Convoy ON.249". Convoyweb. Retrieved October 1, 2014.
- ^ a b c Visser, Auke. "Pendleton Wreck". Auke Visser's Famous T – Tankers Pages. Auke Visser. Retrieved September 30, 2014.
- ^ Webster, W. Russell (December 2001). "The Pendleton Rescue". United States Coast Guard. Retrieved October 1, 2014.
- ^ "Pendleton Rescue". United States Coast Guard. Retrieved September 30, 2014.
- ^ "American Shipping Casualties". The Times. No. 52240. February 20, 1952. p. 9.
- ^ "Pendleton". MWDC. Retrieved October 16, 2016.
- ^ czm. "Pendleton". Energy and Environmental Affairs. Retrieved January 4, 2016.
- ^ "Pendleton". Retrieved January 4, 2016.
Further reading
- Marquard, Bryan (December 4, 2018). "Andy Fitzgerald, last surviving rescuer of 32 men off oil tanker, dies at 87". The Boston Globe. Retrieved December 4, 2018.