SS West Eldara
SS West Eldara immediately after launch and prior to the completion of her superstructure, 14 October 1918
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History | |
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Name | SS West Eldara |
Owner | U.S. Shipping Board |
Builder | Skinner & Eddy |
Yard number | 39 (USSB #1938) |
Launched | 14 October 1918 |
Commissioned | 23 Nov 18–4 Jun 19 |
In service | 23 Nov 18–16 Sep 42 |
Renamed |
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Fate | Sunk by U-515, 17 September 1942 |
General characteristics | |
Type | Design #1013 cargo ship |
Tonnage | 6,087 gross, 8,800 dwt |
Displacement | 12,225 tons |
Length |
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Beam | 54 ft (16 m) |
Draft | 24 ft 2 in (7.37 m) |
Depth of hold | 29 ft 9 in (9.07 m) |
Installed power | 1 × Curtis geared turbine |
Propulsion | Single screw |
Speed | 11.5 kn (21.3 km/h) |
Complement |
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Armament | WWII: 1 × 4", 2 × .30 cal. MG |
SS West Eldara was a steel-hulled cargo ship built in 1918 as part of the United States Shipping Board's emergency World War I shipbuilding program.
West Eldara briefly served with the
In September 1942 Mae was intercepted by German submarine U-515 off British Guiana and sunk with torpedoes and gunfire.
Design and construction
West Eldara was built in
West Eldara had a design deadweight tonnage of 8,800 tons and gross register tonnage of 5,600. She had an overall length of 423 feet 9 inches, a beam of 54 feet and a draft of 24 feet 2 inches.[2] The ship was powered by a Curtis geared turbine,[3] driving a single screw propeller and delivering a speed of 11.5 knots.[2]
Service history
West Eldara was launched on 14 October 1918,
West Eldara sailed on 8 December for
After discharging her cargo, West Eldara returned via Gibraltar to the United States, arriving at New York on 7 April. On 16 April the ship departed NY with a cargo of Army supplies destined for
Merchant service
Following her decommission from the Navy, the USSB placed the vessel into merchant service as SS West Eldara. In May 1920, West Eldara ran aground off
Through the mid-1920s, West Eldara seems to have been engaged mostly in transporting cargo and sometimes passengers between the United States and various European destinations. Repeat ports of call for the ship in this period included Bordeaux, Le Havre and Dunkirk, France; Rotterdam in the Netherlands and Liverpool, England. The ship also made several voyages to Seattle on the west coast of the U.S. and at least one voyage to the Philippines.[5]
In 1926, customs officials in the United States searching West Eldara for contraband made the unlikely discovery in the ship's
In 1933, West Eldara participated in two rescue missions at sea. In February, she was the first ship to come to the aid of the fishing trawler Newton, which had been gutted by a fire at sea off the coast of Boston. West Eldara stood by until a Coast Guard cutter, Mojave, arrived on the scene to tow the stricken vessel to safety. Most of Newton's crew of fourteen were rescued, but a search for two crew members who had earlier taken to one of the lifeboats was later called off.[10][11][12] The second incident occurred in November, when the British freighter Saxilby foundered off the coast of Ireland during a storm. West Eldara was one of five vessels which raced to the scene, but a search in stormy seas the following day failed to find any trace of Saxilby's 27 crew.[13][14]
In 1936, West Eldara was sold to
The ship was still operating under that name when the U.S. entered World War II in December 1941.Loss
After America's entry into the war, SS Mae continued to operate independently. On 17 September 1942, Mae was proceeding unescorted from
The rest of the ship's personnel, including 32 officers and crew and nine gunners, were rescued six hours later by the Norwegian steamer Sørvangen and later transferred to the British steamer Gypsum King, who took the wounded by Motor Launch to Georgetown and landed the rest some time later.[2][17]
A ship portrait of West Eldara was painted in 1924 by Victor Edouard Charles Adam ("V. Adam 1924") for the ship's then-master, William A. Reed. Her funnel is shown in the colors of the Cosmopolitan Shipping Company of Brooklyn, N.Y., which was at that time leasing her from the USSB. The portrait is currently (2023) owned by a resident of Kings County, New Brunswick, Canada.
References
- ^ "General Cargo Ships Built in Pacific Coast Shipyards" Archived 2009-04-22 at the Wayback Machine, shipbuildinghistory.com.
- ^ a b c d e f "West Eldara" Archived 2012-11-03 at the Wayback Machine, Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, Naval History and Heritage Command website.
- ^ a b c Silverstone, p. 169.
- ^ "Southern Cotton Oil Co. v United States et al.", Find-A-Case Texas website.
- ^ Ellis Island Ship Database – West Eldara[permanent dead link], ellisislandrecords.org.
- ^ "Arctic Owl Found in Steamer Icebox" Archived 2012-10-22 at the Wayback Machine, Hartford Courant, December 29, 1926 (subscription required).
- ^ New York Times, July 27, 1928 (subscription required).
- New York Times, July 30, 1939 (subscription required).
- ^ "Engineer Cleared of Killing a Seaman", New York Times, July 28, 1928.
- ^ "Tragedy and Heroism on Fire Ravaged Trawler as She Is Towed into Port", The Citizen-Advertiser, February 13, 1933.
- ^ "Two Men Perish As Fire Sweeps Boat Off Boston" Archived 2012-10-22 at the Wayback Machine, Hartford Courant, February 13, 1933 (subscription required).
- ^ "Fire At Sea Kills Two On Trawler", New York Times, February 13, 1933 (subscription required).
- ^ "Liner Heads Rescues: Berengaria Races To Sinking Vessel", New York Times, November 16, 1933 (subscription required).
- ^ "Ships Fail To Find Crew Of 27 In Gale", New York Times, 17 November 1933 (subscription required).
- ^ West Eldara, ellisislandrecords.org.
- ^ West Eldara Archived 2012-11-03 at the Wayback Machine, DANFS. Note that DANFS says the ship was sold to Bull & Co. in 1937 but this contradicts several other sources.
- ^ a b Allied Ships Hit by U-Boats – Mae, uboat.net.
Bibliography
- Silverstone, Paul H. (2006): The New Navy, 1883–1922, Routledge, ISBN 978-0-415-97871-2.
- This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.