The coastland times. [volume] (Mnateo [i.e. Manteo], N.C.) 1947-1959, 1952-01-04
OCEAN BOTTOM OFF DARE
COAST HOLDS FORTUNES in
JUNK AWAITING RECOVERY
Brown Predicts Effort Will Be Made to Sal
wage Something From Numerous Vessels
Sunk by Submarines During World War H.;
Many Ships in Water Less Than 800 Feet
Deep.
By AYCOCK BROWN


Atlantic which was to claim
hundreds of lives and the loss
of many allied ships, moved close
to the shores of North Carolina.
Now, according to a story recently
published in Pathfinder Magazine,
some of the ships that were sent
to the bottom may be salvaged
for their cargoes and for the
scrap iron in their hulls. One such
ship, the Equipoise, lies in water
less than 300 feet deep, off the
coast at Mays Head.
It was months before our mill
tary could perfect and put in
operation an offensive warfare
against the undersea raiders OF
Hitler's fleet, which were not onl.
playing havoc with shipping off
the coast, but laso causing filters
on shore where blackouts and the
strictest of security was being
maintained.
First ship to "get it" and with
terrific loss of life was the STAN
dard Oil Tanker Allan Jackson OF
$685. gross tonnage. The date was
January 10, and the time shortly
after midnight when without warn
ing, the ship with it's cargo Of
crude oil, was torpedoed near the
Continental Shelf a few miles
south of Diamond Lightship sta
ton. The tanker exploded and sank
to the bottom at the edge of the
Gulf Stream and near the 100
Fathom Curve. 1t was the first OF
many horrible incidents that was
to bring suffering to hundreds OF
seamen who were to be hauled
from the water or life saving craft
as their ships were torpedoed out
frorn..under them. Survivors when
rescued would usually be brought
to the closest Naval Section Base
for questioning.
1t may have been the skipper
of the submarine that sank the
Allan Jackson who aimed the tor
pedoes that were to send two more
ships to the bottom of the Allan
tics graveyard off Cape Hatteras
on January 10. On the morning
after the Allan jackson sinking,
the small Latvian freighter S. S.
Ciltvaira with her cargo of paper
was torpedoed and during mid
afternoon of the same day, it may
have been the Allan Jackson's kill
Ter that attacked the Ocean Steam
ship Company's City of Atlanta.
The three ships were sunk within
a radius of rs miles Of where the
first vessel went down.
Before the shock of these first
three sinkings had begun to sink
in the nearby military along the
states coast, two more ships were
sent to the bottom in the same
general area. Shortly after sunset
on January 20 the Ore Steamship
Company's 8016 ton Venore, laden
with much needed iron ore was
torpedoed 5 miles southeast of Dia-
mond Shoals and before midnight
on the same date the British Tank
er Empire Gem, laden with gaso-
line was attacked without warning
in the same area. Because the En-
( pire Gem was well inside the 100
Fathom Curve she was menace
to navigation so it was necessary
+ to mark her wreckage with a red
and white nun buoy. Before the
end of January a decade ago, two
4 more ships were torpedoed and
sunk near Cape Henry. And it was
many months before anti-sub-
marine measures could be taken
to curb the wholesale sinkings.
Residents of Mays Head, Hatteras
and Ocracoke Islands felt this
phase of the battle of the At
lantic. 1t was not unusual to see
smoke from two or three torpedoed
Aships at one time.
Some of those now on the bot
tom near the coast between Fry
ing Pan Shoals and Cape Henry
include the Caribsea, Ashkabad,
Atlas, Portland, Suicide, w. E.
Hutton. Manuela, Senateur Duha-
mel, E. M. Clark, YP $3.50, F. w.
Abrams, Keshena. Dixie Arrow,
Australia, Lancing, British Spleen
dour, Kassandra Louloudis, Liberia
tor, Empire Thrush, Frances T..
Powell, Marore, San Del Elmo,
Baurque, Chenango, Byron Ben
SON, Blink, olinda, Arabutan, Ario,
Papoose, City of New York, Tiger,
Ohio, Malchase, ESQ Nashville,
I Tamaulipas, Ulysses, Naeco, King
ston Celonite, Bedfordshire and
Equipoise. Most of these ships are
IN shallow water and some OF
them are believed to be salvage
Able. In the same area there are
two or three subm@ines, but few
81 the undersea raiders were killed
when the Battle of the Atlantic