The coastland times. [volume] (Mnateo [i.e. Manteo], N.C.) 1947-1959, 1953-01-16
BATTLE OF ATLANTIC
BEGAN II YEARS AGO
OFF CAROLINA COAST
Tanker Allan Jackson First of Many Ships
Sunk When Submarine Warfare Began
Only AZ Days After Pearl HarbOr. Many
Sinkings Conferred About Cape Hatteras.
By AYCOCK BROWN


ago on January IS, 1912, the bat
tie of the Atlantic" which was to
result in the loss of 100 or more
Allied ships off the midAtlantic
capes in general and Cape Halter
as in particular, began at $500,
just before dawn. 1t was the 42nd
day after Pearl Harbor.
First ship attacked and sent to
the bottom by a torpedo from an
Axis submarine was the Allan
Jackson, a Standard Oil tanker.
Sunk off the Cape here, only 10 of
her crew of 35 survived and seven
of those were hospital cases.
A luckier| ship on that January
18 which brought World War II
within sight of jittery residents of
the Outer Banks at times during
the following six months was the
Gulf tanker Malay, attacked but
not sunk. She finally limped into
the port of Norfolk from off Ore
gon Inlet.
A successful offensive by our
Navy and its Coast Guard did not
become effective until the summer
of 1912. In the meantime while
scores of our ships, and the ships
of neutral nations were attacked
and sunk, only two or three sub
marines Of the enemy were def
nitely known to be killed, the first
near Wimble Shoals almost three
months to the day from the sinking
of the Allan Jackson.
Other Sinkings
Before the survivors from the
Allan Jackson had been briefed fol-
lowing their arrival in Norfolk, a
second ship, the Latvian. freighter
Ciltvaira of 3,779 gross tons got it
off the Outer Banks here. Laden
with paper, she had been torpedoed
near daybreak on January 10 and
within IL hours on the same date
the Ocean Steamship Company's
City of Atlanta with a general car
go was the target of another, per-
haps the same Axis submarine.
During those early days of the
"battle of the Atlantic" enemy
activity was centered in the gener-
al area of Cape Hatteras. Gradual
ly operations spread to waters off
Cape Lookout and Cape Fear in
North Carolina and Cape Henry
and Cape Charles in Virginia. On
January %, two more ships, the
Venore laden with iron ore and the
British tanker Empire Gem were
sunk, the latter with a great loss
of life and some outstanding hero
ism by a Coast Guard crew headed
by Chief Boatswain Mate Harvey
Wahab of Ocracoke. ~ se-y..
From then on there were sink
ings almost daily. Millions of dol
lars worth of shipping in cargoes
and vessels were lost, crippled sur
vivors were landed at the Naval
section bases in Morehead City, at
Ocracoke, Southport and Little
Creek or at the Navy Base in Nor
folk. Bodies of seamen who did not
survive came ashore throughout
the area, some were identified, and
some which were only the bones or
parts of bodies were not.
Battle Continues
Within six months after the AL
Ian Jackson, scores of ships were
sunk and some of them were the
following:
Amerikaland, 1886 ton
Swedish ore carrier on February
2, off Cape Henry, the Ocean Ven
ture, a Britisher, sent to the bot
tom five days later off the Virginia
Capes and then the little Norwe-
gian freighter Blink, attacked and
sunk off Cape Hatteras.
Nationality meant nothing to the
submarine shippers. The Brazilian
cargo ship Barque and the Olinda,
another Brazilian were midFebru
airy casualties. Iron ore ships, like
the tankers seemed to be favorite
targets because. another, the Ma
rore was plugged by a torpedo
near Wimble Shoals on February
26. Another Brazilian ship, the
Arabutan and many of her crew
were killed off Cape Hatteras on
March 7.
The manganese-laden Caribsea,
See BATTLE, Page Five