Not so Vigilant

SUN 12 APR 1942
Pacific
Motor torpedo boat PT-35, undergoing repairs on the marine railway at the Cebu Shipyard and Engineering Works, is destroyed by crew as Japanese capture Cebu, 10°18'N, 123°54'E.

Atlantic
U.S. freighter Delvalle, en route from New Orleans, Louisiana to Buenos Aires, Argentina, via St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-154 at 16°51'N, 72°25'W. One man from the 54-man crew drowns when the ship is abandoned; there are no casualties among the five passengers or the four-man Armed Guard. Canadian armed merchant cruiser HMCS Prince Henry rescues some of the survivors, the rest reach Jacmel, Haiti, via motor launch.

Panamanian motor tanker Stanvac Melbourne is torpedoed by German submarine U-203 about 15 miles off Frying Pan Shoals, 33°53'N, 77°29'W; Coast Guard cutter CG-186 rescues survivors, 41 merchant seamen and the 7-man Armed Guard.

Unarmed U.S. tanker Esso Boston, en route from Venezuela to Nova Scotia, is torpedoed and shelled by German submarine U-130 at 21°42'N, 60°00'W and abandoned. The Germans question the survivors, offer food and water and provide directions to nearest land (see 13 April).

U.S. freighter Leslie is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-123 approximately three miles southeast of Hetzel Shoals Gas Buoy, 28°37'N, 80°25'W; 27 survivors from the 31-man crew, and one passenger, reach the coast of Florida just north of Cape Canaveral. U.S. tanker Esso Bayonne rescues one other surviving crewman; he goes ashore at Key West the next day.

Coast Guard cutter Vigilant (WPC-154) runs aground during search for submarine off St. Lucie's Inlet, 27°03'N, 80°05'W, but emerges from the incident with only minor damage.