Leonardo da Vinci Torpedoes, Sinks Marcus Whitman

MON 9 NOV 1942
Mediterranean
Transport Leedstown (AP-73), bombed and torpedoed by German planes, is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-173 near Algiers.

Indian Ocean
U.S. freighter Marcus Whitman, proceeding independently to Dutch Guiana from Cape Town, South Africa, is torpedoed by Italian submarine Leonardo da Vinci at 05°45'S, 32°40'W, and abandoned without loss. Leonardo da Vinci then finishes off the merchantman with gunfire (see 11 November). [As someone who attended Whitman College, named after "martyred" missionary Marcus Whitman, I find this especially amusing.]

Atlantic
Destroyer Biddle (DD-151) rescues survivors (3 of 10 Armed Guard sailors, 10 of the 40-man merchant crew and 1 of the 2 passengers) from U.S. freighter Nathanael Hawthorne, sunk by German submarine U-508 on 7 November.

Pacific
Destroyer Russell (DD-414) rescues that portion of the crew of U.S. freighter Edgar Allen Poe who abandoned ship after she was torpedoed by I-21 the night before.