TUE 23 FEB 1943
Atlantic
Battle to protect convoy ON 166 continues as German submarines continue the onslaught. After Canadian corvette HMCS Trillium's attempt to scuttle U.S. freighter Expositor (torpedoed the previous day by U-606) with depth charges fails; it falls to German submarine U-303 to administer the coup de grâce to the hardy American merchantman. U-186 then torpedoes and sinks U.S. freighter Hastings at 46°30'N, 36°23'W as well as British motor tanker Eulima; from Hastings, nine merchant sailors (of the 41-man civilian complement) perish, but all 20 Armed Guards and the ship's sole passenger survive, rescued by Canadian corvette HMCS Chilliwack. U-707 torpedoes and sinks straggling U.S. freighter Jonathan Sturges at 46°15'N, 38°11'W; no. 1 lifeboat (with 19 survivors on board) from Jonathan Sturges encounters one from torpedoed Dutch motorship Madoera (three men on board) and transfers eight men to the Dutch lifeboat to equalize the number of survivors in each craft; Jonathan Sturges's no. 3 lifeboat (nine men) locates one merchant sailor in the no. 2 boat and four Armed Guards from the ship; that second group of survivors is then divided between boats no. 2 and no. 3 to distribute them evenly (see 12 March and 6 April).
German submarines attack Curacao, N.W.I.-bound convoy UC 1, which is shepherded by four U.S. destroyers, two British frigates and three corvettes. Despite the proximity of the Anglo-American escort force, U-382 torpedoes Dutch motor tanker Murena; U-202 torpedoes British tankers Empire Norseman and British Fortitude, and U.S. tanker Esso Baton Rouge, the last-named ship at 31°15'N, 27°22'W. British sloop HMS Totland rescues Esso Baton Rouge's survivors, who include 24 of the 25-man Armed Guard and 41 of the 43-man merchant complement.
District patrol craft YP-336 sinks after running aground, Delaware River.
Friday, February 23, 2018
British Fortitude Torpedoed
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"District patrol craft YP-336 sinks after running aground, Delaware River".
You Can Look It Up: After its sinking, the skipper of the 336 swam-and-guided his crew to a small island in the middle of Delaware where they forged a crude shelter. Each night thereafter, the captain would swim out in search of a rescue vessel, but always to no avail. Whether upriver or down, he never even came close. Finally, spotting some kids fishing from a boat, he carved a message on a piece of driftwood and gave it to them, in hopes they, in turn, would notify the navy (which the kids finally did a few days later). Years later, as the assistant supervisor of a Montgomery Ward's warehouse, the ex-skipper would point to that piece of driftwood with its carved message (prominently displayed on his desk at his work station by the time clock), and tell visitors: "If I'd only swan towards shore instead in seeking rescue, maybe I wouldn't have been court-martialed and cashiered. But I still say the odds were better of my finding a rescue boat on the water, and not the land". Superfluous to note, he proudly supported Richard Nixon throughout his political career, especially in 1960.
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