Hell In The Adriatic: Few Survivors From Motley Crew

THU 2 DEC 1943
Teheran (EUREKA) Conference ends.

Pacific
Submarine Narwhal (SS-167) lands ammunition and stores, and evacuates certain people from Mindanao.

USAAF B-24 damages Japanese cargo ship Shinyu Maru off New Hanover.

RAAF Beaufighters damage Japanese paddle steamer Assam in Irrawaddy River (see 3 December 1943).

Japanese cargo vessel Koki Maru is sunk by mine, laid by USAAF B-24 on 16 November, off Macao.

Mediterranean
Tank landing craft LCT-242 is sunk by circling torpedo off Naples, Italy.

Adriatic
German planes bomb Allied shipping at Bari, Italy, sinking and damaging a number of U.S. freighters moored there.

John M. Schofield and Grace Abbott are damaged by flying fragments (the latter also by a dud bomb); the former suffers no casualties among the 44-man merchant complement, 28-man Armed Guard and an indeterminate number of British Army stevedores on board to work cargo while the latter has only one merchant seaman wounded from among her 41-man civilian and 28-man Armed Guard complement.

Samuel J. Tilden is hit by two bombs and catches fire; 17 of the 209 embarked troops perish as the soldiers abandon ship. The 41-man merchant crew and the 28-man Armed Guard remain at their posts to battle the blaze that eventually burns out of control and forces her crew off the ship. Ten of the ship's civilian complement die in the conflagration (see 3 December 1943).

John L. Motley, carrying a cargo of ammunition, is hit by at least three bombs; direct hits and near-misses set nearby John Bascom afire; four of 44 merchant seamen perish as do 10 of 28 Armed Guard sailors. The survivors, in addition to one passenger, abandon ship as the flames burn out of control. Her mooring lines burnt through, John Bascom drifts near the burning John L. Motley, which explodes, killing all on board (42 of the 46-man merchant complement and 22 of the 29-man Armed Guard) (the only survivors are on shore at the time of the attack and thus escape the fate of their shipmates).

Debris from John L. Motley damages gasoline tanker Aroostook (AOG-14), 41°06'N, 16°52'E, and sets fire to Lyman Abbott. John Harvey, moored originally between John L. Motley and Joseph Wheeler, is showered by burning debris, and catches fire herself, drifting into the harbor where she explodes, showering debris on the unfortunate Lyman Abbott.

Tragically, John Harvey's cargo includes mustard gas which subsequently kills and injures many of the local inhabitants, in addition to harming many among the 42 merchant seamen and 29 Armed Guards on board Lyman Abbott. Consequently, 2 of the ship's civilian crew and one Armed Guard sailor, in addition to the ship's sole passenger, succumb to shrapnel wounds or mustard gas burns.

Joseph Wheeler is hit by one bomb that touches off her ammunition cargo and the ship disintegrates, killing all on board: 15 of 41 merchant seamen and 13 of the 28-man Armed Guard, in addition to the single passenger, perish in the cataclysmic blast. Fifteen Armed Guard sailors and 26 merchant sailors escape the fate of their shipmates only because they were away from the ship, on shore, when she explodes.