Team Examining Gulf Shipwreck Finds Two Others-- Part 3: USS Hatteras Found

Thousands of items have been recovered from the LaBelle and are receiving an unusual freeze-drying treatment at Texas A&M.  next year these artifacts will become the centerpiece of the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum in Austin.

Earlier this year 3-D Imaging-to-Map techniques discovered the wreck of the the 210-foot long USS Hatteras of water in the Gulf of Mexico.  It was sunk in 1863, 20 miles off Galveston by the CSS Alabama.  The Hatteras is 57 feet down and it is believed that storms in the last several years have shifted sands and brought it out.

--DaCoot

Team Examining Gulf Shipwreck Find Two Others-- Part 2

The ships initially explored had six cannons and may have had two masts.  They were copper-clad, 84-feet long with a 26-foot beam.

The survey was done because in 2011, Shell Oil notified the Interior Department that they were going to drill in the area.

OTHER HISTORIC SHIPWRECKS FOUND IN THE AREA

 In 1995, after a ten year search, archaeologists of the Texas Historic Commission found one of French explorer LaSalle's vessels in a coastal bay between Galveston and Corpus Christi.  The LaBelle sank in a storm in 1686.

--Cooter

Team Examining a Gulf Shipwreck Find Two Others-- Part 1

From the July 26, 2013, Yahoo! News, AP by Michael Graczyk.

Marine archaeologists in the Gulf of Mexico were exploring a ship in deep water and discovered two other sunken vessels believed to have gone down in the early 19th century.

Not much is known about them.  They were discovered 170 miles southeast of Galveston, Texas, 4,363 feet deep (3/4 mile).  This is the deepest Gulf of mexico shipwrecks to systematically investigated by archaeologists.

In eight days, using remote control devices, they have recovered 60 artifacts.  Among them is china from Britain, ceramics from Mexico and a musket from Canada.

Two of the ships were carrying similar items and might have been privateers.  The third ship had hides and large bricks of tallow and may have been a prize ship seized by the privateers.

The three ships likely went down in the first two decades of the 1800s.

--Cooter

SS New York, Treasure Ship

From the March 5, 2010, Daily Iberian.

Gary and Renee Hebert were diving World War II shipwrecks in the Gulf of Mexico when they came across the wreck of the SS New York which sank in 1846. After that, their hobby became a job after they got legal claim to it and formed the Gentlemen of Fortune Company.

Their goal is to unearth, remove debris and sand and recover as many artifacts as they can like the ship's bell, but especially the cache of rare and expensive coins.

The 365 ton, 160-feet long side wheel steamer New York (launched in 1837) carried 53 passengers and was en route from Galveston to New Orleans when it steamed smack into a hurricane and sank. Everyone survived but 17 died before rescue came from the SS Galveston.

Sunken treasure. I Can Dig It. --DaCoot

World War II Sites in the US

In the earlier posting, I wrote about the crew members of the US ship who died in Southport, NC. In the article I got from the HMdb (Historical Marker database), they wrote that there weren't a lot of WW II markers in the US since essentially no fighting took place here.

True, but even so, there was plenty of war effort going on here, along with the battles with U-Boats in the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico. Shipyards sprang up all along the coasts. Two ships on the Great Lakes were converted into aircraft carriers for Naval aviators to practice landings and takeoffs.

German and Italian prisoners were held in various towns, training camps sprang up all over as well. Our coasts also had fortifications. Then, there were the Rosie the Riveters and children participating in war drives.

I've also come across an article about a woman who recently donated the bottle with which she christened the Liberty Ship SS Calvin Coolidge to a museum in Vermont.

One thing I have definitely come across in this blog, is that there is the need for lots of markers that to be erected in this country.

Here's Hoping. --Cooter

Back to the McTarnahan Story

I've been following the story of U-Boats off the US Gulf Coast. I found some information on the U-506. By the way, the one before it, the U-505, was captured and can presently be seen at Chicago's Science and Industry Museum in its new berth.

From May 10th to May 20th, 1942, the U-506 had a very good cruise. It sank three tankers: the Gulfpenn, the Gulfoil, and Hale. It damaged five more including the Aurora, David McKinley, Sun, McTarnahan and Heredia.

Altogether, 144 men were killed on these ships.

Later, the U-506 torpedoed and sank the British ocean liner Laconia. Altogether, it sank 15 Allied ships before being sunk July 12, 1943, between the Azores and Spain's coast. Six survivors were picked up by a British destroyer.

So, There's the Story. --Cooter

William C. McTarnahan, Motor Tanker

The William T. McTarnahan was a 7,306 ton motor tanker launched in 1941 in Mobile, Alabama. It was attacked May 16, 1942 and seriously damaged by the U-506 under command of Erich Wurdemann. Of the 45 crew members, there were 18 dead and 27 survivors.

The ship, however, did not sink, and was repaired. In 1943, it was transferred to the Soviet Union and returned to the US in August 1944 and had the name changed to St. James.

At 11.01 hours, the McTarnahan, unescorted and cruising in a non-evasive manner, was hit by two torpedoes on the starboard side about 35 miles east of Sip Shoal Light, Louisiana. Fire broke out in the fuel bunkers on the after part of the vessel and killed everyone there. The U-506 then shelled the McTarnahan for 15 minutes before her crew abandoned ship. It then closed to within 400 yards and began shelling the burning ship with 12-15 shots.

The shrimp trawlers Defender, Pioneer (the article was about this boat) and Viscali picked up survivors and took them to Houma where four more died of burns.

The badly damaged McTarnahan was towed to the entrance of Southwest Pass and arrived in Mobile for repairs on the 23rd of June.

A Tanker is Still a Bad Place to Be When You're Torpedoed. --Da Coot

WW II Closer to Home

When most folks think of World War II, they think of Europe or the Pacific, but there was quite a way going on right off the US coasts as German U-Boats plied their deadly craft and a lot of men died and ships went down.

The August 17th Houma (La) Today had an article about a shrimp boats encounter with a U-Boat.

In May,1942, shrimper Ira Pete and his father were drifting along just after dark and separating the day's catch when they say a U-Boat nearby, also drifting. They could even hear the diesel engines, but fortunately, were not seen. Wisely, they decided to keep quiet and not do anything to draw attention.

The U-Boat suddenly pulled away at high speed and a short time later, the shrimpers saw a flash of light and heard an explosion as the submarine sank one of the 41 American ships sunk in the Gulf of Mexico during the month.

The victim was the tanker William C. McTarnahan. Always a bad thing to be on a tanker or ammunition ship when you get torpedoed. The Pioneer then spent the rest of the night rescuing the badly burned sailors from the ship.


STANDARD WARTIME OPERATIONS

Shrimpers could always expect to be boarded before leaving port during the war years. They were assigned a strict fishing area and even had the amount of fuel they were carrying checked. Authorities wanted to know the amount of time the ship would stay out as well.

Much More Serious Than Most Know. --Cooter