1942 — Jun 12, US cargo/passenger ship Sixaola sunk by sub ~50M off Bocas del Toro, Panama–29

–29 American Merchant Marine at War. Chronological List of U.S. Ships Sunk or Damaged…
–29 Chen, C. Peter. “Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico Campaigns 16 Feb 1942 – 1 Jan 1944.”
–29 Clancey. HyperWar: The Official Chronology of the US Navy in [WW] II, Chapter IV 1942
–29 Helgason, G. Ships hit by U-boats. “Sixaola – American Steam passenger ship.” uboat.net.
–29 Moore. A Careless Word, A Needless Sinking. 1983. Table extracted by armed-guard.com.

Blanchard note on dating of this loss: Though two sources date the loss as on June 13, we are persuaded that the newspaper article on the experience of a survivor, who dates the loss as June 12, is the correct date. Three other sources we cite also date the attack and loss as on June 12th.

Narrative Information

American Merchant Marine at War. Chronological List of U.S. Ships Sunk or Damaged…
“Date Ship Type Cause Result Location Deaths
“06/12/42 Sixaola Caro/Passenger Ship Torpedo Sunk Caribbean Crew 29.”

Chen, C. Peter. “Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico Campaigns 16 Feb 1942 – 1 Jan 1944.”
13 Jun 1942 …. Off Panama, in the Caribbean Sea, U-159 sank US passenger liner Sixaola at 0412 hours; 29 were killed, 201 survived. At 1938 hours, U-159 struck again, sinking US ship Solon; all 53 aboard survived.”

Clancey. HyperWar: The Official Chronology of the US Navy in [WW] II, Chapter IV 1942:
“June 12, Fri. ….
“Caribbean
“U.S. steamship Sixaola is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-159 off the coast of
Panama, 09°54’N, 81°25’W. Of the 87-man crew, 29 perish in the attack. The 58 surviving
crewmen, together with the 6-man Armed Guard and the 108 passengers, take to five boats and six
rafts. U.S. steamship Carolinian rescues 32 survivors and transfers them to motor torpedo boat
tender Niagara (PG-52); Niagara herself rescues 75 more. Army tug Shasta picks up 23…”

Helgason, G. Ships hit by U-boats. “Sixaola – American Steam passenger ship.” uboat.net:
“Name Sixaola
“Type Steam passenger ship
“Tonnage 4,693 tons
“Completed 1911 – Workman, Clark & Co. Ltd., Belfast
“Owner United Fruit SS Co., New York
“Homeport New York
“Date of attack 13 Jun 1942
“Nationality American
“Fate Sunk by U-159 (Helmut Friedrich Witte)
“Position 9° 41’N, 81° 10’W – Grid EL 2184
“Complement 201 (29 dead and 172 survivors).
“Route Cristobal [east Panama] – Puerto Barrios, Guatemala – New Orleans
“Cargo 900 tons of US Army supplies, including trucks, trailers, clothing and
foodstuffs
“History Completed in October 1911 for Tropical Fruit SS Co Ltd (United Fruit SS
Co), Glasgow. 1914 transferred to US flag.

“Notes on event At 04.12 hours on 13 June 1942 the unescorted Sixaola (Master William H. Fagan) was hit on the starboard side by two torpedoes from U-159, while steaming on a righthand zigzag pattern at 12.5 knots about 50 miles off Bocas del Toro, Panama. The first torpedo struck in the bow and the second in the center of #2 hold. The most of the eight officers, 79 crewmen, six armed guards (the ship was armed with one 3in and two .50cal guns) and 108 passengers on board abandoned ship in five lifeboats and six rafts two minutes after the hits and stopping the engines. 29 crewmen died in the explosions, most of them lay sleeping in the quarters of the crew in the bow. Just after the master and chief officer left the ship, she was hit on the port side amidships by a coup de grâce at 04.31 hours and sank by the stern about 06.15 hours. The Germans questioned the survivors, offered medical aid, gave exact course and distance to the nearest land and two packages of German cigarettes and then left the area.

32 survivors in one boat were picked up by the American steam merchant
Carolinian and later transferred to the American gunboat USS Niagara
(PG 52), which also picked up 75 survivors in two other boats that had been
spotted by aircraft and landed them all in Cristobal. 23 survivors in another
boat were rescued by the US Army tug Shasta, after their boat landed on
Bocas del Toro on 16 June. The remaining 42 survivors made landfall in
their lifeboat in the delta of Coloveboran River after four days and were
brought to Cristobal by the American submarine chaser USS PC-460.”

Note: uboat.net has information on thirty of those onboard accessible at:
https://uboat.net/allies/merchants/crews/ship1795.html

Moore. A Careless Word, A Needless Sinking. 1983. Table extracted by armed-guard.com:
“S.S. Sixaola…Torpedoed 6/12/42…Cargo/Passenger Ship…Crew 29 [Number Killed].”

Newspaper

Sep 30: “Adrift in an overcrowded life boat for 82 hours after abandoning a torpedoed ship is an unforgettable experience and one that leaves mental scars for months, declares Myron Slane, 32, of the Kendell apartments, Covington.

“With his brother, Dale, 28, of Van Wert, he returned earlier this summer from the Canal Zone where they were employed on the construction of the Trans-Isthmus highway, a U.S. Public Roads Administration project, across the Isthmus of Panama, connecting Colon on the Atlantic coast and Panama on the Pacific.

“Slane, who is now working on the construction of government buildings at Wright Field in Dayton, came to Covington two years ago with the Johnston company when the building of the new highway and bridge was in progress between Covington and Greenville, and with his wife, who is a nurse and office assistant in the office of Dr. W. H. Kendell, has established himself among a wide circle of friends and acquaintances of the community.

“A chronological resume of he torpedoing of the ship and experiences of the Slane brothers begins with Friday Morning, June 12, when they boarded the S.S. Sixaola, a United Fruit company ship, 585 feet long and of 6,000 tons at Cristobal for the trip home at the conclusion of their jobs in Panama.

“The ship began the fateful voyage at 9:30 Friday morning with life boats swung out according to regulations. That evening when most passengers had retired to the cabins early because of the enforced blackout, the Slane boys had bathed and were stretched out on their bunks when the first torpedo struck the boat at 9:20, just 12 hours out of Cristobal.

“The impact threw them to the floor and with amazing presence of mind and bravery, they donned clothing, an act for which they later gave fervent thanks, as the suffering from exposure and sun borne by the more scantily clad passengers was severe.

“By the time Myron and Dale had reached the deck of the boat, panic and hysteria prevailed evidenced by the fact that several men had thrown themselves overboard without life belts and others had fainted with excitement and fear. Myron said when he passed to the door to the deck overlooking the dining salon he could already see the chairs and tables floating, although only about one minute and a half had passed from the time the torpedo had struck. When the second struck he could see the flash and feel the sting of water and debris.

“The boys were in the last boat to be lowered from the ship in which the Captain and first mate of the ship were among the 42 men passengers, just 110 more than capacity for the small craft. The third torpedo hit the sinking ship when the boat was a scant 100 yards away and the resulting high waves threatened to capsize the lifeboat, and which with high seas kept the men busy manning the pump for the following 12 hours, while they prayed that the pump would hold out.

“Soon after the ship had gone down, 20 minutes after the attack, the lifeboat passengers were amazed and terror stricken to see German submarine rise before them. The sub signaled them closer and inquired the name of the ship it had just sunk and facts about the cargo and destination all the while keeping machine guns trained upon the boat and its occupants.

“Before submerging the submarine officers informed the men that they were 45 miles from land and to take a southwesterly course….

[The lifeboat made shore on Tuesday morning.] Wednesday was spent in anxious waiting and when darkness came Myron and Dale were lying on the beach when they noticed a light out ovr the water. They called the ship captain, who with the mate, discovered that they were in signal contact with a U.S. sub chaser. The subchaser sent a small boat to tow them out to sea again in their life boat. When they had boarded the chaser they were fed and put to bed on the top deck in army cots….

“At 12 o’clock noon on Thursday, June 18, they arrive at Christobal and twenty eight men were taken to the hospital for treatment for sunburn and exposure.

“The Slane boys went on to Balboa where they caught the clipper plane for Miami, Fla. While in Balboa they were treated to a sight of the sub that torpedoed and sank the S.S. Sixaola, which was captured by plane and subchaser on Sunday when it was lying on the surface recharging the batteries. The vessel was 345 feet long and carried 185 men. Officers of the captured sub admitted the sinking of the Sixaola and six other vessels that same day.” (Piqua Daily Call, OH. “Covington Man Adrift in Overcrowded Life Boat for 82 Hours After German Sub Torpedoes Ship in Caribbean Sea.” 9-30-1942, p. 10.)

Sources

American Merchant Marine at War. Chronological List of Ships Sunk or Damaged January to June 1942. Accessed 5-13-2021 at: http://www.usmm.org/sunk42a.html#anchor331462

Chen, C. Peter. “Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico Campaigns 16 Feb 1942 – 1 Jan 1944.” Accessed 5-13-2021 at: https://ww2db.com/battle_spec.php?battle_id=276

Clancey, Patrick (transcriber and formatter for HTML). HyperWar: The Official Chronology of the US Navy in World War II, Chapter IV: 1942. Accessed 5-13-2021 at: https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/USN-Chron/USN-Chron-1942.html

Helgason, Gudmundur. Ships hit by U-boats. “Sixaola – American Steam passenger ship.” uboat.net. Accessed 5-13-2021 at: https://uboat.net/allies/merchants/ship/1795.html

Moore, Captain Arthur R. A Careless Word, A Needless Sinking: A History of the Staggering Losses Suffered By the U.S. Merchant Marine, Both in Ships and Personnel, During World War II. American Merchant Marine Museum 1983 (1st edition), 1990. Table extracted by armed-guard.com. Accessed 5-13-2021 at: https://www.armed-guard.com/sunk.html

Piqua Daily Call, OH. “Covington Man Adrift in Overcrowded Life Boat for 82 Hours After
German Sub Torpedoes Ship in Caribbean Sea.” 9-30-1942, p. 10. Accessed 5-13-2021 at:
https://newspaperarchive.com/piqua-daily-call-sep-30-1942-p-10/