1942 — June 3, US tanker M.F. Elliott sunk by U-boat ~150M northwest of Trinidad– 13

–13 American Merchant Marine at War. Chronological List of U.S. Ships Sunk or Damaged…
–13 Helgason, G. Ships hit by U-boats. “M.F. Elliott – American Steam tanker.” uboat.net.
–7 in the torpedo explosion (altogether four officers and nine crewmen)
–6 drowned
–10 Moore. A Careless Word, A Needless Sinking. 1983. Table extracted by armed-guard.com.

Narrative Information

American Merchant Marine at War. Chronological List of U.S. Ships Sunk or Damaged…
“Date Ship Type Cause Result Location Deaths
“06/03/42 M.F. Elliott Tanker Torpedo Sunk Caribbean Crew 13…”

Helgason, G. Ships hit by U-boats. “M.F. Elliott – American Steam tanker.” uboat.net:
“Name M.F. Elliott
“Type Steam tanker
“Tonnage 6,940 tons
“Completed 1921 – Moore Shipbuilding Co., Oakland CA
“Owner Standard Oil Co. of New Jersey, New York
“Homeport Wilmington
“Date of attack 3 Jun 1942
“Nationality American
“Fate Sunk by U-502 (Jurgen von Rosenstiel)
“Position 12° 04’N, 63° 49’W – Grid ED 6892
“Complement 45 (13 dead and 32 survivors).
“Route Newport News (19 May) – Trinidad – Caripito, Venezuela
“Cargo Water ballast in tanks #1, #4, #6 and #8.
“History ….
“Notes on event At 21.56 hours on 3 June 1942 the unescorted M.F. Elliott (Master Harold
I. Cook) was torpedoed by U-502 bout 150 miles northwest of Trinidad, while proceeding on a zigzag course at 10 knots. The ship had left Newport News in a convoy, left it off the Florida Keys and proceeded for some time together with the C.O. Stillman, which was sunk on 6 June by U-68 (Merten).

One torpedo struck the starboard quarter of the M.F. Elliott well below the waterline. The explosion destroyed the fuel bunker and the fireroom and sprayed fuel oil over the surface of the sea, but did not catch fire. A distress signal was sent to a US Navy PBY aircraft seen earlier in the day. The tanker listed to starboard, settled by the stern and plunged bow up within six minutes. The eight officers, 30 crewmen and seven armed guards (the ship was armed with one 4in, one 3in, two .50cal and two .30cal guns) tried to abandon ship in three lifeboats, but all capsized because the ship sank fast. Four officers and nine crewmen were lost, seven in the explosion and six drowned. The survivors swam to four rafts that had floated free and the PBY remained in contact with them throughout the night. 27 survivors were picked up at dawn the next day by the American destroyer USS Tarbell (DD 142) and later pulled three others from the water before landing them at Port of Spain.

Two men had been picked up by U-502 for questioning. The arriving PBY forced the U-boat to submerge and take the men with them. They were released after three hours and put on a raft with provisions. The two men were picked up five days later by the Brazilian steam tanker Santa Maria and landed at Santos, Brazil on 1 July.”

Note: uboat.net has information on all 45 of those onboard (all American Merchant Marine and
U.S. Navy Armed Guard {no deaths}) accessible at:
https://uboat.net/allies/merchants/crews/ship1741.html

Moore. A Careless Word, A Needless Sinking. 1983. Table extracted by armed-guard.com:
“S.S. M. F. Elliott…Torpedoed 6/3/42…Tanker…Crew 10 [Number Killed].”

Sources

American Merchant Marine at War. Chronological List of Ships Sunk or Damaged January to June 1942. Accessed 5-11-2021 at: http://www.usmm.org/sunk42a.html#anchor331462

Helgason, Gudmundur. Ships hit by U-boats. “M.F. Elliott – American Steam tanker.” uboat.net.
Accessed 5-11-2021 at: https://uboat.net/allies/merchants/ship/1741.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 5-11-2021 at: https://www.armed-guard.com/sunk.html