1942 — May 19, US freighter Heredia sunk by U-boat 2M SE of Ship Shoal Buoy, LA-35-36

–36 Chen, Peter. “19 May 1942.” World War II Database.
–36 Clancey. HyperWar: The Official Chronology of the US Navy in World War II, Chapter IV.
–30 Crew
— 5 Armed Guard
— 1 Passenger
–36 Helgason. Ships hit by U-boats. “Heredia – American Steam merchant.”
— 6 Officers
–24 Crew
— 1 Passenger
— 5 Armed Guards
–36 Tougias. “The true story of a family…WWII U-boat attack.” Boston Globe Magazine, 4-1-2016.
–30 Crew
— 5 Naval Armed Guards
— 1 Passenger
–35 American Merchant Marine at War. U.S. Ships Sunk or Damaged…Gulf of Mexico… 1942.
–29 Crew
— 5 Armed Guard
— 1 Passenger
–35 Moore. A Careless Word, A Needless Sinking. 1983. Table extracted by armed-guard.com.
–29 Crew
— 1 Passenger
— 1 Armed Guard

Narrative Information

American Merchant Marine at War:
“Date Ship Type Cause Result Location Deaths
“05/19/42 Heredia Freighter Torpedo Sunk GulfMexico Crew 29; AG 5; Passenger 1.”

Chen: “19 May 1942. German submarine U-506 sank US freighter Heredia 100 kilometers southwest of New Orleans, Louisiana, United States at 0856 hours, killing 36 of 62 aboard.”

Clancey/HyperWar: “1942….May 19, Tue….Gulf of Mexico
“U.S. freighter Heredia is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-506 two miles south of the Ship Shoal Buoy, Louisiana, 27°32’N, 91°00’W; the rapidity with which the ship sinks gives the crew no time to launch boats. Of the 62 men on board (48-man merchant crew, six-man Armed Guard and eight passengers), 36 (30 crewmen, five Armed Guard sailors and one passenger) perish. Shrimp boats Papa Joe, Conquest, J. Edwin Treakle, and Shellwater rescue 23 survivors; a seaplane rescues three.”

Helgason/uboat.net:
“Name Heredia
“Type Steam merchant
“Tonnage 4,732 tons
“Completed 1908 – Workman, Clark & Co. Ltd, Belfast
“Owner United Fruit SS Co., New York
“Homeport New York
“Date of attack 19 May 1942
“Nationality American
“Fate Sunk by U-506 (Erich Würdemann)
“Position 28° 53’N, 91° 03’W – Grid DA 9197
“Complement 62 (36 dead and 26 survivors)
“Route Puerto Barrios, Guatemala – Corpus Christi – New Orleans
“Cargo 1500 tons of bananas and coffee
“History ….
“Notes on event At 08.56 hours on 19 May 1942 the unescorted Heredia (Master Erwin F.
Colburn) was hit by three torpedoes from U-506 two miles southeast of the Ship Shoal Buoy, while proceeding on a non-evasive course at 13.5 knots. The first and second torpedoes struck the port quarter aft at the #3 and #4 holds. The third torpedo struck amidships on the starboard side, causing her to sink within three minutes. The explosions blew the decks up, stopped the engines and destroyed two lifeboats and two rafts. The survivors of the eleven officers, 37 crewmen, eight passengers and six armed guards (the ship was armed with one 3in and two .30cal guns) had no time to launch boats and only two rafts got away. 23 survivors were picked up by the shrimp trawlers Papa Joe (1), Conquest (2), J. Edwin Treakle (10) and Shellwater (10) and landed at Morgan City, Louisiana. A seaplane picked up three other survivors and landed them at New Orleans. Six officers, 24 crewmen, one passenger and five armed guards were lost.”

Note: Helgason/uboat.net contains information on forty-two of those aboard at:
https://uboat.net/allies/merchants/crews/ship1676.html

Moore. A Careless Word, A Needless Sinking. 1983. Table extracted by armed-guard.com.
“S.S. Heredia Torpedoed 5/19/42 Freighter Crew 29, Passenger 1, AG 5 [deaths].”

Sources

American Merchant Marine at War. U.S. Ships Sunk or Damaged on Eastcoast of U.S, and Gulf of Mexico During World War II Eastcoast of U.S. (175 ships). Accessed 4-27-2021 at: http://www.usmm.org/eastgulf.html

Chen, Peter. “19 May 1942.” World War II Database. Accessed 4-27-2021 at: https://ww2db.com/event/today/05/19/1942

Clancey, Patrick (transcriber and formatter for HTML). HyperWar: The Official Chronology of the US Navy in World War II, Chapter IV: 1942. Accessed 4-27-2021 at: https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/USN-Chron/USN-Chron-1942.html

Helgason, Gudmundur. Ships hit by U-boats. “Heredia – American Steam merchant.” Accessed 4-27-2021 at: https://uboat.net/allies/merchants/ship/1676.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 4-27-2021 at: https://www.armed-guard.com/sunk.html

Tougias, Michael J. “The true story of a family caught in a WWII U-boat attack.” Boston Globe Magazine, 4-1-2016. Accessed 4-27-2021 at: https://www.bostonglobe.com/magazine/2016/04/01/the-true-story-family-caught-wwii-boat-attack/4bpRwXDdmr80V7oJwmKRiO/story.html