1942 — Sep 16, US freighter Commercial Trader, sunk by U-boat, ~75M east of Trinidad–10

–10 American Merchant Marine at War. Chronological List of U.S. Ships Sunk or Damaged…
–7 crew
–3 armed guard
–10 Chen, C. Peter. “Second Happy Time: 14 Jan 1942–31 Aug 1942.” World War II Database.
–10 Clancey. HyperWar: The Official Chronology of the US Navy in [WW] II, Chapter IV 1942.
–7 crew
–3 armed guard
–10 Helgason. Ships hit by U-boats. “Commercial Trader – American Steam merchant.” uboat.net.
–2 officers
–3 crewmen
–1 crewman survivor who died of pneumonia Sep 24.
–3 armed guards
–10 Moore. A Careless Word, A Needless Sinking. 1983. Table extracted by armed-guard.com.
–7 crew
–3 armed guard

Narrative Information

American Merchant Marine at War. Chronological List of U.S. Ships Sunk or Damaged…
“Date Ship Type Cause Result Location Deaths
“9/16/42 Commercial Trader Freighter Torpedo Sunk Caribbean Crew 7; AG 3.”

Chen, C. Peter. “Second Happy Time: 14 Jan 1942–31 Aug 1942.” World War II Database:
“16 Sep 1942 German submarine U-558 sank US ship Commercial Trader 75 miles east of Trinidad at 1100 hours; 10 were killed, 28 survived. British tanker F. J. Wolfe and British ship Empire Soldier, members of Allied convoy ON-127, collided 25 miles east of St. John’s, Newfoundland; Empire Soldier would sink from damages sustained in this collision. At 1200 hours, U-165 attacked Allied convoy SQ-36 at the mouth of the Saint Lawrence River 10 miles northwest of Cap-Chat, Canada, sinking Greek ship Joannis, damaging British ship Essex Lance (1 was killed), and damaging British ship Pan York.”

Clancey. HyperWar: The Official Chronology of the US Navy in [WW] II, Chapter IV 1942:
“September 16, Wed. ….
“Atlantic….
“U.S. freighter Commercial Trader is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-558 east of Trinidad, 10°30’N, 60°16’W; seven of the 29-man crew perish in the attack, as do three of the 9-man Armed Guard. The survivors, in one lifeboat, reach Tobago later the same day.”

Helgason. Ships hit by U-boats. “Commercial Trader – American Steam merchant.” uboat.net.
“Name Commercial Trader
“Type Steam merchant
“Tonnage 2,606 tons
“Completed 1920 – Detroit Shipbuilding Co., Wyandotte MI
“Owner Moore-McCormack SS Co., New York
“Homeport New York
“Date of attack 16 Sep 1942
“Nationality American
“Fate Sunk by U-558 (Gunther Krech)
“Position 10° 30’N, 60° 15’W – Grid ED 9995
“Complement 38 (10 dead and 28 survivors).
“Route Fortaleza, Brazil – Trinidad – USA
“Cargo 2000 tons of caster seed and 1500 tons of manganese ore
“History Laid down as Lake Deerfield, completed as Lake Tippah for US Shipping
Board. 1924 renamed Delaware River for Philadelphia & Norfolk SS Co, Wilmington DE. 1939 sold to Moore-McCormack Lines Inc and renamed Commercial Trader.

“Notes on event At 10.59 hours on 16 September 1942 the unescorted Commercial Trader
(Master James Wilber Hunley) was hit by one torpedo from U-558 about
75 miles east of Trinidad. The vessel did not steer a zigzagging course at 9 knots but had changed her direction several times during the night. The torpedo struck the starboard side in the #2 hold and blew the hatch off, collapsed the starboard side of the bridge and threw some men into the water. The blast damaged the fireroom´s forward bulkhead and flooded that compartment. Water also poured in the skylight over the engine room. The throttle became inaccessible and the watch below could not secure the engines.

Most of the crew of eight officers, 21 men and nine armed guards (the ship was armed with one 3in and two .30cal guns) left the ship in one lifeboat and one raft. No other boats could be launched because the vessel sank bow first in two minutes. Two officers, four crewmen and three armed guards were lost. All survivors transferred into the boat and set sail for Tobago, arriving there twelve hours later. Ten survivors required hospitalization and one of these men later died of pneumonia on 24 September.”

Note: uboat.net has information on fourteen on those on board. Accessible 5-16-2021 at: https://uboat.net/allies/merchants/crews/ship2176.html

Moore. A Careless Word, A Needless Sinking. 1983. Table extracted by armed-guard.com:
“S.S. Commercial Trader…Torpedoed 9/16/42…freighter…Crew 7, AG 3 [Number Killed].”

Sources

American Merchant Marine at War. Chronological List of Ships Sunk or Damaged July to December 1942. Accessed 5-16-2021 at: http://www.usmm.org/sunk42b.html#anchor340736

Chen, C. Peter. “Second Happy Time: 14 Jan 1942 – 31 Aug 1942.” World War II Database. Accessed 5-16-2021 at: https://ww2db.com/battle_spec.php?battle_id=277

Clancey, Patrick (transcriber and formatter for HTML). HyperWar: The Official Chronology of the US Navy in World War II, Chapter IV: 1942. Accessed 5-16-2021 at: https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/USN-Chron/USN-Chron-1942.html

Helgason, Gudmundur. Ships hit by U-boats. “Commercial Trader – American Steam merchant.” uboat.net. Accessed 5-16-2021 at: https://uboat.net/allies/merchants/ship/2176.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 5-16-2021 at: https://www.armed-guard.com/sunk.html