1947 — Mar 12, tanker Fort Dearborn, San Francisco to Shanghai, breaks up, gale, Pacific– 12

Compiled by Wayne Blanchard 10-15-2023 for upload to: https://www.usdeadlyevents.com/

–13  Hensinger. “In The Merchant Marine,” Ch. 20 in Levine (ed.). World War II… 2001,147.^[1]

–12  Oakland Tribune, CA. “Crew Blameless in Ship’s Sinking.” 3-25-1947, p. 9.

–12  Schmitt, Robert C.  Catastrophic Mortality in Hawaii. 2-2-2009, p. 74.

Narrative Information

Schmitt: “March 12, 1947: The tanker Fort Dearborn, steaming from San Francisco to Shanghai, broke in two during a gale 1,100 miles northwest of Oahu. Thirty-two of the 44 crewmen were rescued, but 12 who set out in a lifeboat were never found.”^[2] (Schmitt, Robert C. Catastrophic Mortality in Hawaii. 2-2-2009, p. 74.)

Newspapers

March 13: “Rescuers today reached the stern half of the broken tanker Fort Dearborn, aboard which most of the crew of 42 remained when the vessel cracked up 800 miles northwest of Honolulu. The Navy reported that one of two rescue ships was proceeding to the bow section, which had drifted 10 miles distant. The Fort Dearborn, whose crew includes 15 men from the Bay area, broke in two in heavy seas yesterday. A search plane from Midway reported sighting two men aboard the bow – described as ‘in a sinking condition’ – last night. The plane dropped a life raft and emergency radio to them. According to the Hawaiian Sea Frontier, the freighter St. John’s Victory stood by the stern today while the Telfair Stockton headed for the bow.” (Oakland Tribune, CA. “Rescuers at Scene of Broken Ship.” 3-13-1947, p. 1, col. 6.)

March 14, UP: “Honolulu, March 14. – (UP) – The navy reported here today that the freighter St. John’s Victory has rescued 10 men from the bow section of the broken tanker Fort Dearborn in windswept seas about 1000 miles northwest of Honolulu. The navy did not say how the high seas rescue was effected. Twenty other crewmen still were huddled on the aft section of the ill-fated vessel, and search planes from Midway combed the Central Pacific for 12 others who abandoned the ship in a lifeboat after she split in half two days ago in a storm. The rescued men were transferred to the American President Lines passenger ship Gen. W.H. Gordon, for hospitalization, the navy said. Two of them are injured….

“The St. John’s Victory reported the bow section was still riding high and appeared as though it would not sink ‘’for some time.’….The Gordon and the freighter Telfair Stockton, meanwhile, maneuvered into position near the aft section of the Fort Dearborn which has drifted 15 miles away with 20 other crewmen. The sea has calmed down in the area of the wreck and it was believed rescue operations could be completed today….

“Seven volunteers from the General Gordon put out in a lifeboat yesterday in an attempt to reach

the eight men on the bow, but the boat was smashed against the steel hull of the liner whose 1100

passengers watched the heroic epic from the rail. All seven of the volunteers were pulled from the heaving seas, but some were injured.

“Navy Privateers and army B-17s from Midway scoured the seas around the Fort Dearborn for the 12 men in the lifeboat. They dropped liferafts equipped with portable ‘Gibson girl’ radio transmitters so the men could report their position in case they found one of the rafts. Additional Privateers took off for Midway today to join the search.” (San Mateo Times, CA. “10 Rescued from Bow of Broken Tanker; 20 Huddled on Stern.” 3-14-1947, p. 1.)

March 15. AP: “Honolulu, March 15. – (AP) — The after end of the ill-fated tanker, Fort Dearborn, headed south for Honolulu under its own power on calming seas today, manned by 20 seamen who rode it through a raging storm that broke the ship in half.

“Nine crewmen and the master who were left on the bow end when the 10,448-ton ship broke up Wednesday, were rescued by the St. Johns Victory yesterday and were being treated aboard the liner Gen. W. H. Gordon, a second rescue vessel. The Gordon, en route to Japan, suggested the men be transferred to a U.S.-bound ship.

“At the disaster scene, 1100 miles northwest of Honolulu, a search was in progress for a lifeboat in which 12 other members of the crew put off after the tanker broke in half.

“The Navy was given permission by the Maritime Commission to sink the tanker’s bow as a menace to navigation.

“The St. Johns Victory reported that Capt. R. H. Mahoney, Corpus Christi. Tex., the Fort Dearborn’s skipper, and First Mate M. E. Taylor, Los Altos. Calif., two of those rescued, were seriously injured.

“The freighter Telfair Stockton, which had been standing by, reported that the after section was proceeding toward Honolulu at 2½ knots, presumably stern first with engines reversed.”  (Oakland Tribune, CA. “Half of Tanker Heads for Port.” 3-15-1947, p. 2.)

March 25: “The seamanship of the officers and crew of the ill-fated tanker Fort Dearborn, which broke in half and sank in the Pacific with the probable loss of 12 lives, was beyond criticism, a Maritime Commission investigation board decided yesterday, leaving the cause of the wreck to structural failures in the vessel.

“Capt. Richard K. Mahony, 38, master of the Dearborn, told the hearing officers that there was no careless seamanship prior to the ship’s breaking in half.  He said he believed the ship was seaworthy at the time. The Dearborn, he said, was carrying 110,000 barrels of oil to Shanghai when she met disaster in a heavy gale. Mahoney said the ship’s cargo had been trimmed to equalize distribution of the cargo and declared that the tanker had come through heavier seas than the one that broke her….” (Oakland Tribune, CA. “Crew Blameless in Ship’s Sinking.” 3-25-1947, p. 9.)

Pocock: “The stern section of the tanker Fort Dearborn…was sold to Hilo Electric Light Co. and used as a power plant until 1952.” (Pocock, Michael W. “Fort Dearborn (1943).” Maritime Quest.)

Sources

Hensinger, Donald. “In The Merchant Marine,” Chapter 20 in: Levine, Beverly (ed.). World War II, We Were There: An Anthology. Lincoln, NE: iUniverse.com, Inc., 2001, pp. 143-149. Google Preview accessed 10-7-2012 at: http://books.google.com/books?id=UeXpr3JZs7QC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

Oakland Tribune, CA. “Crew Blameless in Ship’s Sinking [Fort Dearborn].” 3-25-1947, p. 9. Accessed 10-7-2012 at: http://newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=33917048

Oakland Tribune, CA. “Half of Tanker [Fort Dearborn] Heads for Port.” 3-15-1947, p. 2. Accessed 10-7-2012 at: http://newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=33916615

Pocock, Michael W. “Fort Dearborn (1943).” Maritime Quest. Accessed 10-7-2012 at: http://www.maritimequest.com/freighters/02_pages/f/fort_dearborn_1943_page_1.htm

San Mateo Times, CA.“10 Rescued from Bow of Broken Tanker; 20 Huddled on Stern.” 3-14-1947, p. 1. Accessed at: http://newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=37286912

Schmitt, Robert C. Catastrophic Mortality in Hawaii. 2-2-2009, 86 pages. Accessed 9-20-2012 at: Catastrophic Mortality in Hawaii – eVols – University of Hawaii. Accessed 10-15-2023 at:

https://evols.library.manoa.hawaii.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/adb83189-0281-4c84-adc0-c86f3d50a20b/content

[1] Donald Hensinger was on the Fort Dearborn. He writes that “We lost thirteen people from the stern. They launched a lifeboat and were swept away instantly.”

[2] Cites:  Honolulu Star Bulletin (HSB), Mar. 12, 1947, p. 1; HSB, Mar. 15, 1947, p. 1; HSB, Mar. 21, 1947, p. 1; Honolulu Advertiser, Nov. 7, 1951, pp. 1 and 6.