1942 — Mar 29, passenger ship City of New York sunk by U-boat ~50m off Cape Hatteras NC-24-26

–32 AP. “Injured Doctor Aids Mother in Wave-Tossed Craft–New Yorkers…Among…” NYT, 4-2-1942, 1.
— 3 dead
–29 missing
–11 passengers
–18 crew
–26 AAMW. US Ships Sunk or Damaged on Eastcoast of U.S….World War II…. 2010.
–17 crew
— 2 armed guard
— 7 passengers
–26 Helgason. “Ships hit by U-boats. City of New York, American Steam merchant.” Uboat.net.
–16 crew
— 1 armed guard
— 9 passengers
–24 Browning. United States Merchant Marine Casualties of World War II (Revised). 2011. 58.
–16 crew
— 1 armed guard
— 9 passengers
–24 WP. “The U.S. government wants…sanctuary for…[WW II] shipwrecks.” 2-16-2016.

Narrative Information

American Merchant Marine at War:
Date Ship Type Cause Result Location Deaths
“03/29/42 City of New York Passenger Ship Torpedo Sunk Eastcoast Crew 17; AG 2; Pass. 7

Helgason/uboat.net:
“Name City of New York
“Type Motor passenger ship
“Tonnage 8,272 tons
“Completed 1930 – Sun Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co., Chester PA
“Owner American-South African Line Inc., New York
“Homeport New York
“Date of attack 29 Mar 1942
“Nationality American
“Fate Sunk by U-160 (Georg Lassen)
“Position 35° 16’N, 74° 25’W – Grid CA 8781
“Complement 132 (26 dead and 106 survivors).
“Route Lourenco Marques – Capetown – Port of Spain, Trinidad – New York
“Cargo 6612 tons of chrome ore, wood, wool, hides and asbestos
….
“Notes on event At 19.36 hours on 29 March 1942 the unescorted City of New York (Master George T. Sullivan) was hit by one G7a torpedo from U-160 about 50 miles east of Cape Hatteras, while she steamed in twenty-foot seas on a non-evasive course at 14 knots. The torpedo struck after a running time of just 29 seconds on the port side at the waterline at #3 hold just below the bridge and destroyed one of the lifeboats. The helmsman brought the ship into the wind and the watch below secured the engines. The armed guards fired twelve shots with the 4in gun on the poop (the ship was also armed with four .50cal and four .30cal guns) at the periscope. The U-boat circled the stern at a distance of about 250 yards and fired off the starboard quarter another torpedo as coup de grâce at 19.47 hours that struck on the starboard side at #4 hold, causing the ship to sink by the stern about 20 minutes after the first hit. In the meantime, the most of the 13 officers, 69 crewmen and 41 passengers abandoned ship in four lifeboats after a fifth overturned during launch. The nine armed guards followed them by jumping off the ship when the water reached the after deck and swam to the boats or two rafts that floated free.

“The next day, two USAAF bomber and a USN PBY Catalina flying boat searched the area of the sinking but found no survivors. USS Greer (DD 145) and USS Roper (DD 147) were also sent to investigate and the latter picked up 70 survivors (60 men, six women and four children) from two lifeboats and two rafts in approx. position 35°41N/73°39W between 00.10 and 04.30 hours on 31 March, but one crew member died on board after being rescued. The same day 26 other survivors, including the master, were picked up from a third boat by USS Acushnet (AT 63) and all survivors were taken to the Naval Base in Norfolk, Virginia. In the morning of 11 April, a USAAF bomber spotted the fourth lifeboat that had been launched with 13 crew members, one armed guard and six passengers (four women, one man and a 3-year-old girl), but five crew members, the armed guard, the man and two women died of exposure. The USN blimp K-4 took over in the afternoon and directed the US Coast Guard vessel USCGC CG-455 to the boat, which picked up eleven survivors and two bodies (the mother of the child and the armed guard, who had died only a few hours before the rescue) in position 38°42N/72°58W and took them to Lewes, Delaware. In all, 16 crewmen, one armed guard and nine passengers died.

The “lifeboat baby” Jesse Roper Mohorovicic

“One of the passengers was Desanka Mohorovicic, the pregnant wife of an attaché to the Yugoslav consulate in New York, who travelled with her daughter Vesna. They went into a lifeboat together after the ship was torpedoed, but while waiting for rescue she went into labor. Luckily the ship’s surgeon, Leonard Hudson Conly, had followed her into the same boat and delivered the baby in the bottom of the lifeboat that was tossed about in 15 foot waves, even though he himself had two broken ribs. They were rescued by USS Roper the next day and the mother decided to name her son Jesse Roper after the namesake of the destroyer that picked them up.”

Note: u-boat.net has compiled information on 49 of those onboard at:
https://uboat.net/allies/merchants/crews/ship1479.html

The named deaths are those of:

1. Frank Delker Blondin, 33 Messman Henderson, KY
2. Clarence Allen Clobridge, 50 Steward Council Bluffs, IA
3. Arthur Christopher Comone, Jr., 31 Steward New York, NY
4. Miguel Patino Davila, 37 Oiler Marin, Spain
5. Richard James De Rosas, 39 Messman New York City, NY.
6. Edward Michael Devaney, 57 Steward Detroit, MI
7. Peter D’Addio, 55 Barber Brooklyn, NY
8. Berthold Paul Eingrieber, Jr., 23 Messman Hoboken, NJ
9. Sarah L. Etter, 26 Passenger
10. Armando Augusto Ferreira, 39 Quartermaster Portugal
11. William Edward Hannegan, 40 Electrician New York, NY
12. Arthur Chris Hobirk, 26 Utility man Jacksonville, FL
13. Rudolph Lenhardt, 25, of NYC. Second Radio Operator; died of exposure.
14. Duncan C. MacNicol, 45 Chief Mate New York, NY
15. Diego Magulin, 43 Messman Brooklyn, NY
16. John Adam McInnis, 21 [Duluth, MN ] Seaman 1st Class; died Apr 11 in lifeboat.
17. Adolpho Moreno, 47 Steward Valparaiso
18. James Morton Parker, 24 Utility man Philadelphia, PA
19. Cecil Aliston Rhodes, 34 Utility man Cambridge, MA
20. Joaquin Rodriquez, 29 Bellboy New York, NY
21. Althea Olive Viola Wrigley, 35 Passenger Randwick, Australia

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). 12-22-2010. Webpage accessed 4-16-2021 at: http://www.usmm.org/eastgulf.html

Associated Press. “Injured Doctor Aids Mother in Wave-Tossed Craft – New Yorkers, Yugoslav General Among 29 Missing – 3 Dead.” New York Times, 4-2-1942, p. 1. Accessed 4-16-2021 at: https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1942/04/02/85028029.html?pageNumber=1

Browning, Robert M. Jr. United States Merchant Marine Casualties of World War II (Revised). Jefferson, NC and London: McFarland & Company, Inc., 2011. Accessed 4-16-2021 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=7ZcZDgAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

Find A Grave. “Arthur Christopher Comone.” Posted 11-5-2018. Accessed 4-16-2021 at: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/194504656/arthur-christopher-comone

Find A Grave. “Bertold Paul ‘Bert’ Eingrieber Jr.” Posted by Patricia O’Neal, 9-20-2018. Accessed 4-16-2021 at: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/193270166/bertold-paul-eingrieber

Find A Grave. “John Adam McInnis.” Posted by Patricia O’Neal, 9-26-2017. Accessed 4-16-2021 at: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/183754620/john-adam-mcinnis

Helgason, Gudmundur. “Ships hit by U-boats. City of New York, American Steam merchant.” uboat.net. Webpage accessed 4-16-2021 at: https://uboat.net/allies/merchants/ship/1479.html

New York Times. “U-Boat Victim Has Baby in Lifeboat.” 4-2-1942, p.10. Accessed 4-16-2021 at: https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1942/04/02/issue.html

Washington Post. “The U.S. government wants to set up a sanctuary for Second World War shipwrecks.” 2-16-2016. Accessed 4-16-2021 at: https://nationalpost.com/news/world/the-u-s-government-wants-to-set-up-a-sanctuary-for-second-world-war-shipwrecks