1942 — Feb 19, US tanker Pan Massachusetts sunk by U-boat ~20M off Cape Canaveral, FL–20

–22 Kindell. Naval Events, February 1942 (Part 2 of 2) Sunday 15th – Saturday 28th.
— 2 dead
–20 missing
–20 American Merchant Marine at War. U.S. Ships Sunk or Damaged on Eastcoast of U.S. …
–20 Helgason. Ships hit by U-boats. “Pan Massachusetts – American Steam tanker.”
— 3 officers
–17 crew
–20 Wiberg. SS Pan Massachusetts sunk by U-128/Heyse 19 February 1942 off Bahamas, [FL].

Narrative Information

American Merchant Marine at War:
“Date Ship Type Cause Result Location Deaths
“02/19/42 Pan Massachusetts Tanker Torpedo Sunk GulfMexico Crew 20

Clancey/HyperWar: “1942…February 19, Thu….Atlantic…. Unarmed U.S. tanker Pan Massachusetts is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-128 about 20 miles off Cape Canaveral, Florida, 28°27’N, 80°08’W; Coast Guard lighthouse tender Forward (WAGL-160) and British tanker Elizabeth Massey rescue 18 survivors from the 38-man crew.”

Helgason/u-boat.net:
“Name Pan Massachusetts
“Type Steam tanker
“Tonnage 8,202 tons
“Completed 1919 – Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corp., Alameda CA
“Owner National Bulk Carriers Inc., New York
“Homeport Wilmington
“Date of attack 19 Feb 1942
“Nationality American
“Fate Sunk by U-128 *Ulrich Heyse)
“Position 28° 27’N, 80° 08’W – Grid DB 9546
“Complement 38 (20 dead and 18 survivors).
“Route Texas City (15 Feb) – New York
“Cargo 104,000 barrels of refined petroleum, gasoline, kerosene and diesel oil
“History ….
“Notes on event At 19.45 hours on 19 Feb 1942 the unescorted and unarmed Pan Massachusetts (Master Robert E. Christy) was hit by two torpedoes from U-128 about 20 miles off Cape Canaveral, while steaming at 13.5 knots in misty and squally weather. The torpedoes struck on the starboard side amidships and ruptured the tanks and deck. The explosions sprayed the cargo over the length of the vessel and ignited it, turning the tanker into a burning inferno but the full tanks prevented the cargo to explode. Some of the nine officers and 29 crewmen on board jumped overboard and swam underneath the flames to open spots and others went forward and escaped into the water by lowering a mooring line over the side because all lifeboats became victims of the flames before they could be launched. Three officers and 17 crewmen were lost.

“The British steam tanker Elizabeth Massey immediately put out a lifeboat to pick up the men in the water, but rough seas hampered the effort until the US Coast Guard ship USS Forward (WAGL 160) took the lifeboat in tow and moved with it through the wreckage. Some bodies were recovered and placed on board the US Coast Guard ship, while all survivors were brought to the tanker and taken to Jacksonville, Florida.”

Note: uboat-net contains information on twenty-two of those onboard, 20 of which are noted as fatalities, at: https://uboat.net/allies/merchants/crews/ship1350.html

Kindell: “U.128 sank American tanker PAN MASSACHUSETTS (8202grt) in 28-27N, 80-08W. Two crew were killed, 20 missing, and 18 were rescued by US Coast Guard cutter FORWARD.”

Moore: “S.S. Pan Massachusetts…Torpedoed 2/19/42…Tanker…Crew 20 [Number Killed].”

Wiberg: “….In February of 1942 the Pan Massachusetts was under command of Captain Robert E. Christy and a crew of thirty-eight persons….the Pan Massachusetts set sail for Texas City, Texas, in ballast to pick up its next cargo. On the 15th of February the ship left Texas City bound back to New York carrying 104,000 barrels of refined petroleum, gasoline, kerosene and diesel oil (Uboat.net).

“On about the 17th of February Pan Massachusetts rounded Key West, Florida and entered the Straits of Florida, riding the Gulf Stream northwards between Florida and the Bahamas. Since there were no attacks in Florida during the war (which had only involved the US directly for seven weeks), there would have been no cause for undue alarm on board. There were no defensive or offensive weapons on board and if the ship had had them there was no one to man them. Little did they know that the German submarine U-128 under Ulrich Heyse lay in wait, freshly arrived from Europe. The position was 28.27 North latitude by 80.08 West longitude.

“The weather was rough – with heavy seas, low visibility, mist and squalls. Pan Massachusetts was motoring ahead at 13.5 knots roughly 20 miles from Cape Canaveral, Florida (to the northwest of West End, Grand Bahama) when at 1:44pm on Thursday the 19th and in broad daylight all hell broke loose. Two torpedoes fired from U-128, which lay to seaward of them, struck the starboard side in broad daylight. They penetrated the hull just forward of the engine room…

“No one survived the engine room to provide a first-hand account, so fast did the conflagration spread across the ship. Running in panic to the bow, sailors lowered a hawser into the water. Trapped between flames approaching them astern and those spreading across the sea, they were faced with a Hobbesian choice of ‘the devil or the deep blue sea’. One by one they tried their luck, lowering themselves into the water, then beneath the burning surface, hoping to hold their breath long enough to pop up on the outside edge of the burning oil. Many never did surface.

“Those survivors that were rescued after two hours in the water were saved by their life vests, and not the lifeboats (which were destroyed and abandoned in their davits) or the life rafts, which were presumably burned on the spot. According to a summary of survivor accounts found in the National Archives in Washington DC, ‘flames prevented boarding of boats,’ and survivors utilized wreckage to stay afloat. The seas were rough and the rescue vessels had to communicate by megaphone across the storm-tossed sea. Because the first shot was so effective, U-128 only had to fire one shot into the ship. Pan Massachusetts was abandoned after only 14 minutes and reportedly sank one minute later.

“The casualty, occurring as it did both close to shore and in busy shipping lanes did not go unnoticed. Within minutes the keeper of the lighthouse at Brevard County Cape reported to the US Coast Guard via radio ‘Flames sighted 20 miles, 142 degrees from Cape Canaveral’ (USCG report). Meanwhile, the smaller British steam tanker Elizabeth Massey sped to the scene and immediately lowered her lifeboat and approached the stricken Pan Massachusetts. However the rough seas and rampant flames prevented her crew from rescuing any of the American tanker’s crew until the US Coast Guard buoy tender USS Forward (WAGL-160) arrived.

“….The war off Florida had begun. In an artful display of seamanship and grit, the Forward’s crew towed the Elizabeth Massey’s lifeboat amongst the wreckage. When they sighted a survivor – or more likely than not – a body, they sent the life boat out to collect them. Once the lifeboat was full it would return to the Forward and deposit the bodies of the living and the dead. After this macabre ballet it was decided to separate the living from the dead – Pan Massachusetts survivors proceeded to Jacksonville with the Massey while their dead crewmates were brought ashore by the Forward to Canaveral. Though 18 men survived this harrowing ordeal, twenty died. It was the first Allied ship sunk by Axis U-Boats on the coast of Florida in either war….”

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 4-24-2021 at: http://www.usmm.org/eastgulf.html

Clancey, Patrick (transcriber and formatter for HTML). HyperWar: The Official Chronology of the US Navy in World War II, Chapter IV: 1942. Accessed 4-19-2021 at: https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/USN-Chron/USN-Chron-1942.html

Helgason, Gudmundur. Ships hit by U-boats. “Pan Massachusetts – American Steam tanker.” Accessed 4-24-2021 at: https://uboat.net/allies/merchants/ship/1350.html

Kindell, Don. Naval Events, February 1942 (Part 2 of 2) Sunday 15th – Saturday 28th. Admiralty War Diaries. “British and Other Navies in World War 2 Day-by-Day.” Accessed 4-24-2021 at: http://www.naval-history.net/xDKWW2-4202-42FEB02.htm

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 4-19-2021 at: https://www.armed-guard.com/sunk.html

Wiberg, Eric. SS Pan Massachusetts sunk by U-128/Heyse 19 February 1942 off Bahamas, Florida. 4-26-2014 at: https://ericwiberg.com/2014/04/ss-pan-massachusetts-sunk-by-u-128heyse-19-february-1942-off-bahamas-florida