1942 — Mar 13, US freighter Colabee torpedoed by U-boat ~10M off Cape Guajaba, Cuba-25

— 26 Statesville Daily Record, NC. “Latin Countries Aroused by Axis Attack on Ships.” 3-17-1942.
— 25 American Merchant Marine at War. Chronological List of U.S. Ships Sunk or Damaged…
–23-25 Helgason, Gudmundur. Ships hit by U-boats. “Colabee – American Steam merchant.”

Blanchard note on fatalities: We follow the American Merchant Marine at War website which has the fatalities at twenty-five. Helgason (uboat.net), though noting 23 fatalities at one point and 24 at another, names twenty-five in his crew list of all thirty-eight of those onboard. We speculate that the Havana based reporting of twenty-six unaccounted for in the Statesville Daily Record, just demonstrates an unawareness of the rescue of one individual.

Narrative Information

American Merchant Marine at War. Chronological List of U.S. Ships Sunk or Damaged…
“Date Ship Type Cause Result Location Deaths
“03/12/42 Colabee Freighter Torpedo Damaged Caribbean Crew 25.”

Chen, C. Peter. “Second Happy Time: 14 Jan 1942–31 Aug 1942.” World War II Database:
“12 Mar 1942…. U-126…damaged US freighter Colabee.”

Clancey. HyperWar: The Official Chronology of the US Navy in [WW] II, Chapter IV 1942:
“March 12, Thu. ….
“Atlantic….
“German submarine U-126 torpedoes unarmed U.S. freighters off the coast of Cuba, sinking Olga off Camaguey, 23°39’N, 77°00’W, and damaging Colabee about 10 miles off Cape Guajaba, 22°14’N, 77°35’W. Colabee drifts ashore and grounds on a shoal; Cuban ship Oriente rescues one group of survivors (and then tows the damaged ship off the shoal), tanker Cities Service Kansas the other. Cuban Navy vessels later salvage the ship.”

Helgason, Gudmundur. Ships hit by U-boats. “Colabee – American Steam merchant.”
“Name Colabee
“Type Steam merchant
“Tonnage 5,518 tons
“Completed 1920 – Atlantic Corporation, Portsmouth NH
“Owner American-Hawaiian SS Co., New York
“Homeport Wilmington [DE]
“Date of attack 13 Mar 1942
“Nationality American
“Fate Damaged by U-126 (Ernst Bauer)
“Position 22° 10’N, 77° 30’W – Grid DM 6599
“Complement 38 (24 dead and 14 survivors).
“Route Puerto Tarafa, Cuba (12 Mar) – Baltimore, Maryland
“Cargo 38,600 bags of sugar
“History Completed in December 1920 as Pagasset for US Shipping Board (USSB).
1937 renamed Colabee for Colabee SS Co (American Range Lines Inc), Wilmington DE. In May 1941 sold to Illinois Atlantic Corp (Edward P. Farley & Co Inc), Wilmington DE and later that year requisitioned by the US Maritime Commission.
“Notes on event At 04.41 hours on 13 March 1942 the unarmed and unescorted Colabee
(Master Lee Merchant Morgan) was hit by a torpedo from U-126, while she
steered a non-evasive course about 10 miles off Cape Guajaba, Cuba. The torpedo was fired on the surface not more than 800 yards away and struck the starboard side at the after end of #2 hold. The explosion created a large hole, blew off the #2 hatch covers and extensively damaged the bridge, killing the master and two men. The crew of eight officers and 29 men abandoned the ship in panic, because they only had two lifeboats and no rafts aboard. Only ten men get away with one boat, the others jumped overboard or fell into the water when the second boat swamped, many drowned. U-126 picked up able seaman John L. Cobb, helped him into the lifeboat and questioned the survivors. The chief engineer had been unable to stop the engines and the ship went aground shortly afterwards. The boat landed on a small Island off Key Verde, Cuba, where the Cuban steam merchant Oriente picked up these 11 survivors and took them to Nuevitas on 15 March. Two other survivors were rescued by a flying boat and taken to Guantanamo Bay in the afternoon on 13 March. The first engineer and his dog stayed with the ship and were taken off the next day at 21.30 hours by the American steam tanker Cities Service Kansas and landed at Matanzas. The master, three officers and 19 men were lost. [23 lost]

Note: uboat.net includes information on all thirty-eight of those onboard accessible at:
https://uboat.net/allies/merchants/crews/ship1432.html

Newspapers

March 15: “Havana, Cuba – (AP) – The steamship Colabee was torpedoed off the Cuban coast Thursday night and all members of the crew of 37 except First Assistant Engineer Frank Eckman apparently were lost, it was disclosed Saturday night [14th] with the arrival at Mantanzas of the sole survivor.” (Star-Monitor-Herald, Harlingen, TX. “Steamship Is Sunk.” 3-15-1942.)

March 17: “By United Press….A newspaper in Havana, Cuba, reports that a heavy American tanker has been sunk in the Bahamas, but gives no further details. It also is reported that 11 more survivors have been rescued from the American sugar freighter Colabee sunk last week. But 26 still missing.” (Statesville Daily Record, NC. “Latin Countries Aroused by Axis Attack on Ships.” 3-17-1942.) [Probably not known at the time that an engineer stayed onboard and was picked up after the Colabee grounded on a reef.]

Sources

American Merchant Marine at War. Chronological List of Ships Sunk or Damaged January to June 1942. Accessed 5-5-2021 at: http://www.usmm.org/sunk42a.html#anchor331462

Chen, C. Peter. “Second Happy Time: 14 Jan 1942 – 31 Aug 1942.” World War II Database. Accessed 5-5-2021 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 5-5-2021 at: https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/USN-Chron/USN-Chron-1942.html

Helgason, Gudmundur. Ships hit by U-boats. “Colabee – American Steam merchant.” Accessed 5-5-2021 at: https://uboat.net/allies/merchants/ship/1432.html

Star-Monitor-Herald, Harlingen, TX. “Steamship Is Sunk.” 3-15-1942. Accessed 5-6-2021 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/brownsville-valley-sunday-star-monitor-herald-mar-15-1942-p-1/

Statesville Daily Record, NC. “Latin Countries Aroused by Axis Attack on Ships.” 3-17-1942. Accessed 5-6-2021 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/statesville-daily-record-mar-17-1942-p-1/