1942 — May 28, US freighter Alcoa Pilgrim sunk by sub, Caribbean ~150M so. of Mona Passage-31

–31 American Merchant Marine at War. Chronological List of U.S. Ships Sunk or Damaged…
–31 Chen, C. Peter. “28 May 1942” (from Second Happy Time). World War II Database.
–31 Clancey. HyperWar: The Official Chronology of the US Navy in [WW] II, Chapter IV 1942.
–31 Helgason, G. Ships hit by U-boats. “Alcoa Pilgrim – American Steam merchant.” uboat.net.
–31 Moore. A Careless Word, A Needless Sinking. 1983. Table extracted by armed-guard.com.

Narrative Information

American Merchant Marine at War. Chronological List of U.S. Ships Sunk or Damaged…
“Date Ship Type Cause Result Location Deaths
“05/28.42 Alcoa Pilgrim Freighter Torpedo Sunk Caribbean Crew 31.”

Chen, C. Peter. “28 May 1942” (from Second Happy Time). World War II Database:
“American freighter Sylvan Arrow (of the Standard Oil and Transportation Company), damaged by German submarine U-155 on 20 May 1942, sank in the Caribbean Sea while under tow. On the same day, U-103 sank US tanker New Jersey 90 miles southwest of Grand Cayman island (41 survived) in the Caribbean Sea, U-502 sank US ship Alcoa Pilgrim (31 were killed, 9 survived) in the Caribbean Sea, and U-106 sank British ship Mentor (4 were killed, 82 survived) in the Gulf of Mexico.” [Cites Chen’s “Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico Campaigns” section.]

Clancey. HyperWar: The Official Chronology of the US Navy in [WW] II, Chapter IV 1942:
“May 27, Wed. ….
“Caribbean
“Unarmed U.S. freighter Alcoa Pilgrim, en route to Mobile, Alabama, from Trinidad, is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-502 at 16°28’N, 67°37’W. The rapidity with which the ship sinks prevents the crew from launching boats, and 31 men of the 40-man complement are lost with the ship.”

Helgason, G. Ships hit by U-boats. “Alcoa Pilgrim – American Steam merchant.” uboat.net:
“Name Alcoa Pilgrim
“Type Steam merchant (C-1 type)
“Tonnage 6,759 tons
“Completed 1941 – Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corp., San Francisco CA
“Owner Alcoa SS Co., New York
“Homeport New York
“Date of attack 28 May 1942
“Nationality American
“Fate Sunk by U-502 *Jurgen von Rosenstiel)
“Position 16° 28’N, 67° 37’W – Grid ED 1769
“Complement 40 (31 dead and 9 survivors).
“Route Port of Spain, Trinidad – Mobile Al
“Cargo 9500 tons of bauxite ore
“History
“Notes on event At 02.00 hours on 28 May 1942 the zigzagging, unescorted and unarmed
Alcoa Pilgrim (Master Leon Roar Petersen, lost) was hit by a torpedo from
U-502 on the starboard side just below the waterline in the engine room.
The ship sank in 90 seconds about 150 miles south of the Mona Passage.
The crew of nine officers and 31 men had no time to launch a lifeboat and
only nine managed to get on board of two rafts. U-502 came alongside one of the rafts and an officer inquired about the name of the ship, her nationality, tonnage and cargo. He also asked if the rafts had sails and wished the men luck. Six days later, the American steam merchant Thomas Nelson picked up the surviving three officers and six men and landed them at Port of Spain on 5 June.”

Note: uboat.net contains information on forty of those onboard [all American Merchant Marine] accessible at: https://uboat.net/allies/merchants/crews/ship1717.html

Moore. A Careless Word, A Needless Sinking. 1983. Table extracted by armed-guard.com:
“S.S. Alcoa Pilgrim…Torpedoed 5/28/42…Freighter…31 Crew [Number Killed].”

Sources

American Merchant Marine at War. Chronological List of Ships Sunk or Damaged January to June 1942. Accessed 5-10-2021 at: http://www.usmm.org/sunk42a.html#anchor331462

Chen, C. Peter. “28 May 1942” (from Second Happy Time). World War II Database. Accessed 5-10-2021 at: https://ww2db.com/event/today/05/28/1942

Clancey, Patrick (transcriber and formatter for HTML). HyperWar: The Official Chronology of the US Navy in World War II, Chapter IV: 1942. Accessed 5-10-2021 at: https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/USN-Chron/USN-Chron-1942.html

Helgason, Gudmundur. Ships hit by U-boats. “Alcoa Pilgrim – American Steam merchant.” uboat.net. Accessed 5-10-2021 at: https://uboat.net/allies/merchants/ship/1717.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 5-10-2021 at: https://www.armed-guard.com/sunk.html