1942 — May 18, US freighter Quaker City sunk by U-boat ~300 miles east of Barbados– 11

–11 American Merchant Marine at War. Chronological List of U.S. Ships Sunk or Damaged…
–11 Clancey. HyperWar: The Official Chronology of the US Navy in [WW] II, Chapter IV 1942.
–10 at the time
— 1 later from injuries
–11 Helgason, G. Ships hit by U-boats. “Quaker City American Steam merchant.” uboat.net.
–10 at the time
— 1 an oiler who was rescued and taken ashore where he died of injuries
–11 Moore. A Careless Word, A Needless Sinking. 1983. Table extracted by armed-guard.com.

–10 Chen, C. Peter. “Second Happy Time: 14 Jan 1942–31 Aug 1942.” World War II Database.

Narrative Information

American Merchant Marine at War. Chronological List of U.S. Ships Sunk or Damaged…
“Date Ship Type Cause Result Location Deaths
“05/18/42 Quaker City Freighter Torpedo Sunk Caribbean Crew 11.”

Chen, C. Peter. “Second Happy Time: 14 Jan 1942–31 Aug 1942.” World War II Database:
“18 May 1942 German submarine U-162 sank Norwegian tanker Beth (sailing in service of the British Royal Fleet Auxiliary force) off Barbados at 0210 hours. U-558 sank Dutch ship Fauna 25 miles northwest of British North Caicos island at 0615 hours. German submarine U-156 sank American ship Quaker City 460 miles east of Martinique at 1018 hours; 10 were killed, 29 survived. At 1852 hours, U-156 fired what would be the first of four torpedoes at British tanker San Eliseo between this evening and the next morning as she unsuccessfully chased the tanker.”

Clancey. HyperWar: The Official Chronology of the US Navy in [WW] II, Chapter IV 1942:
“….May 18, Mon. ….
“Atlantic….
“Unarmed U.S. freighter Quaker City is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-156 approximately 300 miles east of Barbados, 15°47’N, 53°12’W; ten men perish (one man will subsequently die of wounds). The 30 survivors take to four lifeboats. U-156 surfaces and questions the survivors as to the name of the ship and her cargo and destination; the Germans then provide the Americans with directions to Barbados…”

Helgason, G. Ships hit by U-boats. “Quaker City American Steam merchant.” uboat.net:
“Name Quaker City
“Type Steam merchant (Hog Island)
“Tonnage 4,961 tons
“Completed 1920 – American International Shipbuilding Corp., Hog Island PA
“Owner US Lines Inc., New York
“Homeport Philadelphia
“Date of attack 18 May 1942
“Nationality American
“Fate Sunk by U-156 (Werner Hartenstein)
“Position 15° 47’N, 53° 12’W – Grid EE 6237
“Complement 40 (11 dead and 29 survivors).
“Route Capetown – Norfolk, Virginia
“Cargo 4500 tons of manganese ore
“History Laid down as Clematis, completed in January 1920 as Quaker City for US Shipping Board (USSB), Philadelphia.
“Notes on event At 10.18 hours on 18 May 1942 the unescorted and unarmed Quaker City (Master Edward A. Richmond) was hit by one torpedo from U-156 about 300 miles east of Barbados. The torpedo struck in the stern near the waterline and caused the ship to sink in ten minutes. The explosion shattered the propeller, the rudder and the after part of the ship and killed ten crewmen. The surviving ten officers and 20 crewmen immediately abandoned ship in four lifeboats and were questioned by the Germans. They were given the course to Barbados before the U-boat left the area.

On 22 May, seven survivors in one boat were picked up by USS Blakeley
(DD 150) in 15°01N/57°38W and landed at Trinidad on 24 May. On 24
May, the 15 survivors in the boat of the master landed at Barbados and eight
survivors in another boat made landfall on the north coast of Dominica on
26 May. An oiler later died ashore from injuries.”

Note: uboat.net contains information on twenty-five of those onboard accessible at:
https://uboat.net/allies/merchants/crews/ship1671.html

Moore. A Careless Word, A Needless Sinking. 1983. Table extracted by armed-guard.com:
“S.S. Quaker City…Torpedoed 5/18/42…Freighter…Crew 11 [Number Killed].”

Sources

American Merchant Marine at War. Chronological List of Ships Sunk or Damaged January to June 1942. Accessed 5-9-2021 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 5-9-2021 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 5-9-2021 at: https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/USN-Chron/USN-Chron-1942.html

Helgason, Gudmundur. Ships hit by U-boats. “Quaker City American Steam merchant.” uboat.net. Accessed 5-9-2021 at: https://uboat.net/allies/merchants/ship/1671.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 5-9-2021 at: https://www.armed-guard.com/sunk.html