1942 — April 23, US Freighter Lammot Du Pont sunk by U-boat ~500M No. of Bermuda–19

–19 American Merchant Marine at War. Chronological List of U.S. Ships Sunk or Damaged…
–18 crew
— 1 armed guard
–19 Helgason. Ships hit by U-boats. “Lammot Du Pont. American Steam merchant.” uboat.net.
–6 crew went down with the ship
–2 lost on a broken raft in heavy seas, drifted away and were never found
–7 crew in lifeboat which drifted for 23 days before rescue by USS Tarbell
–1 armed guard in lifeboat which drifted for 23 days before rescue by USS Tarbell
–3 crew in San Juan hospital from injuries, exposure and ordeal at sea
–19 Moore. A Careless Word, A Needless Sinking. 1983. Table extracted by armed-guard.com.
— 6 Chen, C. Peter. “Second Happy Time: 14 Jan 1942–31 Aug 1942.” World War II Database.
— 4 Clancey. HyperWar: The Official Chronology of the US Navy in [WW] II, Chapter IV 1942.

Blanchard note on fatalities: We suspect that the Chen and Clancey reporting reflects the number of deaths noted in the press as the number of men thought to have gone down with the boat. We choose to follow the number of nineteen deaths reported by the American Merchant Marine at War website, Helgason/uboat.net, and by Moore in armed-guard.com. Helgasun/uboat.net is very detailed and includes a listing of 35 of those onboard, along with their position, and fatality status.

Narrative Information

American Merchant Marine at War. Chronological List of U.S. Ships Sunk or Damaged…
“Date Ship Type Cause Result Location Deaths
“04/23/42 Lammot Dupont Freighter Torpedo Sunk NAtlantic Crew 18; AG 1.”

Chen, C. Peter. “Second Happy Time: 14 Jan 1942–31 Aug 1942.” World War II Database:
“At 2053 hours, German submarine U-125 sank US ship Lammot Du Pont 500 miles southeast of Bermuda; 6 were killed, 48 survived.”

Helgason. Ships hit by U-boats. “Lammot Du Pont. American Steam merchant.” uboat.net:
Helgason/uboat.net:
“Name Lammot Du Pont
“Type Steam merchant
“Tonnage 5,102 tons
“Completed 1914 – North of Ireland Shipbuilding Co. Ltd., Londonderry
“Owner International Freighting Co. Inc., New York
“Homeport Wilmington
“Date of attack 23 Apr 1942
“Nationality American
“Fate Sunk by U-125 (Ulrich Folkers)
“Position 27° 10’N, 57° 10’W – Grid DD 9589
“Complement 54 (19 dead and 35 survivors).
“Route Buenos Aires – New York
“Cargo 6812 tons of linseed
“History Completed in May 1914 as San Francisco for Isthmian SS Co Ltd, London.
In June 1918 chartered by the US Navy, commissioned as transport USS Saint Francis (ID 1557) and used between England and France. In April 1919 returned to the owner under her former name. 1933 sold to USA and renamed Lammot Du Pont.
“Notes on event At 20.53 hours on 23 April 1942 the unescorted Lammot Du Pont (Master Robert Cameron Housten) was hit by one torpedo from 8-125 when steaming on a non-evasive course at 9.5 knots about 500 miles southeast of Bermuda. The torpedo struck on the port side between the #4 hatch and the engine room. The explosion blew the booms at the #4 and #5 hatches onto the deck and threw a large column of water and linseed in the air. The ship rapidly listed to port and within five minutes rolled completely on her side. The nine officers, 36 crewmen and nine armed guards (the ship was armed with one 4in and two .30cal guns) began to abandon ship in one lifeboat and three rafts. Six crew members went down with the ship and two left on a broken raft. The other survivors tried to reach these men in the heavy seas, but they drifted away and were never found.

Eight crew members and seven armed guards on two rafts were picked up after two days by the Swedish motor merchant Astri and were transferred on 8 May to USS Omaha (CL 4), which brought them to Recife, Brazil on 11 May. The 31 crew members and two armed guards in the lifeboat drifted for 23 days before being rescued by USS Tarbell (DD 142), after being spotted by an aircraft about 40 miles from San Juan, but seven crew members and one armed guards already died of fever and three other crew members later died in a San Juan hospital.”

Note: uboat.net contains information on thirty-seven of the fifty-four onboard accessible at:
https://uboat.net/allies/merchants/crews/ship1565.html

Moore. A Careless Word, A Needless Sinking. 1983. Table extracted by armed-guard.com:
“S.S. Lammot Dupont…Torpedoed 4/23/42…Freighter…18 crew, Armed Guard 1 [No. Killed].”

Sources

American Merchant Marine at War. Chronological List of Ships Sunk or Damaged January to June 1942. Accessed 5-8-2021 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 5-8-2021 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 5-8-2021 at: https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/USN-Chron/USN-Chron-1942.html

Helgason. Ships hit by U-boats. “Lammot Du Pont.” uboat.net.

Helgason Gudmundur. Ships hit by U-boats. “Lammot Du Pont.” uboat.net.

Helgason, Gudmundur. Ships hit by U-boats. “American Steam merchant.” Accessed 5-8-2021 at: https://uboat.net/allies/merchants/ship/1565.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 5-8-2021 at: https://www.armed-guard.com/sunk.html