1935 — Jan 24, collision, liner SS Mohawk (sinks) & freighter Talisman, off Sea Girt, NJ–45

–46 New York Times. “Captain Sinks With Ship,” January 26, 1935, p. 1.
–45 Nash, Jay Robert. Darkest Hours. 1977, p. 701. (Has the date of loss as Jan 25.)
–45 New York Times. “Mohawk Disaster Victims, 1.27-1935, p. 3.
–45 NYT. “Two Inquiries Opened In Mohawk Disaster; Officers are Witnesses.” 1-27-1935, p1.
–45 Scuba Diving – New Jersey & Long Island New York. “S.S. Mohawk.”
–45 US House of Representatives Safety of Life and Property at Sea. Hearing 3-13-1935, p.249.

New York fatalities:
–27
Bodies recovered
— 6 passengers
–15 crew
Missing
— 1 passenger
— 5 crew

Blanchard on date of loss: Most sources we have consulted, not all of which have we noted in “Sources,” have the date of this loss as Jan 25. However, it is clear from a reading of the New York Times at the time, that both the collision and the sinking of the Mohawk occurred the evening of January 24.

Narrative Information

Bureau of Navigation and S.I. Merchant Vessels of the United States 1935. “Vessels Lost.”
“Official Rig Name of vessel Gross Year Onboard Lives Nature Date Place
No. Steam tonnage built lost
“225247 St. s. Mohawk 5,896 1926 164 45 Collided Jan.25, 1935 Sea Girt, N.J.”

Scuba Diving: “The country was in the teeth of the Great Depression, and to squeeze some extra revenue out of the vessel, it was modified to carry bulk cargoes like lumber. These modifications involved opening up her watertight bulkheads for easier cargo handling. Because of this, she quickly filled with water and sank after what would otherwise probably not have been a fatal collision. The fatal blow was on the port side….

“About 9:00 that evening, several miles south of Sea Girt Light and about six miles offshore, the steering gear went awry and the crew switched to a manual steering system instead. Shortly afterward, confusion between orders from the bridge and their execution in the steering engine room caused the Mohawk to execute a hard turn to port, at full speed, directly into the path of the Norwegian freighter Talisman. Although both ships tried to avoid the collision, it was too late. Talisman struck the Mohawk, and the latter began to take on water. Bitter cold, ice, and snow hampered the evacuation of the 160 passengers; all told 45 lives were lost, including Captain Joseph Wood and all but one of the ship’s officers.

“The Mohawk sank within an hour. Nearby ships came to the rescue, and Coast Guard boats and planes searched through the night and the next day, first for survivors, then for bodies….

“The blame for the collision is variously given as mechanical malfunction or human error, but the Mohawk veered directly across the path of the other vessel and was entirely at fault. None of the bridge officers survived the accident; Captain Joseph Wood chose to go down with his ship. After verifying that all other persons were safely away, he went back to his cabin and shut the door. In the end, the responsibility for a vessel rests solely with its captain, and the press and the courts would have crucified him.” (Scuba Diving – NJ & Long Island NY. “S.S. Mohawk.”)

“Marilyn J. Goldstein survivor account:

The Brooklyn Bridge was one sheet of ice and as we crept along, inch by inch, wondered whether we would make it across the bridge, and if we did, would the Mohawk still be there waiting for us? Unfortunately, yes. As I was always seasick, I went down to our stateroom shortly after we boarded ship and went to bed. In the short time that I was upstairs, I had remarked to Sam that all the lifeboats seemed to be buried in snow on the decks.

Four hours later, there was a terrible jolt followed by the complete standstill of our ship. Sam came running in and said we were rammed by a Norwegian freighter. He assured me that everything was under control. I put my coat over my pajamas and adjusted the life belt. We started through the passage to go to the deck. A seaman came running toward us. He had no life belt. I went back with him and gave him a second one which I had seen under my berth. On our second attempt to get to on deck, I met a woman whom I had spoken to briefly before I had left for my stateroom. She was returning for her jewels, which she had left in her stateroom. Unhappily, she was one of the forty-nine lost. Her body was later found floating, with jewels intact.

The lifeboats were dug out of the snow by us, as in those days they were not lifted by machinery. By this time, we were aware that a great gash had been made in our side and the ship was beginning to list. We finally raised one lifeboat, got it down the side of the ship and started to move away from the side of the ship. The lifeboat was filled to capacity with passengers and a few crew.

To our shock, we discovered that we were still tied to the Mohawk. A crewmember started to shout for a knife to cut us away. Sam called to him to tear his coat open and pull out a gold penknife he had in his pocket, given to him by the Brooklyn Optometrical Society when he was president. As it was two degrees below zero, Sam’s fingers were already frozen. The seaman found his knife, ran and cut us loose from the Mohawk.

We rowed away as quickly as possible, and had hardly gotten at a safe distance when we watched with horror – the Mohawk sinking with 49 people aboard, many of them young. Had we not gotten away when we did, we would have been sucked in with the Mohawk as she sank. We were picked up by the Algonquin several hours later and taken ashore, where we were met by a barrage of cameramen with endless questions. (Reproduced in: Scuba Diving–NJ & Long Island NY. “S.S. Mohawk.”)

Newspapers

Jan 25: “The steamship Mohawk, under charter to the Ward Line, was rammed at 9:30 o’clock last night [Jan 24] by the Norwegian freighter Talisman of the Wilhelmsen Line four and a half miles off Sea Girt, N.J. An hour later she was beached in shallow water, four miles off shore and turned over on her side and sank.

“As far as could be learned last night there was no loss of life. The Mohawk carried fifty-three passengers and a crew of 110. All of them are believed to have been taken off in lifeboats. Five of the Mohawk’s lifeboats, carrying 37 passengers and 47 members of the crew, were picked up by the Clyde-Mallory liner Algonquin, inbound from Jacksonville. The Algonquin was expected to dock at Pier 34, North River, sometime this morning [Jan 25].

“Two other lifeboats containing one passenger and 21 members of the crew were picked up by the United Fruit liner Limon, which sailed from New York late yesterday. These survivors were transferred later to the Coast Guard cutter Icarus.

Doubt on Number of Boats.

“Coast Guard headquarters in New York said it had been informed officially that the Mohawk launched only seven boats. Unofficial reports, however, said that the salvage tug Willett, which has been engaged in moving the Ward liner Morro Castle from the beach at Asbury Park, N.J., had picked up another of the Mohawk’s boats, and that still another had been picked up by the Icarus.

“A check-up by the Ward Line officials shortly before 3 o’clock this morning indicated that fifteen passengers and forty-two members of the crew had been unaccounted for. Officials of the line explained, however, that they did not believe any one had been lost and that those unaccounted for were all on rescue ships.

“Although the Talisman and the Mohawk sent out S O S signals simultaneously at the time of the collision, investigation disclosed that the Talisman had suffered only a damaged bow, and that she was in no danger. Although she remained at the scene for several hours after the Mohawk had sunk, none of her boats was launched, and it was reported that she was planning to proceed under her own power to Norfolk, Va., and there to undergo repairs.

“Just how the accident occurred was the subject of considerable speculation here last night. The Mohawk, bound for Havana, Progreso and Vera Cruz, left her East River pier at the foot of Wall Street at 4 o’clock yesterday afternoon, and passed Sandy Hook at 5:35 P.M. She was in charge of Captain Joseph E. Wood and carried 1,286 tons of miscellaneous cargo.

“The Talisman, a much slower vessel, did not leave her pier at Thirtieth Street, Brooklyn, until 5 P.M., and did not pass Sandy Hook until 7:08 P.M. She was bound for Claymont, Del., to load additional cargo for Bahia, Brazil.

“Shipping men here pointed out that the Mohawk, being speedier by several knots, and having cleared the Hook more than an hour and a half ahead of the freighter, should have been more than twenty-five miles ahead by the time the Talisman reached Sea Girt. The only explanation they could advance for the collision was that the Mohawk’s lights had failed and that the Talisman had run into her in the darkness.

“According to an Associated Press report, however, the Mohawk, after passing Sandy Hook, spent two hours in the vicinity adjusting her radio compasses.

“Despite that fact that the temperature was down to about 5 degrees above zero, the weather along the coast was almost perfect. The sea was smooth; the crisp, cold air without a hint of fog.

“The Mohawk, built originally for the Clyde Line at a cost of about $2,000,000, was making her first voyage in the service of the Ward Line. Both the Ward and Clyde Lines are subsidiaries of the Atlantic, Gulf & West Indies Steamship Lines, and the Mohawk was chartered to the Ward Line to replace the steamship Havana, which ran aground Jan. 6 last on a Bahaman coral reef sixty miles due east of Fort Pierce, Fla. Four months before the wreck of the Havana, another Ward Line ship, the Morro Castle, was destroyed by fire off Asbury Park, N.J., with a loss of 124 lives….

“…Two minutes after the two ships came together their wireless sets were flashing calls for help. They had not long to wait. The Limon, which had passed out of Sandy Hook twenty minutes after the Talisman, was only a short distance away. She flashed work immediately that she was responding to their call; so did the liner Algonquin, bound in from Jacksonville, and also in sight of the stricken vessels.

“By the time the rescue ships reached the Mohawk, she already was listing badly and filling rapidly with water that poured through a huge rent in her side. Her lifeboats were swinging out on the davits, and several already had been lowered into the water….

“The last message from the Mohawk was received at 10:23 P.M., less than an hour after the crash. It said: ‘No orders from Captain. Think that we are going to abandon ship. Very bad list.’

“Before abandoning ship, the Mohawk’s captain made an attempt to beach her. But the ship’s lights had failed. Her engine room was flooded with water, and the attempt had to be abandoned.

“Soon after the Mohawk turned over and disappeared beneath the moonlit surface of the water, the Algonquin sent word that she had picked up four life boats from the ill-fated liner.

“Coast Guard officials along the Jersey shore were confident that there had been little, if any, loss of life. As soon as the S O S was received shore patrols were ordered out along the entire New Jersey beach front from Sandy Hook to Cape May. Surf boats were made ready, and two large motor life boats were dispatched to the scene of the collision, one from the Shark River Coast Guard Station and the other from the station at Manasquan.

“From Sea Girt, from Bay Head, and from Mantoloking, the lights of the boats were plainly visible, and thousands of residents of these communities thronged the shorefront….

“Despite the heavy snow that lay in deep drifts along the roadways, lines of cars moved steadily toward the beach at Spring Lake and Sea Girt….

“The Coast Guard boats plied back and forth between Bay Head and Spring Lake, working gradually out to sea, sweeping the water with their searchlights and sending up flares at intervals.”
(NYT. “Ward Liner Sinks in Crash with Freighter off Jersey; All Aboard Believed Saved.” 1-25-1935, pp. 1 and 3.)

Jan 26: “With the bodies of thirty-three victims of the sinking of the 5,896-ton Ward liner Mohawk recovered from the icy waters off the New Jersey coast, where she was rammed and sunk on Thursday night [24th], Coast Guard vessels continued to search early today for the bodies of thirteen others believed to have gone down with the ship. Thirty-two bodies were landed at the City Morgue at Bellevue Hospital last night from the Coast Guard Cutter Icarus, serving as a funeral barge. One other body, that of a passenger, reached New York earlier in the day aboard the Clyde Mallory liner Algonquin, which brought ninety-six survivors into port.

“Of the thirty-two bodies aboard the Icarus, nine were identified as passengers from cards and papers in their possession. Nineteen others were believed to have been members of the crew of the Mohawk which plunged bow first to the bottom off Manasquan after a collision with the Norwegian freighter talisman. Of the four others, three were women, who were passengers. The attempt to identify these was suspended until today at 2:30 A.M.

“The bodies were sighted from the air drifting in the water near the scene of the disaster which seems to have been caused by a mechanical failure of the Mohawk’s steering machinery. Airplanes and blimps soaring overhead radioed the position of the bodies to picket boats which picked them up and transferred them to the Icarus.

“Captain Edmund Wang, the grizzled master of the Talisman, which was only slightly damaged and returned to port under her own power, put the blame for the strange accident upon the lost ship… To Captain Wang’s charge that the Ward liner, outbound for Mexico, swung suddenly across the bow of his diesel-engine freighter, which also was outbound, there was no answer from the master of the lost liner, Captain Joseph E. Wood. He apparently went down with his ship together with all but one of his officers.

“Some members of the Mohawk’s crew, however, asserted that the Mohawk’s mechanical steering apparatus went ‘haywire,’ just before the collision, so that the passenger ship was carried suddenly directly in the path of the freighter, which tore into her port side between the forecastle head and the bridge.

“While the faster Mohawk sailed a full hour before the plodding freighter, the Talisman’s skipper said she was first sighted abaft his ship on the starboard side. Then, he said she came up and passed him, about half a mile to starboard. Members of the Mohawk’s crew explained that she had stopped in the lower bay to calibrate her compass before proceeding southward.

“An effort to fix the responsibility for the disaster will be begun this morning by the United States Steamboat Inspection Service in the Custom House. United States Attorney Martin Conboy will have an assistant present to determine whether criminal prosecutions should follow.

“Meanwhile in Washington, President Roosevelt, shocked at recent disasters to ships under the American flag was reported as favoring legislation to insure greater safety at sea. It was said that Congress was prepared to act quickly….” (NYT, “Captain Sinks With Ship,” Jan 26, 1935, p. 1.)

Jan 27: “The Federal Government started two investigations here yesterday of the collision of the Ward liner Mohawk and the Norwegian freighter Talisman, in which forty-five were lost Thursday night [Jan 24] off the New Jersey coast.

“As witnesses were summoned to describe the accident, the search for bodies was continued by a fleet of Coast Guard vessels and army, navy and Coast Guard aircraft and resulted in the finding of the body of a woman passenger. The bodies of a woman passenger and nine of the crew have not yet been found.

“The summary of the persons saved and lost in the disaster follows:

Passengers Crew Total
“Rescued… 30 79 118
“Known dead (bodies recovered and identified)… 14 21 35
“Missing… 1 9 10
“Total 54 109 163

“Thirteen of the officers and crews of the two ships testified at the Custom House, where the United States Steamboat Inspection Service started its investigation during the morning. At the offices of United States Attorney Martin Conboy several members of the Mohawk’s crew were questioned. Mr. Conboy refused last night to say whether evidence would be presented to the grand jury…..

“The story of Captain Edmund Wang, master of the Talisman, that his ship was proceeding out to sea at about twelve and one-half knots when the Mohawk came abreast and suddenly veered from her course and into his path, was supported by his log book and by the story of a seaman on the Mohawk. From the testimony it appeared that the steering gear of the Mohawk had failed suddenly.

“Captain Wang showed some uncertainty when questioned about the failure of his ship to lower lifeboats. He testified first that the Mohawk had radioed that she did not need lifeboats, but when the record of the communications that passed between the ships was read by Captain Neilsen there was no mention of such a message. Mr. Weaver pressed this point and brought from Captain Wang an admission that he had not even taken the covers off the four boats which his ship was carrying.

“… [p. 3.] They [Mohawk crew] insisted that the situation was handled well and the transfer of passengers effected with efficiency. John Reilly, a deck watchman of the Mohawk, describing the work of the men, said” ‘It was as fine an example of seamanship as you have ever seen.’ Reilly told of having led three women along the deck toward a lifeboat. The night was cold, he said, and one member of the party suddenly declared that she would not go into a boat in such weath4r. The trio thereupon turned around and went back to a public room. A later search for them, on the order of an officer, was unsuccessful, he said. With this exception there was no evidence of insubordination.

“Captain Karl C. Nielsen and James Smith, local inspectors, who are in charge of the inquiry, pressed witnesses for evidence as to the condition of the Mohawk’s steering equipment. Claude M. Martin, chief engineer, said it had been warmed up and tested two hours before the ship sailed, and again when the ship stopped off Sandy Hook to compensate her compass. In each instance it responded perfectly, he said.

“Joseph B. Weaver, director of the Steamboat Inspection Service, who came from Washington to help with the inquiry, questioned most of the witnesses. He admitted no explanation of the accident had been given, but he was bitter in his condemnation of the Senate’s failure to have ratified the International Convention for the Safety of life at Sea, which has been held up more than five years.

“Mr. Weaver’s questions were directed mainly to the angle at which the ships had collided, the number of collisions and the way in which the Mohawk sank. He later explained that the international treaty provides for bulkheads of a stronger type than the Mohawk had. ‘If this ship were built properly according to treaty standards,’ he said, ‘she would have done nothing more than ship water. She never would have gone down and this terrible loss of life never would have happened. The actual reason for the Mohawk’s sudden veering from her course may be explained by a minor defect which became aggravated. But Senate laxity alone can exp0lain the terrible consequences.’….

“Captain Wang (Talisman)….said the Mohawk was about a mile away when he first saw her and she looked like a large house. The ships were about abreast, he said, when he remarked to the second mat, ‘It’s funny, but I can see her red light.’ Then came the Mohawk’s warning blast, he said, and he rushed to the telegraph to signal the engine room to reverse the ship’s engines, while the second officer seized the wheel and swung it hard aport. It was too late, he said, and the ships crashed at right angles….

“Had the Mohawk held her position when she crashed, Captain Wang said, the ships might have remained locked and together have effected a transfer of those on the Mohawk. Testimony developed, however, that the Mohawk’s engines had also been reversed before the collision and the result was a quick withdrawal, the water pouring into the Mohawk’s port side. The ship first listed to port, then righted and listed to starboard when water continued to pour in, and the ship finally went down on her starboard side….

“The Mohawk swung around after the collision and headed for shore, Captain Want said. He followed with the Talisman and remained on the scene, only two ships’ lengths away when she went down, he said. Captain Want and his second officer, Olaf Nannested, agreed that the Mohawk showed no irregularity of movement as she steamed along after the crash which added to the mystery of her behavior….

“Pederson, who until yesterday was believed to have been the only officer of the Mohawk rescued, occupied the stand nearly an hour. The discovery that Martin, chief engineer, had also been rescued, became known at the opening of the hearing. Pederson had gone to the chart room to write his reports, he said, when he heard the Mohawk’s warning blasts. His reports up to that time had shown the ship’s equipment in perfect condition, he said.

“Pederson went to the bridge to find Captain Wood, who told him the telegraph to the engine room had failed and that the steering gear was out of order. The captain wanted the ship stopped immediately and got his order through by telephone. Pederson described his hurried trip to the engine room to inspect equipment and efforts to get lifeboats ready….”

[The names of the 45 passenger and crew victims are listed on page 3, “Mohawk Disaster Victims.”] (NYT. “Two Inquiries Opened In Mohawk Disaster; Officers are Witnesses.” 1-27-1935 [Sunday], p. 1.)

Sources

Bureau of Navigation and Steamboat Inspection, U.S. Department of Commerce. Merchant Vessels of the United States 1935. “Vessels Lost.” Washington: GPO, 1935. Accessed 6-10-2021: https://www.google.com/books/edition/Merchant_Vessels_of_the_United_States/BC0pAQAAIAAJ?hl=&gbpv=1

Library of Congress. Safety of Life at Sea (91 pp.). Accessed 6-10-2021 at: https://www.loc.gov/law/help/us-treaties/bevans/m-ust000002-0782.pdf

Nash, Jay Robert. Darkest Hours – A Narrative Encyclopedia of Worldwide Disasters from Ancient Times to the Present. New York: Pocket Books, Wallaby, 1977, 792 pages.

New York Times. “33 Dead, 13 Lost, 118 Saved in Wreck of the Mohawk; Steering Gear is Blamed.” 1-26-1935, p. 1, col. 3. Accessed 6-9-2021 at: https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1935/01/26/issue.html

New York Times. “Captain Sinks With Ship. Only One Officer of Ward Lined Saved in Crash Off Jersey Coast.” 1-26-1935, p. 1. Accessed 6-9-2021 at: https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1935/01/26/issue.html

New York Times. “Mohawk Disaster Victims, 1.27-1935, p. 3. Accessed 6-10-2021 at: https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1935/01/27/issue.html

New York Times. “Two Inquiries Opened In Mohawk Disaster; Officers are Witnesses.” 1-27-1935, p.1. Accessed 6-10-2021 at: https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1935/01/27/issue.html

New York Times. “Ward Liner Sinks in Crash with Freighter off Jersey; All Aboard Believed Saved; Rammed 4 ½ Miles Out.” 1-25-1935, p. 1. Accessed 6-9-2021 at: https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1935/01/25/issue.html

Scuba Diving – New Jersey & Long Island New York. “S.S. Mohawk.” Accessed 8-30-2009 at: http://njscuba.net/sites/site_mohawk.html

United States House of Representatives Safety of Life and Property at Sea. Hearings before the Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries, Seventy-Fourth Congress First Session, Part 1, Revision of Inspection Laws March 6, 7, 8, 13, 15, 1935, Washington: Government Printing Office, 1935. Accessed 6-10-2021 at: https://www.google.com/books/edition/Safety_of_Life_and_Property_at_Sea/l9xH_9sUuVAC?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq