1943 — Nov 24, freighter Melville E. Stone sunk by U-boat ~100M NW of Cristobal, Panama-15-16

–16 American Merchant Marine at War. Chronological List of U.S. Ships Sunk or Damaged…
–12 crew
— 3 armed guard
— 1 passenger
–16 Moore. A Careless Word, A Needless Sinking. 1983. Table extracted by armed-guard.com.
–12 crew
— 3 armed guard
— 1 passenger
–15 Clancey. HyperWar: The Official Chronology of the US Navy in [WW] II, Chapter V 1943.
–12 crew
— 2 armed guard
— 1 passenger
–15 Helgason. Ships hit by U-boats. “Melville E. Stone – American Steam merchant.” Uboat.net.
–5 officers
–7 crewmen
–2 armed guards
–1 passenger

Narrative Information

American Merchant Marine at War. Chronological List of U.S. Ships Sunk or Damaged…
“Date Ship Type Cause Result Location Deaths
“11/24/43…Melville E. Stone…Liberty…Torpedo…Sunk…Caribbean…Crew 12; AG 3; Passenger 1.”

Clancey. HyperWar: The Official Chronology of the US Navy in [WW] II, Chapter V 1943:
“24 November, Wed. ….
“Caribbean
“U.S. freighter Melville E. Stone is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-516 about 100 miles northwest of Cristobal, Canal Zone, 10°29’N, 80°20’W; 12 of the 42-man merchant complement lose their lives, as do two of the 23-man Armed Guard and one of the 23 embarked passengers. Submarine chasers SC-662 and SC-1023 rescue survivors.”

Helgason. Ships hit by U-boats. “Melville E. Stone – American Steam merchant.” Uboat.net.
““Name Melville E. Stone
“Type Steam merchant (Liberty)
“Tonnage 7,176 tons
“Completed 1943 – Permanente Metals Corp., Richmond CA
“Owner Norton Lilly & Co., New York
“Homeport San Francisco
“Date of attack 24 Nov 1943
“Nationality American
“Fate Sunk by U-516 (Hans-Rutger Tillessen)
“Position 10° 36’N, 80° 19’W – Grid EB 8899
“Complement 88 (15 dead and 73 survivors).
“Route Antofagasta, Chile – Cristobal (23 Nov) – New York
“Cargo 10,538 tons of copper, coffee, balsa, antimony, vanadium and 294 bags mail
“History ….
“Notes on event At 06.14 hours on 24 Nov 1943 the unescorted Melville E. Stone (Master Lawrence J. Gallagher) was hit by two torpedoes from U-516 about 100 miles northwest of Cristobal. The ship was less than seven hours in sea when the torpedoes were spotted by a lookout. The first torpedo struck on the port side in the settling tank and the second hit ten seconds later near #4 hold. The explosions opened large holes in the side and extensively damaged the main and auxiliary engines. As the ship settled rapidly on an even keel, the ten officers, 32 crewmen, 23 armed guards (the ship was armed with one 4in, one 3in and eight 20mm guns) and 23 passengers (military personnel) abandoned ship immediately in rough seas. Two of the lifeboats capsized from the suction created by the ship, which sank within eight minutes and several men drowned, including the master. Three boats got away and later picked up men from rafts and debris. The survivors were later spotted by an aircraft, which dropped flares so that the American submarine chasers USS SC-1023 and USS SC-662 could pick them up. Five officers, seven crewmen, two armed guards and one passenger were lost.”

Note: uboat.net has information of seventeen of those onboard accessible at:
https://uboat.net/allies/merchants/crews/ship3137.html

Moore. A Careless Word, A Needless Sinking. 1983. Table extracted by armed-guard.com:
“S.S. Melville E. Stone…Torpedoed 11-24-/43…Liberty Ship…Crew 12, Passenger 1, AG 3.”

Sources

American Merchant Marine at War. Chronological List of Ships Sunk or Damaged during 1943. Accessed 5-26-2021 at: http://www.usmm.org/sunk43.html#anchor406099

Clancey, Patrick (transcriber and formatter for HTML). HyperWar: The Official Chronology of the US Navy in World War II, Chapter V: 1943. Accessed 5-28-2021 at: https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/USN-Chron/USN-Chron-1943.html

Helgason, Gudmundur. Ships hit by U-boats. “Melville E. Stone – American Steam merchant.” uboat.net. Accessed 5-28-2021 at: https://uboat.net/allies/merchants/ship/3137.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 5-28-2021 at: https://www.armed-guard.com/sunk.html