Gotta do whatever it takes boys
Gotta do whatever it takes boys
"At 5 a.m. on Feb. 18, 1952, the Pendleton was headed south in blinding snow and violent seas 10 miles off the coast of Chatham, Mass. Suddenly the crewmen heard explosive cracking noises. The vessel lurched heavily and then broke in two.
The Pendleton’s bow section lost power and drifted south with the captain and seven crewmen aboard. The power remained on the stern section, and the chief engineer took charge and assigned duties to the 32 crewmen, including
They didn't manage to issue an SOS.
At midmorning the Chatham Lifeboat Station got word that another tanker, the Fort Mercer, had also snapped in half. Cutters, an airplane and a lifesaving motorboat raced to rescue the vessel 20 miles off the coast.
Hours later, radar at the Coast Guard station showed the two broken pieces of the Pendleton.
Coxswain Bernard Webber was told to pick his crew and rescue the shipwrecked sailors. Three men volunteered for the suicidal mission: Coast Guardsmen Ervin Maske, Andrew Fitzgerald and Richard P. Livesey.
They launched the 36-foot boat named the CG-36500 into mountainous waves, blinding snow and zero visibility. To ward off fear, they sang Rock of Ages and Harbor Lights as they approached Chatham’s treacherous sand bar.
The Pendleton wreck lay just on the other side of the bar.
As they crossed the bar, a wave smashed into the CG-36500 and threw it high into the air. The boat landed on its side and righted quickly before another wave struck it. The breaker shattered the windshield, flattened Coxswain Webber and sent shards of glass into his face. It also destroyed the compass, their only navigational aid.
Capt. W. Russell Webster described what happened next in the Naval Institute Proceedings.
Creeping the boat forward, the searchlight soon revealed a pitch black mass of twisted metal, which heaved high in the air upon the massive waves and then settled back down in a “frothing mass of foam.” Each movement of the giant hulk produced a cacophony of eerie groans as the broken ship twisted and strained in the 60-foot seas. No lights were apparent as coxswain Webber maneuvered the small boat aft along the port side of the Pendleton’s stern section.
Rounding the stern, CG-36500’s searchlight illuminated the word PENDLETON and moments later, the larger vessel’s own deck lights became apparent. And, then a small figure above began frantically waving his arms! He soon disappeared. Coxswain Webber then saw a mass of people begin to line Pendleton’s starboard stern area, many shouting muffled instruction, which were unintelligible over the wind and crashing seas…. Without notice, a Jacob’s ladder was tossed over the side.
The Pendleton had 32 surviving crewmen. The CG-36500 was designed to carry 12.
The Pendleton crewmen began climbing down the ladder. One by one they either crashed on the bow of the CG-36500 or fell in to the sea, where the crew fished them out. The wind tossed the ladder to and fro, flinging the Pendleton crewmen away from the ship and then slamming them into it.
After 20 survivors made it into the CG-36500, the little motorboat began to handle sluggishly. Webber believed they couldn't possibly make a return trip. But he decided they would all live together or die together.
The Coast Guardsmen stuffed 31 men into the boat just as the Pendleton began to sink. Tragically, the last Pendleton crewman drowned. George 'Tiny' Myers had unselfishly helped the other men onto the ladder, waiting to be rescued last. But he jumped too soon. A giant wave hurled the CG-36500 against the Pendleton's hull, crushing Myers. His death troubled the rescuers for years.
Coxswain Webber maneuvered the overloaded and damaged CG-36500 through the still-raging seas onto the fish pier. With no compass, he navigated by instinct. A crowd of Chatham men, women and children helped the shocked and sobbing survivors ashore.
Crews aboard Coast Guard cutters rescued the crew of the Fort Mercer. The captain and seven crewmen on the other half of the Pendleton perished.
Rear Admiral H. G. Bradbury congratulated the four CG-36500 crewmembers for “outstanding seamanship and utter disregard of your own safety in crossing the hazardous waters of Chatham bar in mountainous seas extreme darkness and falling snow during a violent winter gale to rescue from imminent death thirty two crewmembers… minutes before the tanker capsized.”
Later, an investigation found the tankers were made of steel used in wartime construction that had too high a sulfur content. The sulfur content turned the steel brittle at lower temperatures."
Source: http://www.newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/heroic-rescue-pendleton-crew-1952/
"At 5 a.m. on Feb. 18, 1952, the Pendleton was headed south in blinding snow and violent seas 10 miles off the coast of Chatham, Mass. Suddenly the crewmen heard explosive cracking noises. The vessel lurched heavily and then broke in two.
The Pendleton’s bow section lost power and drifted south with the captain and seven crewmen aboard. The power remained on the stern section, and the chief engineer took charge and assigned duties to the 32 crewmen, including
They didn't manage to issue an SOS.
At midmorning the Chatham Lifeboat Station got word that another tanker, the Fort Mercer, had also snapped in half. Cutters, an airplane and a lifesaving motorboat raced to rescue the vessel 20 miles off the coast.
Hours later, radar at the Coast Guard station showed the two broken pieces of the Pendleton.
Coxswain Bernard Webber was told to pick his crew and rescue the shipwrecked sailors. Three men volunteered for the suicidal mission: Coast Guardsmen Ervin Maske, Andrew Fitzgerald and Richard P. Livesey.
They launched the 36-foot boat named the CG-36500 into mountainous waves, blinding snow and zero visibility. To ward off fear, they sang Rock of Ages and Harbor Lights as they approached Chatham’s treacherous sand bar.
The Pendleton wreck lay just on the other side of the bar.
As they crossed the bar, a wave smashed into the CG-36500 and threw it high into the air. The boat landed on its side and righted quickly before another wave struck it. The breaker shattered the windshield, flattened Coxswain Webber and sent shards of glass into his face. It also destroyed the compass, their only navigational aid.
Capt. W. Russell Webster described what happened next in the Naval Institute Proceedings.
Creeping the boat forward, the searchlight soon revealed a pitch black mass of twisted metal, which heaved high in the air upon the massive waves and then settled back down in a “frothing mass of foam.” Each movement of the giant hulk produced a cacophony of eerie groans as the broken ship twisted and strained in the 60-foot seas. No lights were apparent as coxswain Webber maneuvered the small boat aft along the port side of the Pendleton’s stern section.
Rounding the stern, CG-36500’s searchlight illuminated the word PENDLETON and moments later, the larger vessel’s own deck lights became apparent. And, then a small figure above began frantically waving his arms! He soon disappeared. Coxswain Webber then saw a mass of people begin to line Pendleton’s starboard stern area, many shouting muffled instruction, which were unintelligible over the wind and crashing seas…. Without notice, a Jacob’s ladder was tossed over the side.
The Pendleton had 32 surviving crewmen. The CG-36500 was designed to carry 12.
The Pendleton crewmen began climbing down the ladder. One by one they either crashed on the bow of the CG-36500 or fell in to the sea, where the crew fished them out. The wind tossed the ladder to and fro, flinging the Pendleton crewmen away from the ship and then slamming them into it.
After 20 survivors made it into the CG-36500, the little motorboat began to handle sluggishly. Webber believed they couldn't possibly make a return trip. But he decided they would all live together or die together.
The Coast Guardsmen stuffed 31 men into the boat just as the Pendleton began to sink. Tragically, the last Pendleton crewman drowned. George 'Tiny' Myers had unselfishly helped the other men onto the ladder, waiting to be rescued last. But he jumped too soon. A giant wave hurled the CG-36500 against the Pendleton's hull, crushing Myers. His death troubled the rescuers for years.
Coxswain Webber maneuvered the overloaded and damaged CG-36500 through the still-raging seas onto the fish pier. With no compass, he navigated by instinct. A crowd of Chatham men, women and children helped the shocked and sobbing survivors ashore.
Crews aboard Coast Guard cutters rescued the crew of the Fort Mercer. The captain and seven crewmen on the other half of the Pendleton perished.
Rear Admiral H. G. Bradbury congratulated the four CG-36500 crewmembers for “outstanding seamanship and utter disregard of your own safety in crossing the hazardous waters of Chatham bar in mountainous seas extreme darkness and falling snow during a violent winter gale to rescue from imminent death thirty two crewmembers… minutes before the tanker capsized.”
Later, an investigation found the tankers were made of steel used in wartime construction that had too high a sulfur content. The sulfur content turned the steel brittle at lower temperatures."
Source: http://www.newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/heroic-rescue-pendleton-crew-1952/
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