USS Conestoga discovered
95-years ago, the USS Conestoga, a fairly large sea-going tugboat sank off the coast of California with all 56 hands aboard. Wednesday, at the Navy Memorial in Washington, DC, the Navy and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced that the boat had finally been discovered. The tug was bound for Pearl Harbor, Hawai’i, towing a barge of coal in route to it’s new assignment to Tutuila, American Samoa, when it sank. From the Washington Post;
It cleared the Golden Gate at 3:25 p.m. [on Good Friday, March 25, 1921] and steamed into the Gulf of the Farallones in heavy seas. The Conestoga was a rugged oceangoing tug that had once hauled coal barges for a Pennsylvania railroad.
But 17 years after its launch in Baltimore, it had undergone hard use and had a reputation as a “wet boat,” one that took on water easily.
At 4 p.m. that day, as the San Francisco light ship recorded big waves and gale-force winds, the Conestoga passed Point Bonita and was not heard from again.
A few months later, the Navy conducted a search, but they were looking for the boat 2000 miles away in Hawai’i, so it wasn’t detected until 2009. The whole narrative of NOAA’s discovery is at the link to the Post. The ceremony at the Navy Memorial was attended by relatives of the lost sailors.
“It is so overwhelming for all of us,” Diane Gollnitz, 73, of Lutherville, Md. — the granddaughter of the Conestoga’s skipper, Lt. Ernest Larkin Jones — said Wednesday.
“It connects the past of 95 years ago, and all the stories we were told, with the future,” she said. “My grandchildren are here.”
Thanks to Chief Tango for the link.
Category: We Remember
May that crew now rest in peace and closure for their families.
Old fashioned thought’s and words sometimes the most appropriate –
“Eternal Father, strong to save,
Whose arm does bind the restless wave,
Who bids the mighty ocean deep
Its own appointed limits keep;
O hear us when we cry to Thee
For those in peril on the sea”
Amen…
Can’t add any better than you did brother. Amen.
Nothing to add.
That was perfect.
A sad story.
Although San Francisco Bay is one of the world’s great harbors, it can collect a price for it. There are days when the bay side of things can be like a placid lake, while wind and wave on the ocean side are grim. Coupled with this is the fact that the Golden Gate is only about one mile wide which means tidal flow can pick up a weird venturi effect such that where the land mass narrows, the water accelerates.
What might have happened to the Conestoga is that it sailed from Mare Island on an outgoing tide, and once offshore with conditions going sideways had no way to return to the Bay. The boat simply couldn’t pull enough knots to overcome the tidal flow. Heading for the Farallons was a solution, but because the islands had no docks or anchorage, it amounted to little more than no solution at all.
If you look at the NOAA pics, look at those Cracker Jacks and the Chiefs in Bow Ties.
Awesome.
May Lord Neptune watch over you.
Rest in peace, men.
But 17 years after its launch in Baltimore, it had undergone hard use and had a reputation as a “wet boat,” one that took on water easily.
I will admit my experience with ocean going vessels as a sailor are limited to boats of 30-40ft in length and either of a sailboat or trawler style nature. However in that limited size environment one thing has always been clear, it’s not really very wise to attempt a blue water crossing in a boat that leaks enough to be considered “wet” all the time. It it’s not indicative of a major structural issue it’s certainly indicative of some really bad issues surrounding seals and waterproofing.
Maybe taking on water isn’t a big deal for a boat of this nature…but I sure as fuck wouldn’t want to be compelled to attempt a journey of thousands of miles on something leaking like a sieve.
I like my boats nice and dry inside if you please.
Rest in peace indeed, you’ve certainly earned it on this vessel.