Bethel Shoals Wreck

I have always been interested in WW II U-boat activity off Florida and stumbled on to a 1942 log of the S.S. Fairfax. From the entry for Monday, Feb. 23, 1942:

"About 6 AM received a radio signal that a vessel was being chased by a submarine about 50 miles southwest of us. Heard nothing further from her. More radio messages of another ship being followed by a U-boat off Jupiter Inlet, and a sinking off Bethel Shoals, with a warning to keep clear of the Florida coast. Wreck of ship reported drifting on her side off Jupiter Inlet."

Above quote was found here: http://www.edwardellsberg.com/diary_africa.htm

Does anyone know what ship was sunk off Bethel Shoals or if it even really happened?

Stan

The Republic, a 392' tanker was torpedoed by the U-504 on Feb 22, 1942 at 11:00pm. The Republic was hit by 2 torpedoes that killed 5 men. The rest of the crew including the Captain were rescued.

Thanks, I have heard of that wreck, but thought it was a ways north of there. Is the wreck totally flattened now or is there any relief left to identify it as a ship? Being relatively shallow I was thinking it might be visible on sat images.

Stan

The only thing left sticking up is the bow.

I have always been interested in WW II U-boat activity off Florida and stumbled on to a 1942 log of the S.S. Fairfax. From the entry for Monday, Feb. 23, 1942:

"About 6 AM received a radio signal that a vessel was being chased by a submarine about 50 miles southwest of us. Heard nothing further from her. More radio messages of another ship being followed by a U-boat off Jupiter Inlet, and a sinking off Bethel Shoals, with a warning to keep clear of the Florida coast. Wreck of ship reported drifting on her side off Jupiter Inlet."

Above quote was found here: http://www.edwardellsberg.com/diary_africa.htm

Does anyone know what ship was sunk off Bethel Shoals or if it even really happened?

Stan

AUE mike barnette (barney? on forum) would know for sure, but if I remember right it was the pan massachusetts that was torpedoed just south of bethel shoals on feb 19th a few days earlier, and drifted ablaze until its final resting place off canaveral.  Most of these large tankers were torpedoed in Feb of 1942, and drifted for some distance with the gulf stream before actually foundering.

That U-boat moved up to the Cape after those sinkings and sunk everything that came through, civilian, commercial, or military. There were 2 U-boats working that area.

Gee, that was awful close the the US don't you think ?

itmaiden

I have always been interested in WW II U-boat activity off Florida and stumbled on to a 1942 log of the S.S. Fairfax. From the entry for Monday, Feb. 23, 1942:

"About 6 AM received a radio signal that a vessel was being chased by a submarine about 50 miles southwest of us. Heard nothing further from her. More radio messages of another ship being followed by a U-boat off Jupiter Inlet, and a sinking off Bethel Shoals, with a warning to keep clear of the Florida coast. Wreck of ship reported drifting on her side off Jupiter Inlet."

Above quote was found here: http://www.edwardellsberg.com/diary_africa.htm

Does anyone know what ship was sunk off Bethel Shoals or if it even really happened?

Stan

They landed at Jacksonville.  Used to be submarine watchtowers all along the coast, especially in dark, remote areas.

May be the vessel Cities Service Empire which was torpedoed Feb. 22 by U 128 and sank 25 miles north of Bethel Shores. Lots of ships sunk off Florida by U boats in the early part of the war. The U 123 sank 10 ships off the US coast as she headed south and sank her last one (the Korsholm) south of Cape Canaveral by deck gun as she had already used up all her torpedoes. Two days before, she sank the Gulf America off Jacksonville Beach in full view of the residents of Jax. After torpedoeing her, she finished her off with her deck gun after surfacing between the burning tanker and the beach and the people on the beach couldn't believe what they were seeing. Unfortunately, the Navy didn't heed warnings from the Brits about the U-Boat threat, and there was a definite shakeup in the top command after we starting losing so many ships here. My dad's first duty in the early part of the war was on a converted sailing yacht on the east coast looking for U-boats before being shipped to the Pacific.

Source: Shipwrecks of Florida, By S. Singer

For all things U-boat, go to http://www.uboat.net/