lost-at-sea-memorials.com

I saw this memorial to the U.S. Navy’s Submarine Service during a recent visit to the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. I was struck by the faces in the bow wave of the submarine – perhaps lost at sea sailors watching over living shipmates on active patrols around the world.

During World War II, thousands of United States Naval officers and men never returned to their home ports. Locations of some of the sunken submarines have been identified. The locations of others have never been established – and quite probably never will. The lost men are listed on various Tablets of the Missing at U.S. military cemeteries within the theater of operations where the submarines were last known to be operating. Perhaps, the spirits of all these lost men are riding the bow waves of the present submarine force – and will continue to watch their shipmates for future generations…

For a variety of reasons I have been unable to update this blog for several months. To get started again I thought I’d insert a post featuring the sand sculpture art of Peter Vogelaar and David Ducharme. I came across this fascinating lost at sea sculpture while researching the rescue of three New Zealand teenagers who were lost for 50 days in the Pacific in 2010 – and who amazingly survived. You can find their story at http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/26/world/asia/26lost.html

You should also visit a YouTube video featuring the work of artist Peter Vogelaar. It can be found by clicking the following link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhMCwU058EQ

My wife and I recently returned from a trip to Newfoundland. There is probably no place on earth where the lives and fortunes of the residents have been more closely associated with the oceans – from cod fishing on the Grand Banks, to naval service in war, to oil exploration southeast of the island. The music and literature of the province are rich in the lore and history of their love and respect of the sea – from the original discoveries of the Vikings and Captain Cook, to the history and mismanagement of the cod fishing grounds, to the economic promise and environmental dangers of the offshore oil discoveries.

Every bookstore is filled with the histories of ships and their crews, with volumes devoted to ships lost at sea, to additional volumes about remarkable rescues and stories of survival. The people of Newfoundland fully embrace this history of hardship and challenge. It defines them in the same way the Amazon defines Brazil.

This post is mainly a compilation of random photographs from around the province – from monuments to discovery, to shipwreck sites (S.S. Ethie), to a beautiful memorial outside Gander constructed to the memory of 256 individuals killed in the crash of Arrow Air Flight 1285 just outside Gander on December 12, 1985. Almost every fatality, with the exception of the aircraft crew, was a member of the 101st Airborne returning from peacekeeping duty in the Middle East. The memorial was constructed by private citizens in Gander, on the exact location of the crash. The decision of the citizens to focus of the peacekeeping efforts of the 101st Airborne results in an uplifting experience for all who take the time to visit the memorial.

Few memorials exist to the sacrifices made by the U.S. Asiatic Fleet and their allies in the early months of 1942. Merged with British, Dutch, and Australian forces following Pearl Harbor; the ABDA fleet was outnumbered, outgunned, and outmanned. Totally unable to stop the Japanese push south in the Pacific, the fleet could only attempt to slow down the Japanese rush toward Australia. In that effort they were partially successful, but at a brutal cost. Almost 2,000 American lives were lost, thousands more wounded, and hundreds taken prisoner. Few of the prisoners would survive the war. British, Dutch and Australian losses were every bit as significant and tragic.

In a period of just five weeks, the combined fleet engaged the Japanese in five major battles. The first U.S. surface action of WWII was the Battle of Balikpapan on January 24, 1942. Four U.S. “four stacker” destroyers attacked a Japanese invasion fleet of over twenty ships. On February 4, 1942 the Battle of the Flores Sea was fought. The U.S.S. Marblehead (light cruiser) and the U.S.S Houston (heavy cruiser) were severely damaged. On February 19 and 20 the Battle of Badung Strait was fought. The Dutch destroyer Piet Hein was lost. On February 27 the Battle of Java Sea took place. The Dutch lost two cruisers and a destroyer and the British lost two destroyers. On February 28 came the Battle of Sunda Straight. The heavy cruiser U.S.S. Houston and the Australian light cruiser H.M.A.S. Perth fought bravely, but were overwhelmed by the superior Japanese numbers and were lost. The British cruiser Exeter was lost a few hours later. A brilliant history of this battle and the fate of the U.S.S. Houston crew can be found in James D. Hornfischer’s book Ship of Ghosts.

By the end of February 1942 all remaining allied ships were ordered to flee to Australia – the U.S. Navy Asiatic Fleet was no more.

Two other books offer brilliant accounts of the Asiatic Fleet. The best pure history is The Fleet the Gods Forgot by W.G. Winslow. The novel South to Java by Admiral William P. Mack is one of the best novels of the U.S. Navy ever written. Admiral Mack served with the Asiatic Fleet and reading his novel is almost like being there. The book has recently been re-released by The Naval Institute Press. I encourage everyone to read it.

I recently received an email from Paul Parsons of Darnestown, Maryland suggesting two topics for this blog. Paul’s first suggestion was the bravery and sacrifice of the Asiatic Fleet in the early months of 1942. I briefly covered a small part of that history in a May 2011 post on the HMAS Sydney II and the U.S.S Houston. The Asiatic Fleet deserves much more, however. My next post will begin to rectify that oversight.

Paul’s other suggestion was a post about the Navy – Merchant Marine Memorial in Washington, D.C. Paul noted in his email that the memorial “..is beautiful, but in these times so comprehensive; the specifics of sacrifice are lost to most viewers. It’s location also diminishes its meaning or effect.” I agree with Paul’s observations, but with Memorial Day approaching it seems an appropriate time to focus on the memorial and some of the human sacrifice it represents. All photographs in this post are courtesy of Paul Parsons.

The Navy – Merchant Marine Memorial is located in Lady Bird Johnson Park on Columbia Island. It was designed in 1922 by Harvey Wiley Corbett and sculpted by Ernesto Begni del Piatta. It was dedicated on October 18, 1934 as a monument honoring the sailors and merchant seamen of the United States Navy and United States Merchant Marine who died at sea during WWI. Accurate statistics of American WWI deaths at sea are impossible to quantify, mainly due to the fact that the Merchant Marine had no historical office to compile their records. Best estimates are that somewhere between 2,000 and 7,200 American sailors and merchant seamen lost their lives in WWI. One observation can be made, however – none of the hundreds of people who guided and donated the funds required to construct this memorial in the 1930s envisioned the world a decade later. The number of lost souls this monument would honor would grow by a factor of ten by the end of 1945. The seven gulls riding the cresting waves witnessed sacrifice on the seven seas unknown to any previous generation.

The bloodbath of WWII would claim over 47,000 American lives in the war at sea. Thousands more would be wounded or captured. Over 250,000 Americans served in the Merchant Marine during WWII. About 1 in 25 who served were killed. It is estimated that perhaps as many as 1,700 American merchant ships were sunk during the war – victims of torpedoes, bombs, mines, kamikaze attacks, accidents, collisions, and weather at sea. The danger was constant, the sacrifices extraordinary. A statistic with particular meaning to me is that after the formal surrender of Japan in 1945 at least 87 merchant ships were severely damaged (42 sunk) in the ensuing five years, generally by striking mines. The war did not end for the merchant seaman in 1945 – danger and death most certainly continued. Please expand the photograph and read the inscription found on the memorial. I find these words to be most eloquent. On this Memorial Day I hope we all remember the past and present sacrifices of the Navy sailors, the Coast Guard sailors, and the merchant seamen who “have given life or still offer it in the performance of heroic deeds”. 

One of the most satisfying aspects of writing this blog is to hear from people around the world about existing memorials that are new to me and to learn about entirely new memorials nearing completion and dedication. Mike Glaser of the Seward Mariners’ Memorial Committee has been very kind in keeping me advised of the progress of a new memorial in Seward, Alaska that will be dedicated on May 20, 2012. This memorial has taken almost a decade of hard work to bring from concept to dedication – and another 18 months of effort will be required to complete all the aspects of the project design.

It would be difficult to imagine a more beautiful setting for a mariners’ memorial than on this site at the breakwater overlooking Resurrection Bay. The maritime history of Seward began in 1792 and continues through today – whaling, commercial fishing, recreation, and military activities are all woven into the rich fabric of the area. Through the centuries many of those mariners have been lost at sea. The Mariner’s Memorial will become a place where these souls can be remembered and honored. There are also plans to incorporate a section of the memorial in honor of the victims of the 1964 earthquake.

The best way to learn about the memorial is the visit their fine web site at http://www.sewardmarinersmemorial.org/home. Take some time to read about the design and plans for the site, view the construction project photos and videos, and learn more about several of their dedicated volunteers who made this all happen. If you know of someone who should be honored, then please consider ordering a memorial plaque for permanent display. If not, then please make a donation to this fine cause. As I’ve mentioned in this blog before, it’s not always the design and construction funding that is the most difficult to obtain. Ongoing maintenance and care can often be the larger challenge. Please consider donating to this effort.

My home in California is located a few miles from a state park that contains the home and gravesite of the writer Jack London. A museum within the park displays many of London’s original photographs and writings of his time in Alaska. I am quite certain that he once looked out upon the vistas of Resurrection Bay. In addition to writing about Alaska, London wrote one of the enduring classics of maritime life – The Sea Wolf. One of the early lines of this remarkable story concerns burial at sea and its brutal finality…

“I only remember one part of the service,” he said, “and that is ‘And the body shall be cast into the sea’. So cast it in.”

The new Mariners’ Memorial in Seward will certainly be an appropriate place to contemplate the souls lost off her wild and most beautiful shores…

Todays post is inspired by one of my favorite songs, “Isaac Lewis”, by the brilliant singer/songwriter Tom Russell.

The Royal Charter was a steam clipper built and launched in 1855. Steam clippers were a new type of ship in the mid 1800s – iron hulls, with the lines and sails of a traditional wooden clipper, but also equipped with an auxiliary steam engine which could be used when suitable wind was not available. The Royal Charter was mainly used as a passenger ship between Liverpool and Australia, a trip she could make in under 60 days. She was capable of carrying 600 passengers, with a crew exceeding 100.

In October 1859, the Royal Charter was returning to Liverpool from Melbourne. Aboard were over 370 passengers and a crew of 112. Among the passengers were many gold miners, who were carrying large amounts of gold on their persons, as well as a large consignment of gold carried as cargo. On the night of October 26 the ship was caught in a storm later to be known as the “Royal Charter Gale”. Over 200 ships were lost to this storm. The Royal Charter attempted to anchor offshore of Porth Alerth to ride out the gale, but hurricane force winds caused the anchor chains to snap. Despite cutting the masts and use of the auxiliary engine, the ship was pushed into a sandbar near shore in the early morning hours. Several hours later the rising tide and gale force winds drove her on to the rocks at a point just north of Moelfre on the north coast of Angelsey. The Royal Charter was rapidly battered to pieces by the rocks. One crew member, Maltese born Guzi Ruggier also known as Joseph Rogers, was able to swim to shore with a line. 39 passengers and crew (all men) were able to be rescued. Over 450 others died, many lost at sea.

Monuments to the lives lost on the Royal Charter can be found on the cliffs above her final resting place and in a local cemetery, where the bodies that washed ashore over the next several weeks were buried. It is said that large quantities of gold were thrown up on the beach at Porth Alerth, with many local families becoming wealthy overnight as a result of the tragedy. Many pieces of wreckage of the ship can still be found at the base of the rocks at Moelfre, visible at low tide and to scuba divers.

Stories from shipwrecks often defy imagination. Perhaps few stories are as poignant as the story of Isaac Lewis. Lewis was a young man from northern Wales who sailed to Australia and back, only to die in the Royal Charter wreck. In the last moments of his life he was able to see his father on the headland, and legend says to shout “Oh father, I have come home to die”. Three days after the storm cleared the body of Isaac Lewis washed ashore in Wales, landing less than 100 yards from his father’s front door…

You can view Tom Russell performing his haunting tribute to Lewis by visiting the following link. After that I encourage you to explore more of the work of this truly gifted musician and poet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ALfs81CFdE

Lost at Sea memorials are found along the coasts of every nation on earth where the oceans batter their shores. One of the joys of writing this blog is the discovery of a memorial in a place new to me. Such was the experience with this post.

Porkeri is a village in the Faroe Islands, a self-governing territory within the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located where the Norwegian Sea meets the greater North Atlantic, approximately equal distance from Scotland and Greenland.

The village of Porkeri dates back to at least the 14th century. Today it has a population of slightly over 300. The local church dates from 1847  and is greatly constructed from material donated by seamen who survived lethal storms on the sea – a tradition known as almissu, to donate to God if they got home alive. It makes me think of the words of Joseph Conrad from “Youth”:

“I see it always from a small boat – not a light, not a stir, not a sound. We conversed in low whispers, as if afraid to wake up the land…. It is all in that moment when I opened my young eyes on it. I came upon it from a tussle with the sea.”

The Lost at Sea memorial in Porkeri contains the names of 65 local seamen who were lost forever to the cold waters of the North Atlantic. The first name dates from 1808. Names have been added in the ensuing two centuries. No doubt more names will be added in the decades and centuries to come – and one has to wonder about the countless unknown souls lost in the centuries before the first record was retained permanently from 1808…

Land’s End is part of the Golden Gate National Park, located on the northwest corner of the city of San Francisco. From this stunning location one can see the entrance to San Francisco Bay, the Golden Gate Bridge, and to the west the seemingly endless stretch of the Pacific Ocean. Hundreds of warships and thousands of men departed on these waters for battle in World War II – many of the ships and men never to return.

On the night of November 12-13, 1942 the U.S.S. San Francisco was part of what has quite often been called “the most savage close quarter naval engagement in history” off the island of Guadalcanal. The entire engagement lasted less than one hour, but numerous ships were lost and thousands lost their lives – many forever lost at sea.

The U.S.S. San Francisco survived that night to fight again in WWII. Many of her crew gave their lives that night, however. One small fact always reminds me of what horror that night must have held for the crew. During all of WWII fifty-seven (57) Medals of Honor were awarded to United States Navy personnel. On this one night alone four (4) crew members of the U.S.S. San Francisco earned the Medal of Honor – over 7% of the total awarded in the entire war. Dozens more earned the Navy Cross for bravery. Virtually the entire crew earned the Purple Heart.

The U.S.S. San Francisco Memorial is located at Land’s End. The memorial consists of various plaques and small memorials attached to an actual surviving section of the ship. The Bridge Wings of the ship (armor meant to protect the bridge) are permanently on display at the memorial. Standing inside the bridge wings and counting the shell holes is a sobering experience. Shells came from every direction – generally entering one side of the bridge wings, going through the bridge itself, and then exiting the other side of the bridge wings. It’s hard to comprehend how any living thing could survive on the bridge – yet they did.

Please visit the web site for the U.S.S. San Francisco Memorial at http://www.usssanfrancisco.org/. There you will find a history of the ship, the memorial itself, and best of all many stories of her crew.

The best part of writing this blog is discovering a memorial new to me that was conceived and brought to reality by the family and friends of those lost at sea. The memorial to the research vessel Marie is such a piece.

In 1960 the research vessel Marie was lost in the Santa Barbara Channel, while conducting experiments on the potential use of underwater infrared technology. Three of the seven men aboard the craft were claimed forever by the Pacific Ocean. The bodies of the other four crew members were recovered within a few weeks of the accident in the waters near Santa Barbara. Forty years later a memorial to the Marie and her crew was dedicated at a site very near where the Marie departed on her final journey.

The story of the Marie, her crew, and the memorial is best learned by visiting the web site devoted to this accident. Please take the time to watch the twenty minute video history that you’ll find when you first visit the site. Please use the link below:

http://www.project-tnt.com/marie/index.htm

I find the memorial to be simple, elegant and memorable. The very conscious decision not to list the Marie crew members on the memorial, but instead to dedicate the memorial to all those lost at sea, only adds to its timeless quality…