SS Mohawk (1925)

History
Name: United States Mohawk
Namesake: A tribe of Iroquoian Indians of the eastern New York area
Owner:
Port of registry:  United States, New York
Route: New York City - Havana
Builder: Newport News Ship Building & Drydock Co.
Yard number: 287
Laid down: 1926
Launched: October 1926
Completed: 1926
Acquired: 1926
Maiden voyage: 1926
In service: 1926
Out of service: 24 January 1935
Identification:
  • KFYU
  • IMO/Off. no.: 225247
Fate: Collided with SS Talisman and sunk
General characteristics
Type: Ocean liner
Tonnage: 5,896 GRT
Length: 117.96 metres (387 ft 0 in)
Beam: 16.46 metres (54 ft 0 in)
Depth: 6.1 metres (20 ft 0 in)
Installed power: 2 x Steam turbine engines SR geared to one shaft
Propulsion: Screw propeller
Speed: 14 knots
Capacity: 53 Passengers
Crew: 110
Notes: Captain J. E. Wood

SS Mohawk was an American Ocean liner that collided with the Norwegian freighter Talisman and sank on 24 January 1935 in New York Harbor 8 nautical miles (15 km) off the coast of New Jersey. Mohawk was carrying general cargo as well as 163 passengers and crew when she left New York City, United States for Havana, Cuba on her final voyage.[1]

Construction

Mohawk was built at the Newport News Ship Building & Drydock Co. shipyard in Newport News, Virginia, United States in 1926. Where she was launched and completed that same year. The ship was 117.96 metres (387 ft 0 in) long, had a beam of 16.46 metres (54 ft 0 in) and had a depth of 6.1 metres (20 ft 0 in). She was assessed at 5,896 GRT and had 2 x Steam turbine engines SR geared to one shaft driving a single screw propeller. The ship could reach a maximum speed of 14 knots. The Mohawk was given its name after a previous ship of the same name belonging to the same company burned and sank in Delaware Bay in 1925.[2]

Previous incident

Mohawk deliberately beached herself after a collision with SS Jefferson in dense fog near Sea Bright on 19 May 1928. The damage on her starboard side was extensive, but she was able to be freed on 21 May 1928 and was fully repaired.[3]

Sinking

Mohawk left New York City for Havana on the afternoon of 24 January 1935 with 110 crew, 53 passengers and a general cargo of car parts and china on board. She sailed under the command of Captain Joseph Edward Wood. Passengers included Mary Pillsbury Lord (survived); her sister Katherine Pillsbury McKee (survived); New York architect Julian Livingston Peabody (died); his wife, socialite Celestine Hitchcock Peabody (daughter of Thomas Hitchcock Sr.) (died); Prof. Herdman Fitzgerald Cleland of Williams College (died); Rev. Dr. Francis L. Frost of the St. Mary's Protestant Episcopal Church, Staten Island (died); John Telfer, designated Vice Consul in Orizaba, Mexico (died); his wife, Catherine Butler Telfer (died); Gertrude Oakes, sister of Harry Oakes, 1st Baronet of Nassau (died).

Four hours after having left New York Harbor at about 9 PM, the Mohawk spotted the Norwegian freighter Talisman at a distance of 0.125 nautical miles (0.232 km). At this point the ship was several miles south of Sea Girt Light and about six miles offshore, when suddenly the Mohawk suffered a failure of her automatic steering gear which made her crew revert to the manual steering system. But due to confusion between orders from the bridge to the engine room and further problems steering the ship, Mohawk accidentally made a hard turn to port which made her veer off course and steam at full speed into the path of Talisman. Both ships tried to avoid a collision, but it was already too late.[4]

Talisman struck the Mohawk on her port side and left a deep gash in her bow. After the collision the Mohawk came to a complete standstill and began to take on water. Nearly every passenger and crew member felt the force of the collision and made their way to deck. It was very cold on deck as the temperature reached two degrees below zero and the lifeboats were covered in snow. The lifeboats were quickly undone from there snow coats and were being lowered by both passengers and crew as the ship was beginning to list. About an hour after the collision, the Mohawk rolled onto her starboard side and finally disappeared beneath the waves. Most of her lifeboats managed to be launched, yet 16 passengers and 31 crew went down with the ship, including all but one of the ship's officers. None of the bridge officers survived the accident and Captain Joseph Wood, after verifying that all other persons had safely evacuated the ship, went back to his cabin and shut the door.[1]

In the hours following the sinking SS Limon and Mohawk's sister ship SS Algonquin picked up a total of six life boats with just over 100 survivors. The survivors were taken back to shore where some were met by journalists and camerman all asking questions about the disaster. The search for survivors continued through the night and the next day as Coast Guard boats and planes scanned the surface, but ultimately the search operation was looking for the remains of the perished rather than anymore survivors.[2]

Blame

As was always done with a disaster which resulted in the loss of human life, an inquiry researched who was to blame for the incident. It was concluded that Mohawk caused the initial collision by veering of course. Although this alone would not explain why the Talisman ended up hitting the Mohawk, thereby some speculate that the Mohawk's navigation lights also failed. The blame for the collision rests mostly with mechanical malfunction or human error on the Mohawk's part.[1]

It was also noted that the damage inflicted by the collision, should not have been enough to sink the Mohawk. But it appears that during The great depression the Mohawk's owner modified the ship in order to carry bulk cargoes like lumber so it could squeeze some extra revenue out of the vessel. These modifications involved opening up the ship's watertight bulkheads for easier cargo handling. Because of this, the Mohawk had no defense against the frigid waters that were making their way through her gaping wound which ended in her demise.[3]

Wreck

Mohawk sank to a depth of 24.38 metres (80 ft 0 in) and broke open on the sea floor where she lay on her starboard side until she was righted by storms. But the wreck's tallest parts which included the bridge and smokestack were a hazard in the busy New Jersey shipping lane. So in July 1935 the Army Corps of Engineers went to the wreck and removed her fuel oil. After that, over 8 tons of dynamite was used to demolish the wreck. The first blast alone used almost a ton and blew out the center of the damaged port side of the hull which made the superstructure collaps onto the main deck. After that two tugboats were dispatched to wire-drag the wreck to the required 15.24 metres (50 ft 0 in) depth clearance. During the moving, a heavy steel cable was forced back and forth through the superstructure which snapped the deck plates apart and ripped the bridge from the hull, scattering debris into the currents.[3]

A few years later during World War II, the Coast Guard bombed the Mohawk with depth charges as German U-boats had been hiding alongside wrecks in these waters as to dodge sonar waves. Apparentally the ship was depth charged a second time during the war when a US Navy blimp mistook the wreck for a German U-boat.[2]

Ultimately one anchor and the propellor were salvaged as the other anchor is buried beneath the bow. At present day, the wreck rests eight miles east of Manasquan Inlet at (40°01′N 73°55′W / 40.017°N 73.917°W / 40.017; -73.917) and covers several acres. Her last cargo of a number of trucks or automobiles, large rubber tires, axles, and other parts are tangled up with the rest of the wreckage. All the structure supplies a home for all kinds of aquatic life such as mussels, red anemones, lobsters and all types of fishes.[5]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "SS Mohawk (+1935)". wrecksite.eu. 9 February 2008. Retrieved 9 April 2018.
  2. 1 2 3 "The Mohawk (Clyde Line) Shipwreck". aquaexplorers.com. Retrieved 9 April 2018.
  3. 1 2 3 "SS Mohawk". njscuba.net. 1996. Retrieved 9 April 2018.
  4. ↑ "Mohawk". tripod.com. Retrieved 9 April 2018.
  5. ↑ "The Ghost of Shipwrecks Future". outsideonline.com. 1 April 2002. Retrieved 9 April 2018.
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