On
Tuesday July 15th during the monthly meeting of the Aston Gardens
Veterans Club two additional Quilts of Valor were presented:
(1)
to retired Platoon Sergeant Charles W.
and
(2) to Alan H., a retired Air Force Pilot.
The CT Quilters QOV Group attended the May 2014 meeting (see earlier post) where we
had presented numerous QOV quilts to members of the Veterans Club and to our
own Linda Fentriss – QOVF Coordinator for Florida. Alan and Charles were unable to attend at that
time, so their awards were made during the July meeting. In addition, a QOV was presented to US Army
Colonel Woodrow W. (Retired), who is a
driver at Aston Gardens.
The veterans group at Aston
Gardens has thanked us
for the recognition of their service and expressed their honor in receiving
these quilts. We have received various
monetary donations from them and thank them for their support of our work.
At
the meeting I was intrigued by the program presented by Retired Captain William
Whaley – United Stated Coast Guard. The
program concerned a major maritime disaster that occurred at 12:42 am on June
2, 1973 in the New York
Harbor. Captain Whaley at the time of the accident
was a Commander stationed in Texas
and is the current President of the Aston Gardens Veterans Club. At the time of this maritime disaster he was
a major incident investigator. He was
sent from his base in Texas
to assist in the investigation.
Apparently when major maritime accidents happen local USCG investigators
do not handle the incident. Later in his
career this will be the case when he is Head of Port for Tampa
when the MS Summit Venture hit the Skyway
Bridge in May 1980 and
non-local investigators from the US Coast Guard were brought in.
The
story of the 1973 Maritime Disaster is as follows:
During
an early June morning in 1973 an outbound cargo ship the SS C. V. Sea Witch of
American registry incurred a loss of steering ability. The ship was speeding at 13+ knots out of the
harbor when the incident occurred. As
steering capabilities were lost, the ship left the channel and collided with a
Belgian registered tank ship the SS Esso Brussels, which lay at anchor.
The
bow of the Sea Witch breached three of the cargo tanks filled with Nigerian
crude oil. For over an hour a massive
fire laid siege to both ships, which were entangled. Damage to both ships was massive and loss of
life catastrophic. On the Esso Brussels
the death toll included 10 crew members and the Master. The Master of the Sea Witch also died on
board.
Before
the collision the pilot of the Sea Witch alerted the Esso Brussels by whistle
blasts and additionally tried full astern engine maneuverability and to drop
anchor on the port side to stop the ship, all to no avail.
The
oil from the breach of the Esso Brussels leached out to the surface, which then
caught fire. Those of you familiar with
this area of New York will know of the Verrazanio-Narrows Bridge.
The two locked ships drifted under the bridge causing minor fire damage
to the underside.
Some
of the crew members of the Sea Witch jumped overboard and were rescued by local
boats. Others stayed on board moving
from space to space as the smoke and flames followed them. At approximately 1:45 am, thirty one (31)
persons on board were rescued. The
vessels were separated by 6:30 am. The
Sea Witch listed and all efforts were made to keep it from capsizing. Container fires on board continued for over
two weeks. After all fire burned out two
more victims were found.
The
investigation of this major collision revealed that certain container
structures could not withstand the intense fire. This was something the industry would study
for future construction.
The
loss of steering was a result of a small part of the steering mechanism that
had loosened and fell out. The part was no longer than 3/16 of an inch. This type of steering system on other ships
was investigated as a result of this failure.
Speed was also considered to be an additional factor in the collision.
Many
other recommendations and actions were a result of this incident. The current
use of lights attached to life preservers is a result of this study.
This
article was written to give the reader(s) of this Blog some insight into the
careers some of our veterans have had in our Military. This is just one story among thousands. But it was a story connected to one of our QOV
recipients here in the Tampa
Bay area.
Thank
you,
Pat
N.
