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ALL HANDS LOST
MS Esso Williamsburg
A motor vessel of improved type, the Esso Williamsburg, contracted for on March 29, 1940 and the first Esso ship launched in 1941, was available at a time of peril to the nation. Delivered May 15, 1941, the new tanker arrived in New York harbor with her first cargo on May 27, the day President Roosevelt issued the Proclamation of Unlimited National Emergency.
Aside from the many oil carriers which survived the war at sea, each tanker lost by enemy action had previously been important to the United States and the United Nations in direct ratio to the length of time of her transportation service. The Esso Williams-burg's contribution to ultimate victory - which lasted sixteen months - was made during the most dangerous crisis in the history of the United States.
The Williamsburg had a large cargo carrying capacity, steam turbine actuated pumps, and sufficient speed to better by 24 hours the usual time of tanker passage from Texas loading ports to New York. With these advantages, the vessel made a fine record of efficient voyages, coastwise and overseas.
Disappeared on Voyage to Iceland
In September, 1942, on her way from Aruba to Iceland, with a cargo of Navy fuel, the Esso Williamsburg was lost in the North Atlantic. The circumstances of her sinking are not known.
We do know, however, the facts concerning the gallant vessel's voyages and cargoes. Her accomplishment in wartime transportation covered the last seven months before Pearl Harbor and the first nine months of the grim year 1942, when Axis aggression seemed triumphant and control of the two ocean highways leading to the Western Hemisphere was all but lost, yet nevertheless maintained against heavy odds.
Through the worst phase of enemy submarine attacks the Esso Williamsburg carried out her missions unharmed and when the tide of battle in the Atlantic turned in favor of the Allies during the summer of 1942, she was still delivering cargoes under government orders.
In all, the Esso Williamsburg completed 28 voyages and transported more than 3,800,000 barrels - an actual total of 160,242,096 gallons of petroleum products.
The MS Esso Williamsburg was built in 1941 by the Sun Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company at Chester, Penna. She was a sistership of the Esso Augusta, Esso Little Rock, Esso Philadelphia, and Esso Pittsburgh.
A single-screw motor vessel of 17,950 deadweight tons capacity on international '•ummer draft of 30 feet, 4 1/2 inches, the Esso Williamsburg had an overall length of 547 feet, 3 3/4 inches, a length between perpendiculars of 521 feet, a moulded breadth of 70 feet, and a depth moulded of 40 feet. With a cargo carrying capacity of 153,704 barrels, she had an assigned pumping rate of 8,000 barrels an hour.
Her Diesel engine developed 8,250 brake horsepower and gave her a classification certified speed of 15.2
knots.
On May 15, 1941, the Esso Williamsburg began her first voyage, sailing from Chester, Penna., under command of Captain Harry Stremmel, with Chief Engineer Harold A. Morris in charge of her engineroom. Proceeding to Corpus Christi, Texas, she loaded 125,596 barrels of West Texas crude and left for New York at 6:36 a.m.. May 22. Arriving at 10:17 p.m., on the 27th, she had made the trip in less than 6 days.
During the rest of the year 1941, the Williamsburg was engaged in the Gulf-east coast service, with a few trips to Aruba and Venezuelan ports, loading mostly crude oils with a few cargoes of fuel oil. In 1942 she continued on a similar schedule with the exception of two voyages from the Caribbean area to United Kingdom ports - Glasgow and Liverpool.
The wartime masters of the Esso Williamsburg were Captains Harry Stremmel, Ernest C. Kelson, Peder A. Johnson, and John Tweed. Captain Kelson and Captain Johnson subsequently lost their lives as a result of enemy action - Captain Kelson on the Esso Harrisburg, July 6, 1944, and Captain Johnson on the Esso Gettysburg, June 10, 1943.
The Esso Williamsburg had but two chief engineers. Harold A. Morris was relieved in August, 1942, by James F. Maher.
The wartime voyages and cargoes of the Esso Williamsburg were in summary as follows:
At the outset of her 29th voyage, from which she did not return, the Esso Williamsburg sailed from Aruba on Sep-tember 12, 1942. She was commanded by Captain Tw^eed and her engineroom was in charge of Chief Engineer Maher. Her cargo of 110,043 barrels of Navy fuel oil was destined for Reykjavik, Iceland, where she was due to arrive about September 24.
On October 24, 1942, the War Shipping Administration reported the vessel and her crew "long overdue and presumed lost as a result of enemy action."
The Esso Williamsburg was manned by a merchant crew of 42 officers and men and carried a Navy armed guard of 18. Her total complement of 60 American sailors gave their lives while rendering notable service to the triumph of Allied sea power - an essential factor in final victory over Germany and Japan.
Captain John Tweed joined the Company as a third mate on August 19, 1919. He had been in continuous service as a master since January 17, 1928. From March 15, 1935, he was a lieutenant commander in the Naval Reserve. He was assigned to the Esso Williamsburg on June 14, 1942.
Chief Engineer James F. Maher entered the service of the Company as a third assistant engineer on August 22, 1924 and was promoted to chief engineer on June 2, 1939. He was assigned to the Esso Williamsburg on August. 5, 1942.
Merchant Crew Lost on the "Esso Williamsburg" - September, 1942;
U. S. Navy Armed Guard Lost on the "Esso Williamsburg" - September, 1942;
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