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VESSEL LONG OVERDUE
SS C. J. Barkdull
ON DECEMBERR 12, 1942, a convoy of about 45 ships, under strong naval escort, left New York for a secret destination. Among the vessels sailing in this convoy were the Panamanian flag tanker C. J. Barkdull and three Standard Oil Company of New Jersey tankers - the Esso Baltimore, Esso Bayway, and Esso Charleston.
The C. J. Barkdull was commanded by Captain Chester S. Swanner and her engineroom was in charge of Chief Engineer Antonio Zouli. With an American merchant crew of 38 officers and men and a Navy armed guard numbering 20, she had a total complement of 58.
The vessel did not arrive at her destination and on January 30, 1943 a communication from the War Shipping Administration reported that the C. J. Barkdull was "long overdue and presumed lost as a result of enemy action."
All that is definitely known of the vessel is that in the early morning hours of December 13, 1942 the C. J. Barkdull was seen to lose headway and drop back out of the convoy; she was never heard from again.
The SS C. J. Barkdull, ex Wilhelm Jebsen, ex Frederic Ewing, was built in 1917 by the Union Iron Works at San Francisco, California. She was a sistership of the Paul H. Harwood.
A single-screw vessel of ll,l75 deadweight tons capacity on international summer draft of 27 feet, 4 1/2 inches, the C. J. Barkdull had an overall length of 453 feet, a length between perpendiculars of 435 feet, a moulded breadth of 56 feet, and a depth moulded
of 33 feet, 6 inches. With a cargo carrying capacity of 78,268 barrels, her assigned pumping rate was 4,000 barrels an hour.
Her turbine engine, with steam supplied by three Scotch boilers, developed 3,140 shaft horsepower and gave the vessel a classification certified speed of 11.2 knots.
When war broke out in Europe the Esso tanker C. J. Barkdull was in the Patuxent River, where she had been in the tied-up fleet since April 22, I939. Returning to the active list, she left Solomons Island October 11, 1939 and went to New York for repairs.
On November 6 she sailed for Caripito under the command of Captain Alfred Christianson, with her engineroom in charge of Chief Engineer William O. Wilkinson.
At Caripito, on November 16, the C. J. Barkdull was sold to the Cia. de Petroleo Lago and for about four months flew the flag of Venezuela. With the same master and chief engineer, but with a Venezuelan crew, she was assigned to the topping-off service - loading crude oil cargoes at Caripito and proceeding to an anchorage off Guiria. There she furnished the balance of cargo to ocean-going tankers which were unable to load fully at Caripito because of the restricted depth of water on Maturin Bar. Occasionally she lifted a cargo of crude at Pedernales.
While in this service the C. J. Barkdull, between November 21, 1939 and March 13, 1940, carried cargoes amounting to a total of 564,712 barrels.
On March 14, 1940, the Esso tanker Norman Bridge arrived at Caripito to take over the topping-off service. (She was sold to Lago on March 25 and renamed Essa Caracas.) The C. J. Barkdull then received orders to retain half of her Venezuelan crew, sign on 14 men of the American crew of the Norman Bridge, and proceed to Baltimore. Of the Norman Bridge’s crew, 11 returned to the United States on the Grace liner Santa Paula.
Under the command of Captain William Mello, with Mr. Wilkinson as chief engineer, the C. J. Barkdull loaded 69,942 barrels of Pedernales crude before sailing from Guiria on March 22. At Baltimore she was purchased by the Panama Transport Company
on April 2, 1940, and on April 16 she was manned by a Canadian crew.
Made Many Distant Voyages
On September 20, Captain Cyril C. Eden, with Chief Engineer Antonio Zouli, took the vessel over from the Canadians at New York. From then on, the C. J. Barkdull had American crews. While sailing under the Panamanian flag in 1940 she crossed the Atlantic once to Southampton and three times to Tenerilfe, in addition to carrying six cargoes on coastwise voyages.
In 1941, the C. J. Barkdull voyaged to a number of east coast ports, from Providence to Port Everglades, and her foreign terminals included Havana, Teneriffe, and Rio de ]aneiro. Arriving at New York on August 20, the vessel went to a shipyard for the purpose of being armed. On September 18, under the command of Captain Clinton W. Hayes, she left Curacao with a cargo for Cape Town and from there proceeded to Abadan, where she loaded for Colombo and later for Mombasa.
With war raging in the Southwest Pacific, the C. J. Barkdull, on January 2, 1942, was dispatched with another Abadan cargo to Colombo and then visited Fremantle, Brisbane, Townsville, Cairns, and Wellington before crossing the Pacific and loading at La Libertad for Montevideo.
On May 3, 1942, at Caripito, she was time chartered to the War Shipping Administration and thereafter, under government orders, loaded mainly at Texas ports, from which she transported cargoes to New York and to the United Kingdom, discharging at
Glasgow and Avonmouth.
Leaving Avonmouth on November I3, the C. J. Barkdull arrived at New York on December 6. Alter loading 60,186 barrels of Admiralty fuel and Pool gas oil consigned to Casablanca, she was directed to join the convoy which, as we have seen, sailed on
December 12.
The wartime transportation record of the C. J. Barkdull, under both Venezuelan and Panamanian registry, from November 21, 1939 to November 13, 1942 (when she left Avonmouth in ballast for New York) was in summary as follows:
Her wartime masters were Captains Alfred Christianson, William Mello, Cyril C. Eden, Clinton W. Hayes, and Chester S. Swanner.
During the same period her engine department was in charge of Chief Engineers Robert E. O'Neil, Willie F. Wilson, William O. Wilkinson, Ernest E. Floegel. Laughton D. Angel, Skold T. Anderson, and Antonio Zouli.
Captain Chester S. Swanner, first employed by the Company on December 30, I921, had been in continuous serviod as a licensed officer since September 4, 1928. He was promoted to master on August 7. 1940, and was assigned to the C. J. Barkdull on September l5, 1942.
Chief Engineer Antonio Zouli joined the Company as a third assistant engineer on May 5, 1921, and had been a chief engineer since July I3, 1935. He was assigned to the C. J. Barkdull on September 20, I940. July 23, 1941, and October 12, 1942.
Seven of Crew Survived Previous Action
Seven members of the crew of the C. J. Barkdull on December 13, 1942, had survived the war loss or damage of other tankers by enemy action: Radio Operator Rosario S. Gauthier (Beaconlight, July 16, 1942); Steward Pedro Vergara (C. O. Stillman, June 5, 1942); Chief Cook John B. Lowry (I. C. White, September 27, 1941); Pumpman Hugh C. Oliver (J. A. Mowinckel, July 15, I942); Fireman Francis D. O'Brien (J. A. Mowinckel, July 15, 1942); Fireman Roy L. Allen (Esso Bolivar, March 8, 1942); and Second Cook John A. Soderstrom (R. W. Gallagher), July 13, 1942) .
Merchant Crew Lost on the “C. J. Barkdull" - December, 1942.
U. S. Navy Armed Guard Lost on the "C. J. Barkdull”
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