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FIRST SHIP LOST
SS Joseph Seep
The Joseph Seep, during most of her wartime service following the commencement of hostilities in Europe, sailed under the flag of the Republic of Panama and was manned by Canadian crews. Her voyages were therefore not restricted to the western Atlantic and other ocean areas prescribed by the neutrality law for American ships and she was able to carry cargoes through war zones and deliver them at Allied ports.
On these dangerous missions she shared the historical importance of a large number of vessels which carried petroleum products under Panamanian and other foreign registries in the early days of the war, when Germany was destroying thousands of tons of Allied shipping in the Atlantic and the Mediterranean while conquering the continent of Europe.
Of the 46 tankers owned by the Panama Transport Company which were engaged in worldwide oil supply between Germany's invasion of Poland and Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, six ships were lost, of which the first vessel to be sunk was the Joseph Seep.
The Joseph Seep was a Standard Oil Company of New Jersey tanker from the time she was built in 1920 until November 13, 1939, when she was sold to the Panama Transport Company at Montreal and manned by a Canadian crew.
Her sailing schedules thereafter took the vessel to the Carribbean and to war zones in the North Atlantic and the Mediterranean; by April, 1940, she safely completed 7 voyages.
Last Voyage.
On April 28 of that year of world-shaking events she began her last voyage, leaving Haifa, Palestine, with 74,939 barrels of Iraq crude oil, bound for Le Havre, France.
Conditions in the Mediterranean were such that it took 19 days for the Joseph Seep to reach Le Havre, where she arrived on May 16. On May 10, German forces crossed the borders of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxemburg; on May 14, the Netherlands Army surrendered.
Further disasters accounted for confusion and uncertainty at Le Havre, which kept the Joseph Seep at anchor in the roadstead for 9 days.
On the night of May 24-25, the Joseph Seep, with her Canadian crew of 37 officers and men, was still at anchor awaiting orders to discharge cargo. At about 3:30 a.m. on the 25th she was struck by a mine. Water poured into the forward compartments, the pumproom was flooded, and the vessel was going down by the head when the master gave the order to abandon ship.
All Hands Escape
The crew launched lifeboats safely; the boats were towed ashore and all hands were well taken care of.
At 12 noon and 7 p.m. on May 25, the master and other officers boarded the Joseph Seep. After this and later inspections were made, it was decided that the vessel was a total loss.
The SS Joseph Seep was built in 1920 by the Sun Shipbuilding Company, at Chester, Penna. She was a sistership of the S. B. Hunt, Geo. H. Jones, Dean Emery, Elisha Walker, and I. C. White.
A single-screw vessel of 11,120 deadweight tons capacity on international summer draft of 26 feet, 814 inches, the Joseph Seep had an overall length of 445 feet, a length between perpendiculars of 430 feet, a moulded breadth of 59 feet, and a depth moulded of 33 feet, 3 inches. With a cargo carrying capacity of 81,300 barrels,
she had an assigned pumping rate of 3,500 barrels an hour.
Her triple expansion engine, supplied with steam by three Scotch boilers, developed 3,000 indicated horsepower and gave her a speed of 10.3 knots.
On her first wartime voyage the Joseph Seep left Baytown, Texas, September 4, 1939, bound for Norfolk, Va. Commanded by Captain Chester S. Swanner, with her engineroom in charge of Chief Engineer Clyde P.
Williams, the tanker carried a cargo of 67,-143 barrels of fuel oil. Completing four more voyages under the American flag, the Joseph Seep, with the same master and chief engineer, loaded crude and fuel oil at Texas City, Baton Rouge, Baytown, and Cartagena, and made deliveries at Havana, Miami, Norfolk, and Montreal.
On these five voyages, between September 4 and November 6, the Joseph Seep's cargoes totaled 345,321 barrels. .
After she was purchased by the PanamaTransport Company at Montreal on November 13, 1939, and manned by a Canadian crew, the Joseph Seep, as previously mentioned, completed seven more voyages. She took three cargoes of crude oil to Aruba, two of French navy fuel to Fort-de-France, Martinique, and two cargoes to Halifax, of which one was Colombian crude oil and the other British Admiralty fuel.
The wartime petroleum supply record of the Joseph Seep, under American and Panamanian registry, was in summary as follows:
Master's Report.
Reporting the circumstances of the loss of the Joseph Seep by enemy action, her Canadian master, Captain James Brown, stated that she arrived at Le Havre about 10:30 p.m. on May 16 and after difficulty in anchoring, cruised offshore awaiting daylight.
"The vessel anchored in Le Havre Roads," Captain Brown said, "at 7:30 a.m. on 17 May, 1940. Our position was about 31/2 miles 043° from Cape La Heve Lighthouse.
"On Sunday, 19 May, at approximately 11 p.m., German planes dropped mines by parachute in our vicinity.
About 45 vessels were at anchor in the roads at that time. On 21 May, at about 12:30 a.m., enemy planes again parachuted mines; one fell within threefeet of the ship's port side, abreast of No. 2 tank. I made a report to the Commandant of the Naval Police regarding the proximity of the mine to the Joseph Seep.
Struck at 3:30 A.M.
"At 1:30 p.m. on 24 May I received an order and clearance from the French authorities to be ready to leave for Brest. My orders for departure came at 6 p.m., when I weighed anchor and proceeded cautiously in the wake of two mine sweepers towards the gate. I had moved about two or three cables' length when I was stopped by a naval launch and received instructions to remain and discharge cargo at Le Havre.
"I went astern slowly in what was thought to be a swept channel and dropped anchor. Our new position was 2.8 miles 032° from Cape La Heve Lighthouse.
"At 3:30 a.m. on 25 May a tremendous report and convulsion shook the vessel. The debris in the midship quarters was indescribable. The shell plating was bulged out on the port side and the deck was cracked right across, just forward of the pumproom. Water was pouring into all the forward compartments. I asked Chief Engineer William Crowley to try to get the pumps going, but the pumproom was filling rapidly.
"The Joseph Seep was sinking by the head; I gave the order to abandon ship and at 3:50 a.m. the crew took to the midship lifeboats. They behaved well and, except for a few cuts and bruises, no one was injured. At the time of the emergency, 36 of the 37 members of the crew were on board. One man was ashore by order of the master.
"Distress signals were sounded on the whistle and in response a motor lifeboat from the Norwegian steamship Lystaad took our boats in tow. Shortly afterward we were transferred to a naval launch which landed us at the Cunard Depot.
"About noon I boarded the Joseph Seep with Chief Engineer Crowley and Chief Officer John A. Wright.
We found she was listed to starboard and under water forward, to aft of the mainmast, at nearly high tide. It appeared that she was aground from forward to the main pumproom, which was aft of the bridge.
"Oil was oozing from Nos. 8 and 9 tanks aft and from the pumproom ventilator. Owing to the presence of gas it was impossible to inspect the engineroom and we returned ashore.
"Again, at 7 p.m., I went out to the vessel with the chief engineer when the tide was near low water and I was able to save the ship's register and articles. It was not possible to obtain the log books from the chief officer's quarters. Chief Engineer Crowley reported that the water was a little above the floor plates in the engineroom.
"On 28 May, when I once more went on board, the hull was listing to starboard approximately 20°. The engine-room was flooded with water and oil to just below the second grating, or at a height of about 12 feet. The next day, the stern of the vessel was still afloat and leaking oil. According to statements made by French fishermen, the crude oil spread out as far as 10 miles under the effect of the Seine current. The ship was appreciably lower in the water and seemed to be settling down.
"On 30 May, the Panama Transport Company tanker Thalia landed the officers and crew of the Joseph Seep at Southampton for repatriation to Canada."
Survivors of the "Joseph Seep" - May 25, 1940.
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