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NORTHWEST OF TRINIDAD
MS Harry G. Seidel
In april, 1942, sinkings in the U-boat campaign to drive Allied shipping from the high seas were approaching the peak reach-ed in the summer of that year. The Panama Transport Company lost two tankers in April. The first was the Heinrich v. Riede-mann, torpedoed April 16, 1942 about 150 miles northwest of Trinidad. Twelve days later the Harry G. Seidel went down, 90 miles northwest of Trinidad.
The statement of Captain Magnus Jorgensen, master of the Harry G. Seidel, gave an excellent account of the loss of the vessel:
"We left Aruba at 9:35 a.m., April 27, in ballast, bound for Caripito. The ship was armed with one 4-inch gun mounted aft and two 30-caliber machine guns - one on each side of the bridge.
"The complement of the Harry G. Seidel totaled 50 men, with 44, including myself, in the crew, and six U. S. Navy gunners.
"We proceeded alone, according to routing instructions given by the British naval authorities at Aruba. The weather was fine, wind variable, sea smooth all the way. Our speed was 11 knots.
Torpedoed in Bright Moonlight
"On the evening of April 28, running entirely blacked out, we had reached a point about 12 miles northeast of Los Testigos Is-lands when, at 9:50 p.m., a torpedo suddenly struck the vessel, port side aft in way of the bunker tank. Immediately following this explosion a second torpedo hit on the port side in way of the boiler room.
"At this time I was on the bridge wdth Third Mate Askild M. Stokken, who was on watch. Able Seaman Svend Jensen was at the wheel; Able Seaman Gunnar Jorgensen was on lookout duty atop the wheelhouse. A Navy gunner was standing watch at the gun station and the other five were in their quarters.
"Visibility was excellent, with bright moonlight, but no sign of the submarine was observed before the ship was struck.
"All communication with the engineroom was disrupted by the explosions. The engines stopped almost immediately as the engineroom flooded. The vessel started a heavy list to port and began settling by the stern.
"It was evident at once that the Harry G. Seidel was doomed. There was no time to send a radio message. I gave the order to abandon ship and all hands rushed to the boat stations.
"No. 4 lifeboat had been destroyed by the explosions. No. 3 was launched safely with 28 men - most of those who were aft.
"Radio Operator William Cain and I assisted with the lowering of No. 1 boat. After checking, as far as possible, to see that all men were clear of the vessel, I got into No. 2 lifeboat, which had already been launched, with ten crew members.
Search for Survivors
"We rowed astern of the Harry G. Seidel and all three boats searched for survivors. Seven men, including Chief Engineer Axel Somod, were picked up from the water. The three lifeboats then came together and the survivors were divided equally among them.
"In the meantime the Harry G. Seidel was sinking rapidly by the stern, her bow sticking out of the water. She finally disappear-ed at 10:10 p.m., 20 minutes after the attack. All the secret codes and ship's documents went down with her.
"At that moment a medium-sized submarine, approximately 200 feet in length, surfaced about. 75 feet from the lifeboats. She had one gun forward and one aft; both of them looked smaller than our own 4-inch gun. We could see no identification marks but we all believed her to be a German U-boat.
"There was no one at the gun stations, but four or five men were standing in the conning tower. One of the officers question-ed me in good English as to the name and tonnage of my ship. When I had answered they asked if we needed anything. We declined their offer. They questioned the other boats; then the submarine pulled away and disappeared.
"I counted the survivors and found that there were two men missing - Messman Erie Andrews and Oiler Ragnar O. Andres-en.
"All boats now set sail for the coast of Venezuela, about 60 miles away, keeping in close company. By dawn, on April 29, the wind died. No. 3 lifeboat, which was equipped with an outboard motor, took boats Nos. 1 and 2 in tow.
"Lifeboat No. 1 had a radio set. At 6 a.m., April 29, I decided to send a message giving our position. I had not thought it advis-able to use the radio before this time for fear that the submarine might still be in the vicinity and might machine-gun us.
"We reached land in the Bay of Caribes at 7 p.m., April 29. A number of natives ran inland and evidently spread the word of our arrival. We pulled the boats ashore and lighted fires.
"About 1:30 a.m., April 30, a Venezuelan police officer arrived and took charge. He led us over the mountains and through jungles and then transported us by motor launch to the village of Rio Caribes. Here we were given food and clothing. The same day two British patrol craft, a small tug and a yacht, picked us up. They landed us at Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, on May 1.
"All 48 survivors were in good health. Everyone was well cared for at Trinidad. The six gunners reported to the U. S. authori-ties. A week later the 42 crew members sailed on the SS George Washington, operated by the Alcoa Steamship Co., for passage to the United States. We landed at New York on May 21, 1942."
The MS Harry G. Seidel was built in 1930 by the Fried. Krupp Germaniawerft A. G., at Kiel Gaarden, Germany.
A twin-screw vessel of 17,340 deadweight tons capacity on international summer draft of 30 feet, 1 1/2 inches, she had an overall length of 530 feet, a length between perpendiculars of 512 feet, a moulded breadth of 67 feet, 11 inches, and a depth moulded of 39 feet, 514 inches. With a cargo carrying capacity of 130,704 barrels, she had an assigned pumping rate of 4,000 barrels an hour.
Her Diesel engines developed 3,600 brake horse power and gave her a classification certified speed of 10.9 knots.
Her wartime transportation record was in summary as follows:
September 3, 1939, first day of European war, found the Harry G. Seidel at Buenos Aires, where she had arrived August 22, 1939, manned by a German crew. The Panama Transport Company MS Calliope, also with a German crew, had reached Rio de Janeiro the same day. It was decided that under the circumstances, all German crews should be removed from neu-tral vessels and American licensed officers were dispatched by the Company to take over the Calliope. This group was in charge of Captain William J. Ryan and included Chief Engineer John H. Patterson (now Senior Assistant Manager of the Marine Department's Construction and Repair Division) and Chief Mate George E. Christiansen. When word was received that the Harry G. Seidel also needed a new crew, the officer group was divided. Chief Mate Christiansen became the master of the Calliope and, with several American officers, took charge of her September 7. The Calliope sailed September 12.
Captain Ryan and Chief Engineer Patterson, with the rest of the group of officers, proceeded to Buenos Aires. There they re-cruited a crew for the Harry G. Seidel. When the tanker left on September 18 she was manned by a mixed crew in which 29 nationalities were represented.
The Harry G. Seidel arrived at Guiria October 4, 1939 to load her first wartime cargo, 111,917 barrels of crude oil for Aruba. This shipment delivered, she entered coastwise service. On October 23, 1939, Captain Gunnar Gjertsen became her mas-ter and Chief Engineer Ervin C. Haatvedt took charge of her engineroom.
On November 13, 1939, a Canadian crew and Danish officers took over the Harry G. Seidel. The Canadians were replaced by a Danish crew January 7, 1940. Thereafter she was manned by Danes for the rest of her career. Captain Magnus Jorgen-sen was her only wartime Danish master and associated with him was Chief Engineer Axel Somod.
The Harry G. Seidel remained mostly in coastwise service, with occasional trips to South America, until her loss. She made one transatlantic voyage in May, 1940, when she carried 114,403 barrels of Diesel oil and fuel oil from Aruba to London. The Harry G. Seidel was time chartered to the War Shipping Administration at Aruba on April 26, 1942, two days before she was sunk.
Merchant Crew Lost on the "Harry G. Seidel" - April 28, 1942:
Merchant Crew Survivors of the "Harry G. Seidel":
U.S. Navy Armed Guard Survivors of the "Harry G. Seidel":
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