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HISTORY WITHOUT INCIDENT
SS Thomas H. Wheeler
On september 3, 1939, the Esso tanker Thomas H. Wheeler left Charleston, S. C., carrying 67,576 barrels of process gas oil. With Captain Andrew B. Jakobsen as her master and Chief Engineer Charles L. Stonebridge in charge of her engine-room, she arrived in New York harbor September 6 and on the next day departed for Corpus Christi. This time she loaded West Texas crude oil for Baltimore and her next cargo was pumped aboard at Baton Rouge, where she arrived October 1. During the war months of 1939 the vessel delivered, on coastwise voyages, 618,302 barrels of petroleum and its products.
In 1940 the Thomas H. Wheeler, leaving Baytown on January 1 with 63,215 barrels of bunkers and gas enrichment fuel, reached New York January 9. At this time Captain Patrick S. Mahony was assigned as master; Chief Engineer Stonebridge remained in charge of the engine department. After making another round trip from New York to Baytown, the tanker was dispatched to Aruba for a load of fuel oil consigned to Puerto Rico. On this West Indian trip she visited St. Thomas, V. I., San Juan, and Mayaguez before sailing for Caripito to lift 70,082 barrels of Quiriquire crude oil for delivery at Aruba. She was next sent, via Miami, to Baytown, where she took on a cargo of low sulphur fuel for Baltimore.
Out of Tie-up into War
From Baltimore the Thomas H. Wheeler returned to Aruba and from there began a schedule of runs from Caribbean to east coast ports ending July 26, when she joined the ticd-up fleet in the Patuxent River. Leaving Solomons Island on September 29, she went to Aruba and began a series of twenty-three voyages from Gulf and Caribbean ports to east coast discharge points.
On August 27, 1941 the Thomas H. Weeler left Beaumont, Texas, with 60,963 barrels of Admiralty fuel and after a stop of four days at New York sailed for Iceland, where she arrived September 18. During this period she was under the command of Captain Swen A. Malm, with Chief Engineer Stonebridge still in charge of the engineroom. After discharge was completed at the important Reykjavik naval base, the Thomas H. Wheeler returned directly to Beaumont
and loaded another cargo of Admiralty fuel for Iceland. The trip north was made with stops at New York, on November 4, and Halifax, November 8. Returning from Reykjavik, via Halifax, the tanker arrived at Aruba on January 4,, 1942. The Battle of the Atlantic had begun; in that first month of 1942, seven American flag merchant ships were lost from direct war causes in the northwest Atlantic.
The years 1942 and 1943 found the Thomas H. Wheeler making history Without incident. On apparently routine but exceedingly dangerous voyages, the fortunate oil carrier sailed from Caribbean to Cuban and east coast ports, with the exception of a voyage to Rio de Janeiro early in 1943. She left Curacao on January 13 of that year and arrived at Rio de Janeiro February 11 to discharge 58,378 barrels of Navy fuel. During this two year period the Thomas H. Wheeler made twenty-three voyages and delivered cargoes amounting to 1,513,694 barrels.
In 1944, her last year with the Esso fleet, the Thomas H. Wheeler made three voyages to Brazil-two to Belem and one to Recife and Belem. Her fourth trip was to New York, where she arrived June 4.
On June 5, 1944, the day after she arrived at New York, the Thomas H. Wheeler was turned over to War Emergency Tankers, Inc.
The wartime transportation record of the Thomas H. Wheeler, from September 3, 1939 to June 4, 1944, was in summary as follows:
The SS Thomas H. Wheeler was built in 1921 by the Moore Shipbuilding Company at Oakland, Calif.
The M. F. Elliott, lost on June 3, 1942, was a sistership.
A single-screw vessel of 10,450 deadweight tons capacity on international summer draft of 27 feet, 3i4 inches, the Thomas H. Wheeler has an overall length of 438 feet, 614 inches, a length between perpendiculars of 425 feet, a moulded breadth of 57 feet, and a depth moulded of 33 feet. With a cargo carrying capacity of 79,939 barrels, she has an assigned pumping rate of 4,000 barrels an hour.
Her triple expansion engine, supplied with steam by three Scotch boilers, develops 3,200 indicated horsepower and gives her a classification certified speed of 10.6 knots.
The wartime masters of the Thomas H. Wheeler while she was in the Esso fleet were Captains Andrew B. Jakobsen, Martin Wiberg, Patrick S. Mahony, Chester S. Swanner, Alfred J. Thorson, Swen A. Malm, Andrew Weiler, Ralph E. Thomas, and Einar Skolem.
In charge of her engineroom during the vessel's wartime Esso service were Chief Engineers Charles L. Stonebridge, Karl B. Nelson, William F. Kronisch, Thomas J. O'Brien, Clyde P. Williams, William O. Wilkinson, and Fred Lewis.
While the Thomas H. Wheeler was operated for War Emergency Tankers, Inc., her master was Captain Einar Skolem; Chief Engineers Owen W. Watkins and Aksel E. Lundin were in charge of her engineroom.
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