Auke Visser's Other Esso Related Tankers Site | home
Victolite (I) - (1921-1926)
SS "E. M. Clark" ex. "Victolite", attacked and sunk off Cape Hatteras.
Sisterships are E. T. Bedford, E. J. Sadler, Walter Jennings and J. A. Moffet.
Seen here as "Victolite (I)".
( Photo Glenbow Archives )
The Miramar Ship Index for "VICTOLITE"
IDNo:
|
1150466
|
Year:
|
1921
|
Name:
|
VICTOLITE
|
Keel:
|
|
Type:
|
Tanker
|
Launch Date:
|
14.06.1921
|
Flag:
|
CAN
|
Date of completion:
|
07.1921
|
DWT:
|
16030
|
Yard No:
|
49
|
Length overall:
|
|
Ship Design:
|
|
LPP:
|
152.5
|
Country of build:
|
USA
|
Beam:
|
20.8
|
Builder:
|
Federal
|
Material of build:
|
|
Location of yard:
|
Kearny
|
Number of screws/Mchy/Speed(kn):
|
2T-11
|
|
|
Subsequent History:
1926 E.M. CLARK
Disposal Data:
Torpedoed and sunk 34.50 N / 75.35 W on 18.03.1942.
History :
ON
|
LR/IMO
|
ID
|
Year
|
Name
|
Tons
|
Name change
|
Registered Owner
|
150466
|
|
1150466
|
1921
|
VICTOLITE
|
10825
|
|
Imperial Oil
|
225482
|
|
1150466
|
1921
|
E.M. CLARK
|
10825
|
1926
|
Standard Oil Co (New Jersey)
|
Additional information Starke & Schell registers :
VICTOLITE - 1921 (USA), 2T (aft) (11)
10,825 GRT for Standard Oil Co. of New Jersey, New York (unregistered), 500.4 x 68.2
Tanker build by Federal SB. Co., Kearny, N.J. (7) #49
1921 - Imperial Oil, Ltd., Victoria, B.C., CA, 150466
1926 - E.M. CLARK, Standard Oil Co. (New Jersey), New York, USA, 225482
1927 - Standard Shipping Co., Inc., Wilmington, Del.
1935 - Standard Oil Co. of New Jersey, Wilmington, Del.
Torpedoed and sunk by U 124, on 18 March 1942, in 34.50 N - 75.35 W (22 miles SW of Diamond Shoals),
voyage Baton Rouge - New York, #2 fuel oil.
Additional information from Uboat.net :
Name: E.M. Clark
Type: Steam tanker
Tonnage: 9.647 tons
Completed: 1921 - Federal Shipbuilding Co, Kearny NJ
Owner: Standard Oil Co of New Jersey, New York
Homeport: Wilmington
Date of attack: 18 Mar, 1942
Nationality: American
Fate: Sunk by U-124 (Johann Mohr)
Position: 34.50N, 75.35W - Grid CA 7997
- See location on a map -
Complement: 41 (1 dead and 40 survivors).
Convoy: Route: Baton Rouge, Louisiana - New York
Cargo: 118.725 barrels of heating oil
History: Built as Victolite, 1926 renamed E.M. Clark
Notes on loss:
At 08.27 hours on 18 Mar, 1942, the unescorted and unarmed E.M. Clark (Master Hubert L. Hassell) was hit
by one torpedo from U-124 about 22 miles southwest of the Diamond Shoals Lighted Buoy, as she was proceeding completely
blacked out at 10.5 knots in a moderatly rough sea. Thunderstorms in the area had generated enough light to silhouette her.
The torpedo struck the port side amidships, eight to ten feet below the waterline. The explosion damaged the area around the
bridge, destroyed one lifeboat and the radio antenna. An attempt to repair the antenna was unsuccessful, because a second
torpedo struck the port side at the forward hold and caused the ship to sink ten minutes after the first hit. All but a messman
in the crew of eight officers and 33 men abandoned ship in two lifeboat, while the whistle of the ship jammed and roared
continuously. 26 men in the first lifeboat were picked up by the Venezuelan steam tanker Catatumbo and landed at Cape
Henry. The remaining survivors in the other boat were picked up by the American destroyer USS Dickerson (DD 157) and
transferred them to the motor surfboat USS CG-5426 from the Ocracoke coast guard station, which took these men ashore.