Copyright USGenNet Inc., 2015 All Rights Reserved USGenNet Data Repository Please read USGenNet Copyright Statement on this page: Transcribed and submitted by Linda Talbott for the USGenNet Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ =========================================================================== Formatted by USGenNet Data Repository Chief Archivist, Linda Talbott All of the above information must remain when copied or downloaded. =========================================================================== Ludington Daily News Thursday, November 14, 1940 pp 1 & 10 BATTERED TANKER SAFE IN HARBOR New Haven Socony Arrives in East Chicago, After Being Feared Lost (By the Associated Press) At East Chicago, Ind., the battered oil tanker NEW HAVEN SOCONY was moored safely after going unreported 48 hours. Wednesday it was feared the tanker had been lost near Grand Haven. "We've been through hell," said Boatswain Frank Myers, "and we've been practically all over Lake Michigan. But here we are okay." The 251-foot tanker's pilot house was swept away by mountainous waves, which also disabled its compass and radio. Part of the pilot house and an oar, which were washed up on shore, had led coast guardsmen to believe the ship was lost with its crew of 16. The NEW HAVEN SOCONY left East Chicago early Monday with Capt. Harley O. Norton of Albany, N.Y., in charge. The ship was opposite a point 25 miles south of Muskegon when the gale struck. "We were fighting the gale from then on," Boatswain Myers said. "We didn't know where we were exactly. The radio went dead. The ship's compass was washed out and useless. Even our charts were washed away. We didn't have any navigation aids left." Capt. Norton said the waves were higher than the 45 foot mast. The captain almost lost his life when the pilot house was smashed. A similar story of the storm's fury was re- lated by Capt. Robert W. Parsons of the freighter THOMAS P. COLE, who said a "miracle" and not skillful seamanship was responsible for his ship's safe voyage into Milwaukee, Wis., harbor. He declared the storm which sank the carferry Milwaukee with a loss of all hands Oct. 22, 1929, was "just a summer breeze" compared with the gale Monday and Tuesday. Capt. Parson's ship, one of the largest freighters on the lake, was swept sideways in the trough of mountainous waves for 36 hours before it could make headway for Milwaukee. Waves crashed into doors and windows 34 feet about (sic) the waterline, making a sham- bles of the boat's interior. Capt. Parsons said he often had to look up to see the top of the waves sweeping toward his pilot house, 55 feet from the waterline. The gravel carrier SINALOA of the Tri-State Steamship Co. of Chicago, which went aground on a reef off Sac bay, appeared to be in danger of breaking up after Munising coast guardsmen removed 42 seamen to safety. Eleven members of the crew were hospitalized but none of them was apparently seriously hurt. The 60-foot fishing tug DRUMMOND, owned by Joseph Kroll of DeTour, was pulled from a shoal near St. Joseph's island, Ont., Wednesday after being held fast since Monday. At Saginaw efforts were begun to salvage the 170-foot steam yacht CAPITOLA, which was resting at the bottom of the Saginaw river. The boat, owned by the Wickes brothers, flooded during Monday's storm. ===========================================================================