Newfoundland And Wwii American Shipwreck

August 21, 2002

Just another War Story? While exploring Newfoundland, we sometimes found it difficult to decide which roads to take and which to pass. In the two months we had planned for our explorations, it would be impossible to travel every road and see every little community. So with only a few weeks remaining and having traveled the roads over about 80% of the province, we faced the decision concerning the boot-shaped Burin Peninsula in southeastern Newfoundland. Reading through the travel guides, we could not find any compelling reasons to drive the approximately 300 miles necessary to see that part of Newfoundland. But then, remembering that we had never regretted decisions to visit any of the other parts of Newfoundland, we decided in favor of this trip – mainly because it was there. The Trans-Canada Highway (TCH) that connects the major towns across Newfoundland is a modern and generally excellent highway. But many of the highways that lead to towns off the TCH are often poorly maintained, very rough and ill-suited for travel with a large motorhome. Consequently, we chose to leave the motorhome at an RV park near the TCH and drive the Burin Peninsula in the Honda CRV. We planned to stay away for a couple of days and overnight in a motel or B&B. To minimize regimenting schedules and not knowing where we would end up each evening, we chose not to make reservations. But as you might guess, when we asked for a room in the Marystown Hotel, we were informed that every room in town was booked. We quickly put our cell phone to work and found a room at a motel about 30 miles south of Marystown at the town of St. Lawrence. A disco in the small motel kept waking us till the dance ended about 3:30 AM. We rose in the morning somewhat groggy, but ready for another day of adventure. St. Lawrence’s claim to fame was that it was the site of a ship wreck. Upon the encouragement of several local folks, we decided to make a quick trip to the wreck site. “So what is new,” I thought. The history of this part of the world is filled with stories of ship wrecks – why would this one be of particular interest? Following the direction of the motel clerk, we turned south from downtown and entered a narrow, gravel road that led across the barrens, bogs and rocky coastline. At the end of the road, detailed information signs told by words and pictures the incredible story. The story unfolded as we hiked the 2kilometer trail, reading additional parts of the story along the way. It was a story about which we knew nothing. But a story of considerable importance to Americans, because the wreck of three US warships (USS Wilkes, USS Truxtun & USS Pollux) that had crashed into these remote coastal cliffs during WW II. Although the Wilkes was able to back off the rocks at high tide, it was still one of the greatest naval disasters in US history.

If this was just a story about 203 sailors dying in a ship wreck during WW II, this story would have been of no more interest to us that the stories of some 3323 other ships and U-boats lost at sea during the war -- tragic but unexceptional. But, as the story was revealed in detail to our groggy brains, we were amazed to find that we were actually walking in or near the footsteps of survivors who had braved the icy waters, climbed an icy cliff while wet and covered with fuel oil and slogged through deep snow to find help as they were freezing. Near the end of the trail, we climbed up a steep slope and viewed down about 300 feet through the fog into the turbulent waters of Chambers Cove where one of the ships had crashed. Only now was the full impact of the story becoming evident. We could visualize sailors jumping off the ships as they broke up in the pounding surf. The storm that drove the ships off course and blinded their primitive and defective radar continued to pound the sailors against the rocky cliff. The water was so cold that if the sailors could not pull themselves out onto a small beach or icy rock, the usually died in about five minutes. Those who did not die from the cold were bashed to death upon the sharp rocks. In spite of these terrible conditions, 185 sailors survived due primarily to the assistance given by folks from St. Lawrence who helped them out of the water, pulled them up the cliff on ropes and helped them make the journey to St. Lawrence. There the women of the town took over and scrubbed the oil from the men, thawed them, nursed them, fed them and housed them. One woman scrubbed and scrubbed on one poor fellow, but could not remove the stain. Finally, he explained that his skin was actually black and that it was clean enough. The woman had never seen a black man before.

Chamber Cove and Fog When we returned to town, we visited the local mining museum which also had a section about the wreck. They also sold a book titled: “Standing into Danger” written by Cassie Brown – a Newfoundland native. I bought the book and began reading the details of the story. It was so fascinating that I could not put the book down at bedtime. When fatigue finally forced me to stop reading, I was unable to sleep – my mind was too full of sailors drowning in icy/oily water. But, the story was not just about tragedy; it is also about the indomitable human spirit, the incredible will to survive, the fallibility of humans especially under stressful conditions and Navy administrators keen to shift blame and scapegoat a few innocents. It is a story of miners and fishermen who dropped whatever they were doing to go out into a blinding, winter storm to save their fellow humans under the most trying of conditions. This town of St. Lawrence, Newfoundland pulled out all stops to rescue and save the sailors. As a way of showing appreciation, the US Government ponied up $400,000 in 1954 to build the town a new hospital. This old hospital has recently been torn down and a shiny new replacement hospital is still named the United States Memorial Hospital. As we are not dedicated students of American wars, it may be understandable that we would not know of this wartime story. The story is likely buried in some history book we were forced to read against our will many years ago in school. But, maybe if the citizens of Newfoundland had voted to become citizens of the USA instead of Canada (the vote was 49% to 51%) the story might be better known to American students. Who knows! In her book, Ms. Brown details the causes of the disaster. The hurricane-strength storm, the changeable currents, lack of visibility, poor communication between ships, zigzagging to avoid German U-boats, faulty equipment, failure of communication and advice ignored, all contributed. She

interviewed surviving sailors and residents of St. Lawrence and told their harrowing stories in some detail. She also found that in the subsequent and hasty court-martials of Captains and a navigator, some important information was overlooked which may have exonerated the navigator.

During wartime, a story like this might make the news headlines for a few days until the next ship was sunk or battle won. But maybe this story should be remembered because it is not just a tragic story of American history, it is also a testament to the fact that our Canadian and Newfoundland friends are truly good neighbors. Winfield