The was a
C1-M-AV1 ship owned by the
War Shipping Administration
The War Shipping Administration (WSA) was a World War II emergency war agency of the US government, tasked to purchase and operate the civilian shipping tonnage the United States needed for fighting the war. Both shipbuilding under the Maritime C ...
. She was operated by
United States Lines
United States Lines was an organization of the United States Shipping Board's (USSB) Emergency Fleet Corporation (EFC), created to operate German liners seized by the United States in 1917. The ships were owned by the USSB and all finances of t ...
from 1944 to 1947 under a bareboat under
charter
A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified. It is implicit that the granter retains superiority (or sovereignty), and that the ...
with the
Maritime Commission
The United States Maritime Commission was an independent executive agency of the U.S. federal government that was created by the Merchant Marine Act of 1936, which was passed by Congress on June 29, 1936, and was abolished on May 24, 1950. The c ...
and War Shipping Administration for
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
.
In 1947 she was operated by the
Alaska Steamship Co. She sank in the
Strait of Juan de Fuca
The Strait of Juan de Fuca (officially named Juan de Fuca Strait in Canada) is a body of water about long that is the Salish Sea's main outlet to the Pacific Ocean. The Canada–United States border, international boundary between Canada and the ...
on the night of August 12, 1947, after a collision with the , a
Victory class ship. The ''Fenn Victory'' was repaired and returned to service. At 1:15 AM, in fog, the bow of the ''Fenn Victory'' cut into the starboard side of the ''Diamond Knot''. The cut was over 14 feet deep in to the ''Diamond Knot''. The ''Fenn Victory'' had departed
Seattle
Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...
, she was partly loaded. The two ships were locked for a time, after getting free the ''Diamond Knot'' trying to get to shore sank at 8:57 AM, in 135 feet of water just off of
Tongue Point, Washington. The sinking resulted in the largest collision cargo loss in the waters of the Pacific Coast to that time. The ship was carrying a seven million cans of
salmon
Salmon (; : salmon) are any of several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the genera ''Salmo'' and ''Oncorhynchus'' of the family (biology), family Salmonidae, native ...
, most of which was subsequently recovered, repackaged, and sold.
The wreck remains on the seafloor where it originally sank, at a depth of 70 to 130 ft, and is a popular spot for recreational SCUBA divers west of
Salt Creek Recreation Area.
M/S Diamond Knot
DCS Films
See also
* Type C1 ship
Type C1 was a designation for cargo ships built for the United States Maritime Commission before and during World War II. Total production was 493 ships built from 1940 to 1945. The first C1 types were the smallest of the three original Maritim ...
* USNS Private John F. Thorson a C1-M-AV1
* USNS Rose Knot
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Diamond Knot
Maritime incidents in 1947
Type C1 ships