SS Flying Enterprise

SS ''Flying Enterprise'' was a 6,711 ton Type C1-B ship which sank in 1952. She was built in 1944 as SS ''Cape Kumukaki'' for the United States Maritime Commission for use in World War II. The ship was sold in 1947 and then operated in scheduled service under the name ''Flying Enterprise''.

History

''Cape Kumukaki'' was built by Consolidated Steel Corporation of Wilmington, California and launched on 7 January 1944. Delivered on 18 March 1944, she was owned by the United States War Shipping Administration and registered at Los Angeles.

After the end of World War II, she was sold in 1947 to the Isbrandtsen Company. At this time, her name was changed to the ''Flying Enterprise'' and re-registered in New York. For the next five years, she was used as a general cargo freighter in the North Atlantic.

On 21 December 1951, under the command of Henrik Kurt Carlsen, she left Hamburg, Germany bound for the USA. Among her cargo was of pig iron and of coffee, rags, peat moss, twelve Volkswagen cars, antiques and antique musical instruments, typewriters, of naphthalene as well as ten passengers. There is speculation that the cargo also included gold and zirconium.

Four days later, on Christmas night, she encountered a storm in the Western Approaches to the English Channel. Afterwards, it was discovered that she had suffered structural damage and a crack was found across the weather deck from a rogue wave. The cargo then shifted. An SOS was issued on 28 December, by which time she was listing 45 degrees to port. British flagged vessel MV ''Sherborne'' and USS ''General A. W. Greely'' responded, ''Sherborne'' being first to arrive, early in the morning of 29 December. Carlsen, however, was reluctant to evacuate passengers and crew to a British ship. ''Sherborne'' was asked to remain on station in case the situation deteriorated before an American ship arrived. The situation did deteriorate, just as USS ''General A W Greely'' arrived mid-afternoon and both ships sent lifeboats to pick up passengers and crew. The crew and passengers were evacuated with the loss of one life (a male passenger). Captain Carlsen remained on board. After passengers and crew had been evacuated, MV ''Sherborne'' was released and continued her voyage to Manchester.

By 2 January 1952, the USS ''John W. Weeks'' had arrived and relieved the merchant ships. The following day, the tug ''Turmoil'' arrived, guided by the searchlights from USS ''John W Weeks'', but found it impossible to take the ''Flying Enterprise'' in tow. The tug's mate, Kenneth Dancy, was then transferred to the ''Flying Enterprise'' on 4 January, by which time the list had increased to 60 degrees. The ship was taken in tow on 5 January, when she was some from Falmouth, Cornwall. On 6 January, USS ''Willard Keith'' relieved the ''John W Weeks'' and the French tug ''Abeille 25'' also joined the rescue effort. The tow line parted at 01:30 on 10 January, with ''Flying Enterprise'' south of The Lizard and from Falmouth. Later that day, the ''Turmoil'' was joined by the Trinity House vessel ''Satellite'' and the tugs ''Dexterous'' and ''Englishman''. Carlsen and Dancy finally abandoned ship at 15:22 hrs and were picked up by ''Turmoil''. The ''Flying Enterprise'' capsized and sank, stern first, at 16:10 hrs to whistle, siren and foghorn salutes from the flotilla.

The salvage attempts were criticised as the ship might have been saved by heading for the nearest safe harbour, Cork, rather than Falmouth.

A public house in Cork, Ireland is named the "Flying Enterprise" after the ship.

Salvage

In 1960, some $210,000 of the $800,000-worth of cargo was salvaged from ''Flying Enterprise'' by the Italian company Sorima. Under a confidentiality clause in the salvage contract, further details of the recovered cargo were not released.

In 1976 author Bjarne Bekker published "Flying Enterprise & Kurt Carlsen" that told the life story of Carlsen and his efforts to save the Flying Enterprise.
Carlsen was buried at sea at the ''Flying Enterprise's'' final resting place on 8 February 1990 after a journey to Japan in a safety box on SS ''Jutlandia''.

Wreck discovery and diving

In June 2001 British technical divers, rediscovered the lost shipwreck of ''Flying Enterprise'' almost 50 years after she had sunk. Deep wreck diver Leigh Bishop had researched the whereabouts of the sinking and obtained information from British government departments on the wreck's approximate location. Photographs taken by Leigh Bishop were enough to positively identify the wreck as that of the ''Flying Enterprise''.

In 2002 the Danish expedition company No Limit Diving and the Danish filmmaker Lasse Spang Olsen aired a documentary, ''The Mystery of Flying Enterprise'') to commemorate the 50th year of the sinking.

Later Leigh Bishop worked with US divers John Chatterton and Richie Kohler to film the wreck for a 2005 episode of the History Channel's ''Deep Sea Detectives''. This became the deepest wreck dived of the 56 episodes made.

The wreck now lies resting on her port side in a depth of on the seabed of the western approaches to the English Channel. Leigh Bishop recovered artifacts from the site, which went on display for many years to the general public in the Cornish Maritime Museum.

Speculation into the sinking and cargo

Speculations about a shipment of zirconium, intended for use in the first nuclear submarine USS ''Nautilus'' (SSN-571), but registered as pig iron, were discussed in a 2002 Danish television documentary ''Det Skæve skib'' (English title: ''The Mystery of Flying Enterprise'').

According to this documentary, information regarding the cargo is still (in the year 2002) regarded as confidential and details are not available from the CIA, FIA, Coast Guard and/or US Navy. On the other hand, there appears to have been no secret that the US Atomic Energy Commission was acquiring zirconium, so it is not clear why any of these organizations should actually have information related to the ''Flying Enterprise''. In the interview with Bekker, Carlsen tells him that yes the ship had a zirconium cargo and that it came from the German nuclear energy project. While there seems to be no reason to doubt the first statement, the origin of the zirconium is questionable as the German nuclear energy program was not very advanced. It has been speculated that the zirconium instead came from Philips in Eindhoven