SS Fort Mercer

SS ''Fort Mercer'' was a Type T2-SE-A1 tanker built by Sun Shipbuilding & Drydock Co., at Chester, Pennsylvania in October 1945. SS ''Fort Mercer'' (hull number 534) was built under a Maritime Commission contract and launched on 2 October 1945. With World War II ending on 15 August 1945, ''Fort Mercer'' did not serve in the war. ''Fort Mercer'' was owned and operated by the Trinidad Corporation of New York.

Loss and aftermath

On 18 February 1952, ''Fort Mercer'', full of kerosene and fuel oil, first cracked and then broke in two in a gale, east of Chatham, Massachusetts. Captain Frederick Paetzel radioed out for help, reporting waves were hitting the ship. When she broke in two, nine officers and crew were on the bow section, and 34 crewmen were on the stern section, with the radio and engine still working. The United States Coast Guard vessels and that were near Nantucket, Massachusetts about away headed to the two ''Fort Mercer'' sections. A Coast Guard PBY aircraft out of Coast Guard Air Station Salem was sent to look for the ship but did not find it. The Coast Guard vessels and , using liferafts and surfboats rescued four men from the bow.
Only five members of ''Fort Mercer''s 44-man crew were lost, all trapped in the sinking bow; one was swept off when the nine men moved from the flooding bridge to the foremost area of the bow. The other four all jumped overboard in an attempt to swim to the rescue ships, and were all swept away. The four remaining men aboard the bow, including the Captain, were rescued using a lifeboat and a life raft, both launched by Yakutat. Minutes after rescuing the last men, the bow capsized and would later be sunk with plastic explosives. (The story of ''Pendleton''s loss and rescue of surviving crewmen is told in the 2016 film, ''The Finest Hours''.)

The stern of ''Fort Mercer'', which remained afloat, was found by ''Eastwind''. Several men managed to jump from the stern, and onto the cutter, which pulled along side it. 13 remained aboard however, and the stern was subsequently towed to Newport, Rhode Island, where the last men safely disembarked. Later, the stern was outfitted with a new bow, and rechristened ''San Jacinto''. The new ship was longer and expanded from 26 to 29 tanks. The ship again split in half in 1964 and again was rebuilt, renamed this time ''The Pasadena''. ''The Pasadena'' was partially salvaged and mostly scrapped in 1983.coastguardnews.com, Coast Guard commemorates Cutter Eastwind tragedy, 20 Jan 2016
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In the same storm that broke ''Fort Mercer'' in two, , also a T2 tanker, broke up about away. Daring rescues by the Coast Guard Lifeboat CG 36500 carried out of ''Pendleton''s stern 32 survivors of 33. After grounding, ''Pendleton''s bow was boarded a week later. Of the eight victims stranded on this section, only one frozen body was recovered.

See also

* Daniel Webster Cluff, United States Coast Guard officer
* '' The Finest Hours - Movie''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fort Mercer, SS
Oilers
1945 ships
Type T2-SE-A1 tankers of the United States Navy
World War II tankers of the United States
Ships built by the Sun Shipbuilding & Drydock Company
Shipwrecks of the Massachusetts coast
Maritime incidents in 1952
World War II merchant ships of the United States
Maritime incidents in 1964