New Shipwreck Located

[PTid]

The SS West Lashaway has been discovered.

 

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[Treasure_Hunter]

Without more info or a link to discovery, the thread doesn't mean much.

 

[ARC]

Sinking[edit]​

After the United States entered World War II in December 1941, West Lashaway continued to operate in the Africa trade. On the night of 30 August 1942, while returning to the United States from Matadi, Congo with nine civilian passengers and a cargo of 7,670 tons of tin, copper, cocoa beans and palm oil, West Lashaway was struck on the starboard side at around 2:30 pm by two torpedoes fired from U-66. The ship sank very quickly—in two minutes or less—and consequently there was no time to launch any lifeboats. Fortunately, the vessel was also equipped with a number of prepared wooden rafts which floated free when the ship went down, allowing the survivors to board them.[15][16]

Survivors' ordeal[edit]​

Shortly after the sinking, U-66 surfaced and briefly opened fire with small arms, but soon departed, leaving a total of 42 survivors on four rafts from the ship's original complement of 56. The rafts stayed together for the first few days, but then two became separated and were never seen again. The remaining two, which had been lashed together, later decided to separate in hopes of increasing their chances of being found. One of these rafts contained 19 people, including the ship's captain, 11 crew, two armed guards, and five of the ship's original nine passengers including a missionary's wife, Mrs Bell, and her two children aged 13 and 11, and two children from another family. The captain and one of the armed guards died within the first few days, leaving a total of seventeen.[15][16]

The occupants of this raft initially assumed they would be rescued quickly, but two weeks went by until even with strict rationing they were running low on food and water.[15][17] They were eventually sighted by aircraft and some supplies dropped. After nineteen days on the open sea, they were rescued by the destroyer HMS Vimy (D33), but not before the rescuers had fired 16 rounds at the raft in the mistaken impression it was a German submarine. After transfer to the Dutch merchant steamship Prins William Van Oranje, the survivors were landed at Barbados.[15][17] One of the children, Robert Bell, would later write a book, In Peril on the Sea: A Personal Remembrance, about the ordeal.

25 days after the sinking of West Lashaway, the raft which had been cut loose washed up on the island of St. Vincent, with the body of Gunner's Mate 3/C Dalton Munn, and the sole survivor of this group, boatswain Elliott Gurnee.[15][17]

 

[PTid]

Without more info or a link to discovery, the thread doesn't mean much.

Sorry about that, I will post images later on. It's not been made public at this time. But it's an interesting discovery and the back story is very good. By the way, I discovered the Japanese submarine I-52.

 

[ARC]

General characteristics
Name	SS West Lashaway
Operator	U.S. Navy 1918 U.S. Shipping Board 1919 American-West African Line ~1930
Builder	Skinner & Eddy
Laid down	8 Jul 1918
Launched	12 Sep 1918
Completed	30 Sep 1918
Commissioned	30 Sep 18–12 Apr 19
In service	30 Sep 18–30 Aug 42
Stricken	12 Apr 1919
Fate	Torpedoed by U-66, 30 August 1942
Type	Design 1013 cargo ship
Tonnage	5,600 gross, 8,800 dwt
Displacement	11,390 tons
Length	423 ft 9 in (129.16 m) 410 ft 5 in (125.10 m) bp
Beam	54 ft (16 m)
Draft	24 ft 2 in (7.37 m)
Depth of hold	29 ft 9 in (9.07 m)
Installed power	1 × steam turbine
Propulsion	Single screw
Speed	11.5 kn (21.3 km/h)
Complement	World War I (USN): 70 Peacetime: about 40 World War II: 47 (38 crew, 9 gunners)
Armament	World War I: none World War II: n/a

 

[Mackaydon]

PTid
Welcome to treasureNet !!
We know one another.
Send me an email and let me know what else has happened in the last 20+ years.
mackaydon@aol.com
Don.......

 

[RedLeaf]

Here's some info w/ photo from wrecksite.eu https://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?135737

 

[Magoopeter]

Sorry about that, I will post images later on. It's not been made public at this time. But it's an interesting discovery and the back story is very good. By the way, I discovered the Japanese submarine I

Sinking[edit]​

After the United States entered World War II in December 1941, West Lashaway continued to operate in the Africa trade. On the night of 30 August 1942, while returning to the United States from Matadi, Congo with nine civilian passengers and a cargo of 7,670 tons of tin, copper, cocoa beans and palm oil, West Lashaway was struck on the starboard side at around 2:30 pm by two torpedoes fired from U-66. The ship sank very quickly—in two minutes or less—and consequently there was no time to launch any lifeboats. Fortunately, the vessel was also equipped with a number of prepared wooden rafts which floated free when the ship went down, allowing the survivors to board them.[15][16]

Survivors' ordeal[edit]​

Shortly after the sinking, U-66 surfaced and briefly opened fire with small arms, but soon departed, leaving a total of 42 survivors on four rafts from the ship's original complement of 56. The rafts stayed together for the first few days, but then two became separated and were never seen again. The remaining two, which had been lashed together, later decided to separate in hopes of increasing their chances of being found. One of these rafts contained 19 people, including the ship's captain, 11 crew, two armed guards, and five of the ship's original nine passengers including a missionary's wife, Mrs Bell, and her two children aged 13 and 11, and two children from another family. The captain and one of the armed guards died within the first few days, leaving a total of seventeen.[15][16]

The occupants of this raft initially assumed they would be rescued quickly, but two weeks went by until even with strict rationing they were running low on food and water.[15][17] They were eventually sighted by aircraft and some supplies dropped. After nineteen days on the open sea, they were rescued by the destroyer HMS Vimy (D33), but not before the rescuers had fired 16 rounds at the raft in the mistaken impression it was a German submarine. After transfer to the Dutch merchant steamship Prins William Van Oranje, the survivors were landed at Barbados.[15][17] One of the children, Robert Bell, would later write a book, In Peril on the Sea: A Personal Remembrance, about the ordeal.

25 days after the sinking of West Lashaway, the raft which had been cut loose washed up on the island of St. Vincent, with the body of Gunner's Mate 3/C Dalton Munn, and the sole survivor of this group, boatswain Elliott Gurnee.[15][17]

The SS West Lashaway has been discovered.

Deep found, two year ago, been picking at it think the silver is gone and it might not be economical to salvage the tin or copper?

 

[PTid]

I have attached some interesting reading material. I'm sure most of you have read it, but maybe a few haven't.

 

[Magoopeter]

Skimmed through this, the gold reserves in the Congo were removed in 1940 and taken to London. What German forces were invading the Congo, the Congo remined neutral during WWII.

A gold bar is a standard weight, 35lbs a bar is too heavy? Two thousand bars at 35lbs that is 43 US tons, that about 10 years gold production in the Congo in the 1940,s.

By February 1942 the Allies had put in place an aviation system to transport gold and diamonds out of the Congo, all routed via Cairo. One crashed, if you interested. I haven’t read all of your PDF but will do, thanks for posting this it is interesting.

 

[FISHEYE]

The gold wasnt stored in the captains cabin.Someone i know did the extensive research on this wreck and even talked to the survivors and their families.

 

[ARC]

The gold wasnt stored in the captains cabin.Someone i know did the extensive research on this wreck and even talked to the survivors and their families.

It would be...... IF....

I were captain :P

 

[crashbandicoot]

Welcome PTid. Nice info on the ship ARC.

 

[Darren in NC]

There may finally be some resolution to many questions. I researched the WL for years. I saw the officer video who was in charge of loading the gold. The gold was DeGaulle's for the Free French. The officer seemed to think he loaded it in the captain's office, not his living quarters. The flooring had to be shored up. I spoke with Robert Bell (survivor) and his family, also. Problem is, the torpedo exploded near the latex storage and caused an even larger explosion amidships...which would have sent the officer's area in a multitude of directions. The ship was thought by survivors (floating nearby) to have separated in the explosion. If this is accurate, the ship had 3 miles down to sink, and the gold could have scattered over a very large area. I hope my conclusions are wrong, and there is success in finding the gold.

 

[Magoopeter]

There may finally be some resolution to many questions. I researched the WL for years. I saw the officer video who was in charge of loading the gold. The gold was DeGaulle's for the Free French. The officer seemed to think he loaded it in the captain's office, not his living quarters. The flooring had to be shored up. I spoke with Robert Bell (survivor) and his family, also. Problem is, the torpedo exploded near the latex storage and caused an even larger explosion amidships...which would have sent the officer's area in a multitude of directions. The ship was thought by survivors (floating nearby) to have separated in the explosion. If this is accurate, the ship had 3 miles down to sink, and the gold could have scattered over a very large area. I hope my conclusions are wrong, and there is success in finding the gold.

Ill ask for more details , but I am sure the guy I talked to said it was silver and it was taken of but maybe he never knew of the gold as it was secret Gold?

 

[Magoopeter]

Well, anyone that has worked on a ship that size knows all the crew never sleeps ,at the same time, the Captain’s cabin would be also his office, so secret gold, I think a stack of boxes in any one’s cabin would be a topic for discussion amongst the crew. How ever I have seen small bullion rooms in those offices.

The trusted office had to be the Engineering officer, otherwise he too would wonder about the boxes stashed in his cabin, also if he was not in on it how would you get all those boxes into some one’s cabin who was sleeping without waking him.

Although I do remember talking all the furniture that I could get my hands on and placing it in the hotel room of a very drunk diver, when he woke the next morning he found his way to the door completely blocked with furniture stacked to the roof, he had to phone reception to be extracted.

What stupid things we do when we are young, got in a lot of trouble for that never mind the state we left the kitchen in after raiding it for food at 3 in the morning.

 

[Darren in NC]

"the Captain’s cabin would be also his office"

Not in the 1013 design, as the WL was.

 

[Salvor6]

"the Captain’s cabin would be also his office"

Not in the 1013 design, as the WL was.

How do you know that?

 

[Darren in NC]

Did you click on the attachment photo, Pete?

 

[Darren in NC]

Here's a photo of the WL being loaded. The captain's office would be just under the life preserver where the three portholes are.