SeaWaves Today in History October 9, 2008 1002 - Leif Eriksen lands in what is now North America 1576 - Martin Frobisher c1539-1594 sets sail for England from Baffin Island 1776 - A group of Spanish missionaries settled in present-day San Francisco 1812 - US Lieutenant Jesse Elliot leads two boats of American soldiers and sailors up the Niagara River, and at 3 -00 am, completely surprises the crews of the British ships 'Detroit' and 'Caledonia' at anchor under the protection of the guns of Fort Erie, freeing 40 American sailors who were prisoners aboard the two brigs, and capturing 70 British and Canadian sailors; in ten minutes sails them away. Caledonia makes it to the American naval base at Black Rock, but Detroit runs aground 1852 - The Lighthouse Board, which would administer the lighthouse system until 1 July 1910, was organized. "This Board was composed of two officers of the Navy, two officers of the Engineer Corps, and two civilians of high scientific attainments whose services were at the disposal of the President, and an officer of the Navy and of the, Engineers as secretaries. It was empowered under the Secretary of the Treasury to "discharge all the administrative duties" relative to lighthouses and other aids to navigation. The Secretary of the Treasury was president of the Board, and it was authorized to elect a chairman and to divide the coast of the United States into twelve lighthouse districts, to each of which the President was to assign an army or navy officer as lighthouse inspector" 1858 -The Secretary of the Treasury appointed a 3 man Board of USHM officers to consider a lifeboat design best adapted for life-saving work 1862 - During the Taiping rebellion in China, the British contingent included a Naval Brigade of Royal Navy sailors fighting ashore. During an action at Fung Wa, Able Seaman Hinckley rescued a wounded man lying in the open under heavy fire. He received the Victoria Cross 1867 - Spotted Island Labrador - William Jackman 1837-1877, captain of a Bowrings sealing steamer, swims through the surf to rescue 11 men from a wooden fishing vessel, the Sea Clipper, wrecked on a rocky reef. Then with the help of others and a rope, he swims out to the reef 16 more times to save the remaining men and women 1873 - LT Charles Belknap calls a meeting at the Naval Academy to establish the US Naval Institute for the purpose of disseminating scientific and professional knowledge throughout the Navy. That was the formal beginning of the USNI, but the organization actually got started out of simple disaffection by younger officers new to the Navy, who recognized that the USN was falling far behind its counterparts in other nations. The end of the American Civil War found the USN probably if not the largest (compared to the RN) almost surely second, but by any standard the most powerful: it had a very large and highly experienced force of veteran officers and men, and a unique new force of iron ships under steam, with pivoting turrets and huge guns. However, as with the Union Army, war's end saw a massive outpouring of manpower returning home as fast as possible, and within a couple of years nearly all of the new "monitor"-type warships were put into ordinary (where some still lay, rusting away, in the 1890s), older wooden ships were being scrapped. En fin, by 1870 the USN was well down the international scale of navies, and dropping. For all practical purposes it had few men, some wooden ships under sail, old guns and systems, and Congress giving it little money and none for improvement. And the Naval Academy was producing graduates few of whom got commissions -- with more than were needed; many were simply graduated and sent home. This was the situation that inspired those young officers who did get commissions to discuss the future at length. These discussions quickly became round-robin letters -- one would write about something, his epistle would be forwarded to another officer who would variously comment or essay yet another notion, and then forward it again, and so forth. In due course the recipients were transferred hither and yon, but one of the very first things the new USNI did was establish those round-robin letters as a member-subscription magazine -- the now-famous Proceedings, which to this day is based upon professional critiques and ideas 1905 - The Karlstad Agreement is approved by the Storting by a vote of 101 for and 16 against 1919 - Destroyer USS Simpson laid down 1919 - Minesweeper USS Sandpiper commissioned 1923 - Light cruiser USS Marblehead launched 1924 - Heavy cruiser HMS Cornwall laid down 1930 - Heavy cruiser FS Dupleix launched 1930 - Destroyer HMS Brilliant launched 1930 - Destroyer FS Maille Breze laid down 1932 - Soviet submarine SC-117 laid down 1939 - US flagged SS City of Flint captured by the German pocket battleship Deutschland as part of efforts to damage British trade. The Germans searched the ship and seized her when found supplies for Britain, which they said, were "contraband" under the Prize Rules for war at sea. Now the City of Flint is headed for the Russian port of Murmansk with a German Prize crew, which is hoping eventually to bring her to a German port 1939 - In the North Atlantic, the British Northern Patrol continues operations between the Shetlands, Faeroes, and Iceland. The light cruiser HMS Belfast successfully intercepts the German liner SS Cap Norte that is trying to return to Germany disguised as a neutral vessel. The liner is boarded and sent under armed guard to a British port. Cap Norte is the largest enemy merchant ship intercepted to date and under Admiralty law HMS Belfast's crew received "prize money" in the form of a cash gratuity for her capture. The ship is renamed Empire Trooper by the British 1939 - President Franklin D. Roosevelt, in memorandum for the Acting Secretary of the Navy, expresses displeasure with "the slowness of getting the East Coast, Caribbean, and Gulf Patrol under way," the "lag between the making of contacts and the follow-up of the contact," and the weakness of the liaison between the Navy, the Coast Guard and the State Department. The Chief Executive emphasizes that "in this whole patrol business time is of the essence and loss of contact with surface ships will not be tolerated." Roosevelt urges that patrol planes and naval or Coast Guard ships "may report the sighting of any submarine or suspicious surface ship in plain English" 1939 - Destroyer USS Woolsey laid down 1939 - Armed merchant cruiser HMS Carnarvon Castle commissioned 1939 - U-351, U-352, U-353, U-354, U-651, U-652, U-653, U-654, U-655, U-656, U-657, U-658, U-659, U-660, U-661, U-662, U-701, U-702, U-703, U-704, U-705, U-706, U-751, U-752, U-753, U-754, U-755, U-756, U-757, U-758, U-759, U-760, U-761, U-762 ordered 1939 - The first generator at Boulder (later Hoover) Dam began transmitting electricity to Los Angeles 1940 U-103 sighted Convoy SC-6 and sank SS Delphin & SS Zannes Gounaris and damaged SS Graigwen in Convoy SC-6. After the successful attack at 2200 hrs the boat was depth charged by a convoy escort 1940 - Minesweeper HMCS Ungava launched North Vancouver BC 1940 - 108 RAF aircraft raid the battleship Tirpitz in drydock at Wilhelmshaven 1941 - Minesweeper HMAS Toowoomba commissioned 1941 - Destroyer HMS Onslaught launched 1941 - Trawler HMS Anticosti laid down 1941 - Submarine HMS Untamed laid down 1941 - Heavy cruiser USS Quincy laid down 1941 - Destroyer HMS Southwold commissioned 1941 - U-215, U-512 launched 1941 - By chance U-71 met U-204, U-83 and U-372 some 500 miles off Spain 1941 - U-334, U-591 commissioned 1941 - President Roosevelt asked arming of American-flag ships engaged in foreign commerce 1941 - US President Roosevelt asks Congress to allow US merchant ships to be armed and to repeal various sections of the Neutrality Act 1942 - Help for the heavily damaged U-333 came in the form of a meeting in the mid-Atlantic. A doctor from the milk cow U-459 came on board U-333 to aid the badly wounded commander Ali Cremer. On the same day Kapitänleutnant Lorenz Kasch transferred from U-107 and took over command of U-333 1942 - During very bad weather in the North Atlantic a lookout on U-443 broke his arm 1942 - U-171 sunk at 1300 hrs in the Bay of Biscay near Lorient, France, in position 47.39N, 03.34W, by mines. 22 dead and 30 survivors 1942 - U-159 sank SS Coloradan 1942 - U-201 sank SS Flensburg 1942 - U-254 sank SS Pennington Court 1942 - U-68 sank SS Belgian Fighter & SS Examelia 1942 - The Canadian Government merchant ship Carolus, an ex-Finnish registered freighter (2,375 GRT), was sunk by a torpedo from U-69, Kptlt. Jost Metzler, Knight's Cross, CO, off Matane, Quebec, in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Carolus had been a member of convoy NL-9. HMC ships Arrowhead and Hepatica rescued 19 of her 30 crewmembers. U-69 was a medium-range Type VIIC submarine built by Germaniawerft, at Kiel. She was commissioned on 02 Nov 40. U-69 conducted 11 patrols and compiled a most impressive record of 17 ships sunk for a total of 70,311 tons and one ship damaged for a further 4,887 tons. U-69 was sunk on 17 Feb 43 in the North Atlantic east of Newfoundland in position 50.36N, 041.07W, by depth charges from the British destroyer HMS Fame. All 46 crewmembers were lost. Kptlt. Ulrich Gräf was the CO at the time U-69 was sunk, her fourth commander. Jost Metzler was born in 1909, at Altshausen, Württemberg. He joined the navy in 1932 after eight years in the merchant marine, some of it on sailing ships. His first wartime service was as the First Watch Officer in the auxiliary minesweeper Grille. After 13 minesweeping patrols, Metzler transferred to the U-boat force in Apr 40 and, after conversion training, was selected immediately for command and underwent his U-boat commander's course between Aug and Sep 40. He spent several more months with the Training Staff of the 27th U-Flotilla before being assigned to commission the Type VIIC boat U-69, on 02 Nov 40, at the age of 32. In four patrols that ranged from the English Channel to Lagos, Nigeria, and to the St. Lawrence River, Metzler compiled a record of 11 ships sunk for a total of 53,684 tons and one ship damaged for a further of 4,887 tons. He was awarded the Knight's Cross on 28 Jul 41, the 35th presented in the U-boat force. Metzler had to leave U-69 in Aug 41 due to a renal infection that hindered him for the rest of his life. After two months in hospital, he was appointed to the training staff of the 25th U-boat Flotilla. In May 42 he was appointed as the Senior Training Officer of the 27th Flotilla. He commanded the long-range, Type IXD2 boat U-874 for two months in early 43 as she prepared to deploy on operations and was replaced by Kptlt Herbert Kuppisch, Knight's Cross. He was promoted to KKpt. on 01 Oct 43 and was assigned as the first commander of the 19th U-Flotilla, a training formation. He remained in this position until the Capitulation. There is no record that he was detained after the end of the war. Jost Metzler died on 29 Sep 75, at Bavendorf-Ravensburg 1942 - Escort carrier HMS Speaker laid down 1942 - Destroyer USS Conway commissioned 1942 - Submarine USS Haddo commissioned 1942 - Trawler HMS Magdalen arrived Sydney NS & proceeded to Picton to workup 1942 - First three schools for enlisted WAVES open at Stillwater, OK (Yeoman), Bloomington, IN (Storekeepers), and Madison, WI (Radiomen) 1942 - 20 F4F Wildcats of Marine Fighting Squadron One Hundred Twenty One (VMF-121) are launched from the auxiliary aircraft carrier USS Copahee and land at Fighter-1 in the Solomons 1942 - Japanese seaplane carrier HIJMS Nisshin delivers 6 antiaircraft guns, two 10 cm howitzers, equipment and 180 men on Guadalcanal while 4 destroyers unload mortars and 560 men of the 4th Maizuru Special Naval Landing Force 1942 - US reinforcements of the Army's 164th Infantry Regiment are on the way as a troop convoy, consisting of the transports USS McCawley & Zeilin along with 8 high speed transports (Rear Admiral Richmond K. Turner) sail from Noumea, New Caledonia for Guadalcanal 1942 - US Army Middle East Air Force B-24 Liberators strike shipping and harbor facilities at Bengazi 1942 - Submarine HIJMS I-7 launches a "Glen" reconnaissance aircraft (Yokosuka E14Y1, Navy Type 0 Small Reconnaissance Seaplane) to reconnoiter Espiritu Santo Island 1942 - Submarine USS Drum sinks a Japanese merchant cargo ship 1943 - MAC ship Ancylus launched 1943 - Frigate HMCS Stettler launched 1943 - Frigate USS Beaufort launched 1943 - Frigate HMS Retalick launched 1943 - Destroyer escort USS Durik launched 1943 - Minesweeper HMCS St Boniface commissioned 1943 - Minelayer HMS Apollo commissioned 1943 - Submarine HMS Stratagem commissioned 1943 - Minesweeper USS Chief commissioned 1943 - Submarine USS Sand Lance commissioned 1943 - U-220 laid a field of 66 mines off St John’s, which later claimed two ships, sunk 1943 - U-737 was attacked by shore-based artillery off Barentsburg (Spitsbergen), but the boat dived and did not sustain any damage 1943 - U-645 sank SS Yorkmar in Convoy SC-143 1943 - U-244 commissioned 1943 - U-297, U-901 launched 1943 - Cruiser HMS Carlisle damaged in the Eastern Mediterranean, south west of Rhodes in Scarpanto Strait by German Ju-87 divebombers. Not repaired 1943 - Destroyer HMS Panther sunk by aircraft bombs in the Scarpanto Strait, Dodecanese 1943 - At 0036 hours, destroyer USS Buck (LCDR M. Klein, lost) was on patrol off Salerno, when she was hit in the bow by a Gnat fired by U-616, causing the forward magazine to explode and sank within four minutes. Destroyer USS Gleaves and landing craft HMS LCT-170 picked up the survivors 1943 - In the Pacific, two US submarines sink an IJA cargo ship and a merchant vessel 1944 - U-2338 commissioned 1944 - U-2352 laid down 1944 - U-636 set a reconnaissance party ashore on Hope Island to look for a landing place for a weather report aircraft 1944 - U-978 carried out the longest Schnorchel patrol of the war, 68 days from Bergen, Norway on 9 Oct 1944 to Bergen again on 16 Dec 1944. This even surpassed the much more famous 66-day submerged run U-977 undertook while en route to Argentina to surrender there in August 1945 1944 - Aircraft carrier USS Randolph commissioned 1944 - Destroyer escort USS French commissioned 1944 - Frigate USS Charlotte commissioned 1944 - Destroyer HMS Zealous commissioned 1944 - In the North Pacific, the USN's Task Group 30.2 (Rear Admiral Allan E. Smith) consisting of 3 heavy cruisers and 6 destroyers conducts a diversionary bombardment of Japanese installations on Marcus Island. Enemy return fire is intense and accurate at the outset, with Japanese gunners repeatedly straddling US ships 1944 - In the Solomon Islands, the USN's Special Air Task Force (STAG 1) continues operations from Stirling Island in the Treasury Islands. Four Interstate TDR-1 target drones controlled from converted TBM-1C Avengers are launched against Matupi Bridge, Simpson Harbor, Rabaul, on New Britain Island. Antiaircraft fire, however, downs three of the TDRs; one is lost en route to the target 1944 - In the Pacific, US submarines sink two merchant tankers and a merchant cargo ship 1944 - 3 USAAF B-24s hit shipping along the lower Yangtze River 1944 - Saipan-based USN Navy PB4Ys, on interdiction patrols in the path of Task Force 58 as it approaches the Ryukyu Islands, damage Japanese auxiliary submarine chaser HIJMS Sankyo Maru off Okinawa 1944 - Admiral Nimitz orders Iwo Jima to be invaded on 20 January 1945 1945 - USS SC-636 sunk off Okinawa 1945 - USS PC-584 sunk by typhoon at Okinawa 1945 - Motor Gunboat USS PGM-27 destroyed by grounding during typhoon at Buckner Bay Okinawa 9 October 1945 - USS PC-590 destroyed by grounding during typhoon at Buckner Bay Okinawa 1945 - High speed minesweeper (ex-destroyer) USS Dorsey wrecked in a Typhoon off Okinawa when she was driven aground (3 casualties.) Her hulk was destroyed on 11 January 1946 1945 - Minesweepers HMCS Cowichan & Malpeque paid off & laid up Shelburne NS 1945 - Parade in New York City honors FADM Chester W. Nimitz and 13 other Navy and Marine Corps Medal of Honor winners 1945 - USS PC-590 (Coast Guard-manned) grounded and sank in typhoon off Okinawa 1950 - UN forces launch major attack across 38th parallel 1954 - Minesweepers HMCS Chaleur & Miramichi recommissioned as FS La Dieppoise & La Lorientraise respectively. Paid for by US MDAP funds 1957 - Frigate HMCS La Hulloise recommissioned after ASW modernization 1961 - USS Princeton rescues 74 survivors of two shipwrecks (US lines Pioneer Muse and SS Sheik) from the island of Kita Daito Shima 1969 - USS Bon Homme Richard port call Subic Bay 1972 - USS America port call Subic Bay 1985 - The hijackers of the Achille Lauro cruise liner surrendered after the ship arrived in Port Said, Egypt 1999 - Boeing Sea Launch puts first satellite into orbit 2000 - Submarine HMCS Victoria (ex-HMS Unseen) departed UK for Canada 2005 - At 2245 Thames coastguard were alerted by a 999 call from a man reporting that Southend pier was on fire. Thames Coastguard called out the Southend Coastguard rescue team and requested the launch of Southend, Gravesend, and Sheerness RNLI lifeboats after receiving further reports that they were three possibly four anglers unaccounted for. A rescue helicopter has also been scrambled to conduct a search from the air. Fire and Ambulance units are also at the scene. The blaze is believed to be in the restaurant area of the pier but has spread to the station at the seaward end. Southend pier is approximately one mile long and is one of the oldest piers in the country 2005 - USS Enterprise was involved in Hampton Roads which rendered it dead in the water. Navy officials say the ship was pulling out of the Northrop Grumman Newport News shipyard and came too close to a sand bar as the tugs were turning it around. The aircraft carrier sucked sand and silt into its condensers - equipment that helps power the ship. The system automatically shut down. A spokesman saying if it hadn't shutdown, it would have been equivalent to putting sand in your car's gas tank, it could have blown out the engines. Without power, the ship had to be pulled to Naval Station Norfolk where work is currently underway to clean out the system and figure out how much damage the sand and silt caused. Enterprise was already four months late leaving the shipyard. It was in the shipyard for routine maintenance 2005 - Members of the Hunley Commission want workers helping tear down bridges over the Cooper River to lend their cranes to saving artifacts from three Civil War ships that were sunk by Confederates. The artifacts, including a cannon discovered decades ago, could be helpful not just to display with the Hunley, but also to help figure out the best way to preserve the Confederate submarine 2005 - A cargo ship was standing by a crippled yacht northeast of New Zealand waiting for daylight to try to rescue the crew. The 5000-tonne refrigerated freighter Maunakea was in radio contact with an injured man and a woman aboard the New Zealand registered yacht Janette Gay. The crew of an RNZAF Orion found the yacht wallowing in heavy seas and strong winds after it sent a mayday call. The air force crew circled the area, keeping an eye on the yacht until after the Maunakea arrived. The aircraft then headed for Auckland about 2200. New Zealand Rescue Co-ordination Center spokesman Lindsay Sturt said late last night the freighter's skipper reported the ship did not have search floodlights, and conditions made it too risky and difficult to attempt a rescue bid in darkness. The yacht was 780km northeast of the Chatham Islands, about halfway between New Zealand and the Cooks, the yacht's destination 2005 - The Pha Rung Shipyard Company, under the Vietnam Ship Building Industry Corporation (Vinashin), signed a contract to build five ships for the Forturne Marine Company of the Republic of Korea (RoK), according to a report from the Vietnam News Agency. This contract is significant, as it is Vinashin's first contract to export ships to the RoK. The 110 x 8.2 m, 6,500-ton ships will each cost approximately $11 million. Work for building the first ship is scheduled to begin in late 2005, with the ship transferred to the RoK 18 months later. After successfully building the 6,300-toe ship, Cai Lan 2, the Pha Rung Shipyard Company has won two consecutive contracts to build eight ships to be exported to the United Kingdom and five others to the RoK 2005 - United Arab Shipping Co's damaged containership Fowairet, which ran aground near Antwerp three weeks ago, has been towed to Rotterdam by joint salvors Multraship Salvage and URS Salvage and Maritime Contracting. The 2,757 TEU ship was carrying almost 2,000 containers, 127 of them with hazardous cargo. After the grounding, the vessel was held in Flushing. Damage included a cracked fuel tank resulting in oil leakage, which was contained by anti-pollution craft with sweepers. In Flushing, salvors offloaded the deck cargo of approximately 600 containers into barges in order to reduce the ship's draft sufficiently to enable it to be shifted and moored at Flushing's Verbrugge Terminal. At Verbrugge, the oil was pumped out of the damaged and leaking tanks, and into a lightering tanker. About 1,000 more containers were offloaded at Verbrugge, leaving onboard 297 boxes containing non-hazardous cargo in an attempt to evenly distribute the stresses on the damaged hull during transit. Under the tow of two tugs, with a further two escort tugs, anti-pollution craft and two fast-rescue boats in attendance; the Fowairet was then towed to Rotterdam. The ship is expected to be repaired by Damen Shiprepair Rotterdam 2005 - The Coast Guard rescued two men today near Cannon Beach, Ore. after they became stranded off shore while surfing. An HH-60 Jayhawk helicopter from Coast Guard Air Station Astoria and a 47-foot motor lifeboat from Station Tillamook Bay were launched about noon after a citizen at Ecola State Beach reported that the men were in distress. A Cannon Beach Fire Department beach rescue team also responded, but was unable to reach the men from shore due to 10-foot swells, 22-knot winds and strong rip currents. The Jayhawk helicopter crew hoisted one of the men from the 52-degree water and the second man from a nearby rock formation about 1220. The two men were transported to Air Station Astoria, where awaiting emergency medical technicians treated and released the men 2006 - The North Atlantic Council (NAC) and the Political and Security Committee (PSC) of the European Union will meet at NATO Headquarters 2006 - Coast Guard is searching for a man missing in the East River near 51 St. in Manhattan since 1715. A report from 911 operators that a homeless man jumped into the river during an altercation with another homeless person there. Witnesses reported that the other individual involved in the fight threw a bag belonging to the victim into the water and that he jumped in after it. The man disappeared and never surfaced. A rescue crew from Station New York was immediately dispatched and arrived on scene at 1730 to assist the New York Police Department led search 2006 - VT Shipbuilding, working in partnership with Elefsis Shipbuilding, launched HS Ritsos, the fifth of a class of five 62m FAC for the Hellenic Navy at the Elefsis shipyard on October 9. 2006 - Joint salvors SvitzerWijsmuller Salvage and SMIT Salvage have succeeded in refloating the grounded Liquid Petroleum Gas Carrier Kew Bridge off Ratnagiri, south of Mumbai 2006 - Keppel Kazakhstan LLP (Keppel Kazakhstan), a unit of Keppel Corporation Limited through Keppel Offshore & Marine Ltd (Keppel O&M), has launched transportation barge AKKU1, built for Agip Kazakhstan North Caspian Operating Company N.V. (Agip KCO) 2007 - United States agreed to return a Korean battle flag to South Korea this month on a lease basis, 126 years after the US Navy captured it during an armed conflict. The 4.5-meter by 4.5-meter flag has been on display at the US Naval Academy in Maryland since the US took it as "spoils" from Korean general Uh Je-yeon during an 1871 battle at Gwangseong Fort in Ganghwa-do Island, west of Seoul. The conflict broke out as the US attempted to open Korea to trade, and was subsequently christened by the New York Herald as "Our Little War With The Heathen" 2007 - In his first public visit since becoming the Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Gary Roughead addressed the annual Navy Day Luncheon at the Philadelphia Union League 2007 - US Navy is concerned about a gravel project on Hood Canal. A Navy captain wrote the Jefferson County community development department that gravel barges could interfere with operations at the Bangor submarine base, if a barge went out of control and damaged the Hood Canal floating bridge. The county is considering a proposal from the Fred Hill Materials company of Poulsbo to build a four-mile conveyor to take gravel from a pit at Shine to a pier on Hood Canal 2008 - Defence Ministers will hold informal meetings in Budapest, Hungary, on Thursday 9 and Friday 10 October 2008, under the chairmanship of the NATO Secretary General, Mr Jaap de Hoop Scheffer. The Minister of Defence of Hungary, His Excellency Mr Imre Szekeres, will host the meetings Copyright 2008 Shirlaw News Group ISSN 1710-6966 Today in History Archives This information is licensed to the recipient only. Images may be subject to copyright. Ask before you right-click. Royal Navy photos are Courtesy of www.oldships.org.uk unless otherwise indicated. To contact us: 418-145 West Keith Rd North Vancouver BC V7M 1L3 Canada Phone: 778-338-4073 Fax: 778-338-4074 Read our Maritime Mishap Blog Manage your subscription