Last month, I began writing about the case of theDaniel J. Morrell, a Great Lakes bulk carrier built in 1906 that went down in a gale in November of 1966. I thought I would tell the story of how the ship split in two, and how all hands perished save 1 man. I thought, “How very like the story of that film,The Finest Hours, that told the story of Bernie Webber and his crew of Coasties who saved 32 sailors from the wreck of the T2 tankerPendleton.在这两种情况下,船头部分分裂和沉没,as the stern section just sailed on.” The Michael Tougias & Casey Sherman book of the same name, by the way, served as the basis for the movie.

Then I thought about other ships that split. The T2 tankerFort Mercer, that went down in the same storm asPendleton. TheCarl D. Bradley,another Laker. The T2 tankerSchenectady, just sitting at dock when it suddenly hogged and split. Historians have documented 19 Liberty ships as having split in 2 without warning. There were just too many ships, too many lives lost! What was happening to these vessels?Read more