Posted on 03/23/2016 1:25:55 PM PDT by NRx
The USS Conestoga left the Navy yard at Mare Island, Calif., on Good Friday, 1921, bound for Pearl Harbor, with a complement of 56 sailors.
It cleared the Golden Gate at 3:25 p.m. and steamed into the Gulf of the Farallones in heavy seas. Conestoga was a rugged oceangoing tug that had once hauled coal barges for a Pennsylvania railroad.
But 17 years after its launch in Baltimore, it had undergone hard use and had a reputation as a “wet boat,” one that shipped water easily.
At 4 p.m. that day, as the San Francisco light ship recorded big waves and gale-force winds, Conestoga passed Point Bonita and was not heard from again.
Wednesday, 95 years later, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Navy announced that the wreck has been found a few miles from Southeast Farallon Island, just off the California coast.
The announcement came at a morning ceremony at the U.S. Navy Memorial in Washington, attended by relatives of the lost sailors.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Large image of officers in crew can be found here...
Poor b*stards didn’t get very far.
Buncha youths on the upper deck.
Captain wired in he had water comin in......
Sobering loss. “Peacetime” deaths are always with us though against the seas.
Three miles offshore of the Farallons seems swimmable, but unfortunately it’s a breeding ground for great white sharks.
Interesting story that it was out in the ocean.
It says it was a tug boat, do tug boats usually go out that far?
I’m not a Navy guy, only time I spent on a boat was getting to the SE Asia theatre (and hated every damn bit of it), so am kind of curious what Navy Tugs were used for? The same as here to bring big ships into harbor?
Just curious, seems like there are quite a few Navy folks on FR.
Open water, cold, waves. Even an expert swimmer wouldn’t have much of a chance.
An ocean going tug would be used for towing duties.
What a shame and thanks for the photo
They do if they’re bound for Pearl Harbor.
WAPO keeps pulling i have watched my limit BS
No way am i subscribing so oh well...
-PJ
Pasting the article title into Google used to allow you to bypass the paywall, however the WP has closed that loophole. However, the google search often turns up the same article republished in another newspaper that doesn’t have a paywall.
The USS Conestoga was an "ocean-going tug". The USN requires such vessels because large ships (naval and civilian) can become disabled at sea and require towing.
Deleting the cookies from your computer solves the “limited stories” problem.
Prolly got caught in the infamous “Potato Patch”, shallow bottom around the Faralones, mostly between them and the shore. Pleasure sailors know to steer clear in stormy weather and at low tide when a short, steep breaking swell will separate the sheep from the dead.
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