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SS Dixie Arrow

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Coordinates: 34°54′0.58″N 75°45′1.73″W / 34.9001611°N 75.7504806°W / 34.9001611; -75.7504806
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Dixie Arrow viewed from her port bow
Dixie Arrow photographed during her sea trials on November 23, 1921
History
United StatesUnited States
NameDixie Arrow
NamesakeDixie, nickname for southern US
Owner
  • Standard Oil Company of New York (1921–1931)
  • Socony-Vacuum Transportation Co. (1932–1935)
  • Socony-Vacuum Oil Co. (1936–1942)
Operator
  • Standard Transportation Company, Inc. (1921–1931)
  • Standard Vacuum Transport Co. (1932–1935)
  • Socony-Vacuum Oil Co. (1936–1942)
Port of registryNew York, NY
Route
OrderedNovember 1, 1919
BuilderNew York Shipbuilding Corp., Camden
Yard number266
Laid downAugust 11, 1920
LaunchedSeptember 29, 1921
Sponsored byIsabelle Brown
AcquiredNovember 29, 1921
In service1921–1942
Identification
FateTorpedoed and sunk off Cape Hatteras on March 26, 1942
General characteristics
Class and typeArrow-class steam oil tanker
Tonnage
  • 8,046 GRT
  • 4,960 NRT
  • 13,400 DWT
  • 7,834 UDT
Displacement18,277 t
Length468.3 ft (142.7 m)
Beam62.7 ft (19.1 m)
Draft26.0 ft (7.9 m)
Depth72–89 ft (22–27 m)
Decks2
Installed power
  • 3 single-ended Scotch boilers, 9 corrugated furnaces total (3 per boiler)
  • 1 × 4-cylinder quadruple expansion steam engine, 3,200 hp (2,400 kW)
Propulsion1 screw
Speed11 knots (20 km/h; 13 mph)
Endurance46 days
Boats & landing
craft carried		4 lifeboats
Capacity
  • 4,000,000 US gallons (15,000,000 L)
  • 99,742 bbl (15,857.7 m3)
Crew
  • 62 (maximum)
  • 33 (at time of loss)

SS Dixie Arrow was an American steam-powered oil tanker built in Camden, New Jersey, by the New York Shipbuilding Corporation. She was the last member of the Arrow class, a series of twelve oil tankers owned by the Standard Oil Company of New York (Socony) and operated through a variety of subsidiaries.

The tanker operated for just over two decades, beginning her service in late November 1921. Dixie Arrow carried petroleum products and vegetable oils from North America to East Asia during her first two years, but East Asia was removed from her route after 1923. Her service was limited even further to only the East and Gulf Coasts by the early 1930s.

Dixie Arrow was torpedoed off of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina on the morning of March 26, 1942, by the German submarine U-71. The tanker sank that evening, with 22 of her 33-man crew surviving. She was just one of many ships sunk by U-boats off the Outer Banks during the period German sailors called the Second Happy Time.

Construction

[edit]
The keel of a half-built Dixie Arrow, with two American flags hanging from her bow
Dixie Arrow under construction

Following the outbreak of World War I, Socony began development of a new class of oil tanker. The company hoped to modernize their fleet of oil tankers, and to replace the aging barques and clippers they had been using since the beginning of the 20th century. The new class of tankers was named the Arrow class, and the first of which was built in 1916. The construction of fourteen sister ships was allotted to Socony, but only twelve were ever ordered—two of them were never built. All of the ships were designed by Nicholas Pluymert, head of the Marine Transportation Department and Socony's naval architect.[1][2]

All twelve of the Arrow class ships were of almost equal dimensions, with minimal differences between them. Building several ships using the same plans was extremely efficient, as it saved on cost, materials, and construction time. In addition, no extra time would be needed to be spent training crewmen on new ships, as all of them had the same layout and operated the same. This strategy was commonly used by shipbuilders at the time to make multiple ships quickly and efficiently, which was crucial to continue the war effort during World War I and would become even more so in World War II.[1][2][3]

The final ship of the class, yard number 226, was ordered on November 1, 1919.[4][5] Constructed by the New York Shipbuilding Corporation at their shipyard in Camden, New Jersey, alongside three other Arrow-class ships, 226 was named Dixie Arrow.[6][7] Her keel was laid on August 11, 1920.[1] Dixie Arrow had "a most successful launching"[1] from South Yard 3 on September 29, sponsored and christened by Isabelle Brown of Dallas, Texas; daughter of E. R. Brown, president of the board that led the Magnolia Petroleum Company.[1][8][9]

Dixie Arrow's sea trials were conducted on November 23.[10][11] She was finally completed on November 29, being delivered to the Standard Transportation Company that same day.[6] The tanker was assigned the United States Navy (USN) designation ID-4789, the US official number 221735, and the code letters MDHC.[6][12]

Design and specifications

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An illustration of deck plans for an Arrow-class ships. It features a cutaway side view (facing right) as well as four top-down views that are also cutaways.
A blueprint and cutaway drawing of Dixie Arrow and her three sister ships

Dixie Arrow was 468.3 feet (142.7 m) long, 62.7 feet (19.1 m) wide, and 26.0 feet (7.9 m) from the waterline to the bottom of the keel.[13][14] In the aft portion of the bottom deck, the tanker was outfitted with a four-cylinder quadruple expansion steam engine, capable of producing up to 3,200 horsepower (2,400 kW).[15] She also had three single-ended Scotch marine boilers with three corrugated furnaces on each, nine in total. With a single propeller, she had a maximum speed of 11 knots.[16][17][18] Dixie Arrow had a gross register tonnage of 8,046, a net register tonnage of 4,960, a deadweight tonnage of 13,400, and an underdeck tonnage of 7,834.[5][19][20] The tanker's displacement was measured at 18,277 tons.[15]

Dixie Arrow boasted three masts, the third of which was shorter than the other two. On the ship's funnel was white "S". The funnel sat atop the aft superstructure, which was a shelter "designed to carry petroleum in bulk with aft positioned machinery."[1] The tanker had ten double cargo holds for bulk oil able to carry roughly 4,000,000 US gallons (15,000,000 L) gallons of commercial oil, and had room for a maximum of 400,000 US gallons (1,500,000 L) of fuel that would allow her to steam a maximum length of 46 days.[1][21] A tween deck, designed to carry general cargo, was located between the hold and the main deck, and the space was used significantly during the tanker's service in East Asia. Located on the main deck were five deck cranes, used to transport cargo in and out of the holds. For this purpose, there were eight removable hatches on the main deck.[1][22] She carried four wooden lifeboats—two on the forward superstructure and two on the aft superstructure—as well as multiple wooden life rafts.[23]

The tanker's forward superstructure was three decks high, and the aft superstructure was one deck high. Amidships, on the starboard side, was a removable accommodation ladder that ran down to the waterline. It was reported that the ship could carry up to 62 crewmen.[1] In a 1921 Lloyd's Register survey, Dixie Arrow was given a rating of 100A1, meaning she was suitable for seagoing service, and was fit to carry dry and perishable goods.[24] In the survey's report, it was noted that the tanker had "good and efficient anchoring and mooring equipment."[1][10] In addition, Dixie Arrow's radio system had a maximum telegraphical range of 800 nautical miles while on a frequency of 375 kilocycles, which was controlled by the Radio Corporation of America.[25][26] The tanker also had a system of electric lights controlled from a panel in the bridge, with the dynamo having a capacity of 182 amperes at 110 volts.[27]

Ownership

[edit]
A white swallowtail with blue stripes along the top and bottom, and a red Pegasus in the center; the house flag of Socony-Vacuum Oil Company
Socony-Vacuum's house flag, featuring the Vacuum pegasus

While Dixie Arrow was built for the Standard Transportation Company, in actuality she was owned by Socony.[22] Standard Transportation Company was a subsidiary of Socony, which was not unusual for large companies at the time. Socony had emerged as one of two major companies to rise from the breakup of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil, the other being Standard Oil of New Jersey.[28] The two companies would conduct multiple joint ventures before finally merging to form ExxonMobil in 1998.[29]

Lloyd's of London's registers linked the operator of Dixie Arrow to the Standard Transportation Company for ten years, from 1921 until 1931. The tanker was then registered under Standard Vacuum Transport Company for three years, following the merger of Socony and another oil company, Vacuum, in 1931. After the parent company renamed to Socony-Vacuum Oil Company in 1935,[30] Dixie Arrow's operations were handed over to the parent Socony-Vacuum.[1][12] Confusingly, the owner of the tanker for the ten years that followed 1921 was Socony. After the 1931 merger, her ownership was given to the newly formed Socony-Vacuum Transportation Company, and then again to its successor—Socony-Vacuum Oil Company—after the 1935 renaming.[1]

For the entire duration of her service, Dixie Arrow flew the American flag as her ensign and was registered in New York, New York.[13] The tanker flew the Socony-Vacuum house flag from her mainmast following the 1931 merger of the two companies, consisting of a white swallowtail with blue stripes running along the top and bottom of the flag and a red pegasus located in the center of the field.[31][32] Prior to this, Dixie Arrow flew Socony's house flag, which merely consisted of a white S on a rectangular blue field as the red pegasus was the logo of Vacuum Oil Company.[31][33][34]

Service history

[edit]

Interwar period

[edit]
Dixie Arrow out of the water in a drydock
Dixie Arrow at the W. & A. Fletcher Company dry dock in New York City, 1922

The first year of Dixie Arrow's service had among her longest trips, going from New York City, through the Panama Canal, and to East Asia. This route was given to all of the Arrow class ships, only a handful would remain on that route until the outbreak of World War II. Dixie Arrow departed for her first voyage in December 1921, carrying 10,000 tons of fuel oil.[1] The tanker departed from New York City, first docking in the Panamanian city of Colón, then in San Francisco, and finally steaming across the Pacific Ocean to the British territory of Hong Kong.[1][35] After unloading her cargo in the British territory, Dixie Arrow would sail to the US territory of the Philippines to load various vegetable oils in Manila, such as coconut, nut, and what was referred to as China wood oil. These unusual cargos would fill her empty oil tanks before she took the voyage in reverse, heading back to New York. Ships traditionally sailed empty on their return trips with only ballast in the hold, though Socony opposed this approach in order to secure higher profits on each transpacific voyage. Each of these voyages took around six months to complete, and served as "a testament to the Arrow [class'] seaworthiness and range."[1][2]

Dixie Arrow's port side viewed while she is underway
Dixie Arrow underway, sometime in the mid-1920s.

After three voyages and serving less than two years in East Asia, Dixie Arrow was rerouted to the domestic oil trade in 1923. The tanker's route was changed in order to carry oil back and forth across North America, steaming between the three largest oil producing and consuming states: New York, Texas, and California.[1] This change came after oil fields opened up in the area surrounding Los Angeles earlier that same year, and Socony rerouted several other Arrow-class ships "since their design of being both a general cargo carrier and bulk oil carrier proved to be versatile and efficient."[22]

Dixie Arrow would conduct voyages through the Panama Canal to the cities of San Diego, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, steaming from port cities in the northeast such as New York City, Boston, and Providence.[1][36][37] While primarily carrying her traditional cargo of crude oil, the tanker also carried general freight, as she was flexible in both her route and cargo type. She also carried bunker fuel to New York City, San Francisco, and the Panama Canal Zone for use by transiting vessels.[1][38] Dixie Arrow would also make intermediate stops in various Texan ports while on these voyages.[a] Compared to her service in East Asia, Dixie Arrow solely sailed in ballast when on her voyages towards California. This practice would be continued for the rest of the tanker's service.[1]

In 1931, following the merger between Socony and Vacuum Oil Company, the tanker's operations were handed over to another subsidiary: Standard Vacuum Transport Company. This subsidiary was a combination of the assets of Standard Transportation Company and Vacuum Oil Company. The amount of oil tankers steaming to and from California and through the Panama Canal had lessened since 1927, with the Californian oil fields becoming insignificant by the early 1930s. Soon afterwards, Socony-Vacuum removed California from the tanker's route. As a result of the change, Dixie Arrow was instead rerouted to directly service Texan ports,[a] rather than merely stopping over them on her way to California. The docks that the tanker stopped at while in these ports were operated by one of Socony-Vacuum's affiliates, either the Magnolia Petroleum Company or the Humble Oil and Refinery Company.[1][38] The ports directly serviced the East Texas Oil Field, which was the largest petroleum reservoir in the state of Texas.[1]

In March 1932, a large storm swept across the East Coast and damaged seven ships steaming off Virginia, including Dixie Arrow—which was the largest vessel affected by the storm. Her steering gear broke down and the tanker became disabled, unable to maneuver herself. The US Coast Guard Cutter Mendota soon arrived to assist Dixie Arrow, who was towed to Newport News for repairs by the steamship Argon. The two ships arrived around 4:00 AM.[39][40][41]

A box with the words "Vacuum Oil Company" on the side
A Vacuum Oil Company container that two drums of oil; Dixie Arrow carried similar containers

On her voyages up and down the East Coast, Dixie Arrow carried case oil, cargo consisting of a pair of five-gallon oil drums packed together in a small wooden box. The types of oil packed into these drums primarily consisted of petroleum and gasoline. Some drums also carried benzene, kerosene, and lubricating oil, among other types of oil. The operations of Dixie Arrow were returned to her parent company, Socony-Vacuum, in 1936. With the change that same year that changed a ship's unique four-letter identification from signal letters to a maritime call sign, Dixie Arrow's was changed from MDHC to KDVT.[1][12]

World War II

[edit]
A side view of Dixie Arrow, painted grey, at anchor
Dixie Arrow at anchor, photographed on February 11, 1942; just over two months before her final voyage

After both the outbreak of World War II in September 1939 and the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor in December 1941, Dixie Arrow remained on her regular East Coast route. The tanker was not outfitted with weapons or placed in a convoy, however she was painted grey for camouflage purposes.[1][16][23] The "S" on her funnel was also painted over, to hide the identity of the tanker's owner; something similar had been done to her sister Sylvan Arrow during World War I.[42]

Dixie Arrow was formally assigned to carry petroleum from Texas to New York in order to help the American war effort.[1][43] With U-boats sinking American vessels off their own eastern coast, oil refineries began to lose their supply of petroleum, threatening the production of war matériel.[44][45] The Gulf Coast had a large supply of crude oil, however there were not enough tankers to transport it. As such, Dixie Arrow joined some 200 tankers in the task of fueling American factories in the north.[2] Though she did not explicitly service foreign Allied war production, it is certainly possible that the tanker's regular petroleum cargo was offloaded and later transferred to other tankers bound for Europe. It was common practice for American tankers to transport oil to ports such as New York, where it would be loaded onto British-flagged vessels and transported across the Atlantic Ocean.[1][46]

Final voyage

[edit]
Further information: Second Happy Time and Torpedo Alley

On March 19, 1942, Dixie Arrow left Texas City, Texas, bound for the city of Paulsboro, New Jersey. The tanker was carrying 86,136 barrels (13,694.5 m3) of crude oil to be used for the Allied war effort, and had a crew numbering 33—eight officers and 25 men.[23][47][48] She was described as a good ship to work aboard, with fair pay, a reasonable work schedule, and "the best cook available".[23][49] Despite many ships being in the vicinity wherever she traveled, Dixie Arrow was not officially travelling in a convoy. The Coastal Convoy System used by the USN was established in the summer of 1942, nearly three months after Dixie Arrow had sunk.[1][50]

Dixie Arrow's master, Captain Anders Johanson, was under orders to follow a forty-fathom (240 ft; 73 m) curve away from the shore to keep the tanker safe while steaming past the shoals of Cape Hatteras. While passing St. John's River, Florida, Captain Johanson stopped a USN patrol boat to request further details. He was told that there were "a couple of other navy boats ahead", and that he should contact them for the information instead. Upon attempting to do, Dixie Arrow received no response.[49] As the tanker sailed further up the East Coast, she constantly received messages of SOS and SSSS[b] from ships that had been torpedoed by U-boats. As a further precautionary measure, Captain Johanson ordered all of Dixie Arrow's lights to be turned off during the night.[23][51]

While steaming past the Outer Banks of North Carolina, Dixie Arrow's crew could see columns of smoke coming from oil fires located south of Morehead City, the result of other ships that had fallen victim to U-boats.[23] Ships traditionally sailed along warm water currents for speed, namely the Gulf Stream. Both the Gulf Stream and the Labrador Current meet off the coast of North Carolina.[52][53] All shipping in the area was either coming from the north or the south, making the region a prime hunting ground for U-boats. In addition, the continental shelf is narrowest along Hatteras Island,[54] making it convenient for U-boats to hide themselves in deep water while waiting for ships.[55][56] Just under 400 Allied ships would be sunk by German U-boats off of the coastline of North Carolina by the end of their campaign, officially named Operation Paukenschlag (English: Operation Drumbeat).[23][57] The operation itself was part of the much larger Battle of the Atlantic. Operation Drumbeat would become nicknamed the "Second Happy Time" by Germans sailors due to the high amount of shipping losses suffered by the Allied powers,[58][59] and the Americans gave the waters off North Carolina the rather fitting nickname "Torpedo Junction".[60][61]

Sinking

[edit]

Roughly 10 minutes before 09:00 AM EWT (Eastern War Time), in the morning hours of March 26, 1942, Dixie Arrow made her way past both Cape Fear and Cape Lookout, and into Cape Hatteras' infamous Diamond Shoals.[52] The tanker was reported to be zig-zagging with 45° tacks,[47][62] altering her course every 6–9 minutes, and was steaming at a speed of 10.5 knots. Shortly before 9:00 AM, a United States Coast Guard (USCG) airplane reported that it was circling Dixie Arrow near the Diamond Shoals outer buoy. The tanker was steaming through calm, clear, and smooth seas with a gentle breeze.[1][23]

Small diagram with three Xs in the middle of the ship, and a line between the second and third Xs
A diagram showing the locations of both the torpedo strikes and where Dixie Arrow broke in two

Twelve miles (19 km) southwest of Cape Hatteras, the type VIIC submarine U-71 was on its fifth patrol, now under the command of Kapitänleutnant Walter Flachsenberg. The U-boat had had a successful patrol thus far, having sunk both the Norwegian tanker MT Ranja and the American cargo ship SS Oakmar mere days earlier.[63] Having spotted nothing but small fishing boats the night of March 25–26, the submarine had been preparing "to dive and sleep for the day when [the] lookout spotted some masts on the southern horizon."[49][62] The masts that had been spotted belonged to Dixie Arrow. Preparing to sink the newly-spotted vessel, U-71 disappeared beneath the water and began to maneuver itself in-between the shoreline and the tanker.[3][12][49] At 8:58 AM, Kapitanleutnant Flachsenberg gave the order to fire three torpedoes,[c] all of which hit the tanker on the starboard side, amidships.[1][3][48]

Dixie Arrow burning, thick smoke surrounding her
The starboard side of Dixie Arrow aflame
Smoke and fire pour from Dixie Arrow's starboard side as she sinks
Smoke pours from the starboard side of Dixie Arrow as she sinks; the bridge is in flames.
Dixie Arrow breaking in two, with fire engulfing both parts
Dixie Arrow breaking in half whilst on fire
A further away version of photo #3
Dixie Arrow breaking in half, viewed from afar

The torpedoes were spotted by the able seaman on the bridge, Oscar Chappell,[d] and he rung the warning bell before attempting to turn Dixie Arrow—albeit far too late.[49] The first torpedo blew up the deckhouse and lit its ruins on fire, killing the radio operator, all the tanker's officers, and a number of crewmen on the bridge—save for Chappell.[1][22][23] The other two torpedoes hit the tanker roughly sixty seconds later, the second hitting between the midships mast and funnel, and the third hitting just aft of the deckhouse.[47] The blasts wounded eight men in the dining hall and knocked out the lights in the engine room.[63] Captain Johanson had stepped out of his cabin after the first two blasts and ordered the surviving crew to evacuate the stricken tanker, but he was killed when the third torpedo struck. The engines were stopped by the first assistant engineer, William Rolfe, just before the third blast, and Dixie Arrow drifted to a stop as oil leaked from the ship, which would become subsequently ignited by the torpedoes' explosions.[1][12] Around this time, the USCG airplane spotted the tanker aflame, and its pilot proceeded to take multiple photographs of her.[64] Seaman Richard Rushton described the first moments after the strikes in a 2001 interview:

When the torpedo struck, there was sort of a rolling motion. It's not a jarring [motion] because the tanker is so big. It sort of rolled the ship, and we came out of breakfast, and we could see the fire and smoke. One of the older sailors went to a lifeboat, and he panicked. He took the line off the cleats and dropped the boat, but it was on the starboard side where the fire was. He had [the line] around his arm, and it launched him out into the fire. The boat probably weighed 2,000 pounds or so. Steel, too. Full of supplies. He was one of the older sailors, and he knew better, but he panicked.[23]

Chappell quickly turned the tanker to starboard, bringing Dixie Arrow into the wind to keep 8 men trapped on the bow from being burnt to death and allowing them time to jump into the water to reach relative safety.[47] However, in doing this, the wind blew the flames onto the bridge and he was killed.[49][65] A surviving crewman recalled that "fire was shooting up all about [Chappell]".[23] The able seaman was posthumously awarded both the Distinguished Merchant Marine Medal and the Navy Distinguished Service Medal for his actions.[66][67] The liberty ship SS Oscar Chappell was named after him,[23][65] as well as the Able Seaman Oscar Chappell Award For Outstanding Maritime Stewardship.[23][68]

A massive explosion tore through Dixie Arrow's midships section, creating a mushroom cloud of smoke and fire that was reportedly visible for several miles all around.[23][69] The tanker's starboard side became completely engulfed by fire despite there being almost no wind minutes before, and U-71's crew soon became unable to see Dixie Arrow. The flaming oil spread all around the tanker, making it dangerous for her crew to jump overboard as they could be burnt to death or get stuck underneath the oil. Two of Dixie Arrow's lifeboats were destroyed in the flames, and a third swung uncontrollably on its davits and ended up swinging off of them, launching one crewman into the flames and to his death.[23] The tanker's fourth lifeboat managed to launch due to the efforts of six crewmen, including Rolfe, with Rushton and seven others aboard it.[1][23] From Rushton's 2001 interview:

The entire starboard side was ablaze, and the oil was pouring out. I got into the [aft port #4] lifeboat and put the plug in the bottom and was getting it ready for launching. It's a tense time, I suppose, but we had practiced this—the lifeboat drill—a time or two. The ship was still underway, and the fire was pouring out and coming around the back. The fire seemed to be close. We had guys pulling on the big oars, and I remember one guy snapped his, he was pulling so hard. These were probably two-inch diameter oars.[23]

The six crewmen that helped launch the lifeboat jumped into the flaming water and managed to find a wooden life raft. It was quickly abandoned by five of the men upon realizing the raft had no oars, but the sixth stayed aboard and promptly died when the raft drifted into flaming oil.[62] Two crewmen on the bow jumped into the water despite not knowing how to swim, and both were eventually rescued after swimming through oil-filled water.[23][49] Dixie Arrow began to buckle amidships, listing to starboard, as the lifeboat pulled away and the crew in the water swam for their lives.[3][70] As the tanker's sole radio operator was killed in the initial explosion,[12][62] no distress call had ever been sent out to alert nearby ships of Dixie Arrow's condition, not that it would have helped much. Ships steaming up and down the East Coast seldom stopped to assist the survivors of torpedoed vessels, for fear that they would also find themselves on the receiving end of a U-boat's torpedo.[23]

Rescue operations

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A warship
USS Tarbell underway near Charleston, South Carolina, December 17, 1942

The USN destroyer USS Tarbell spotted the mushroom cloud set off by Dixie Arrow, and the tanker's came at full speed in order to investigate.[23][71] Guided by a seaplane, the destroyer arrived at 9:30 AM,[64] roughly half an hour after Dixie Arrow had first been torpedoed. After the seaplane dropped two bombs on the U-boat,[1] the destroyer several depth charges—which killed several of the tanker's crewmen who were floating in the water and did nothing to harm the submarine, though it reportedly shook "from end to end, bracketed by Tarbell's depth charges."[49][62] A crewman of Dixie Arrow reported that he "felt like somebody had kicked him in the stomach"[49][51] after the first depth charges exploded, and several survivors were either knocked unconscious or killed by the blasts.[23] Upon noticing the people in the water, Tarbell's crew ceased the deployment of depth charges, but instead of stopping, the destroyer hung cargo nets off her gunwales for the surviving crewmen to climb aboard. She picked up eight men in the lifeboat and 14 others in the water, and she ended up rescuing a total of 22 survivors out of the tanker's 33 crew.[1][23]

USCGC Dione, an anti-submarine ship, also spotted the mushroom cloud coming from the sinking Dixie Arrow and came quickly to investigate, despite being several miles away. The cutter was the sole ship assigned to conduct anti-submarine warfare in the waters off North Carolina. Nobody informed her master of USS Tarbell's arrival, and he became frustrated and angry upon arriving late, finding nothing but bodies and debris. Dione proceeded to head south in order to patrol the waters off the village of Hatteras.[49]

Aftermath

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Nine smiling men gathered around a table
Dixie Arrow's survivors at the Monticello Hotel in Norfolk, Virginia

While USS Tarbell had initially took the 22 survivors of Dixie Arrow to Morehead City, North Carolina, they were later transferred to Norfolk, Virginia.[1] The less injured among the survivors were taken to the city's Monticello Hotel for quarantine. While there, they were met by several men in dark suits whom the seamen suspected to be from the FBI. The men kept the survivors confined for two days and interviewed them before they were allowed to take a train to New York. Rushton said that the men "wanted to know the particulars, how we happened to take this particular ship and so on." Dixie Arrow's survivors speculated that the FBI thought that there was a traitor among the crew who had shared secret information, such as Dixie Arrow's location, so that U-71 could sink her.[23]

U-71 moved to full power after Tarbell departed and escaped, returning to La Pallice, France, on April 20.[49][63] The type VII-C submarine went on to have a somewhat successful career, only sinking two other Allied ships over the course of the war.[72] U-71 was decommissioned and then scuttled on May 2, 1945, in Wilhelmshaven, Germany; six days before the German Instrument of Surrender was issued.[71][73]

Wreck

[edit]
DIXIE ARROW (shipwreck and remains)
A colored scan showing the wreck of Dixie Arrow
A multibeam scan of Dixie Arrow's wrecksite
SS Dixie Arrow is located in North Carolina
SS Dixie Arrow
The location of Dixie Arrow's wreck
LocationOffshore Dare County, North Carolina
Nearest cityOcracoke, North Carolina
Coordinates34°54′0.58″N 75°45′1.73″W / 34.9001611°N 75.7504806°W / 34.9001611; -75.7504806
Area61.8 acres
Built1920–1921
Built byNew York Shipbuilding Corp., Camden
ArchitectNicholas Pluymert
MPSWorld War II Shipwrecks along the East Coast and Gulf of Mexico
NRHP reference No.13000781
Significant dates
Completed1921
Sunk1942
Added to NRHPSeptember 25, 2013

The tanker herself drifted north, and she was last spotted around 11:40 AM by USN personnel.[64] By nighttime, Dixie Arrow had drifted inshore to the Cape Hatteras minefields, where she would finally sink.[74] There, her frame gave in and broke in two. The tanker's bow disappeared underwater, the superstructure catching on the stern and dragging it down as well. The fires that had once engulfed the tanker were subsequently extinguished by the seawater. As she settled, Dixie Arrow detonated a mine that had been laid by the USN in an attempt to deter U-boats.[75] USCGC Orchid—a buoy tender—was sent to the wrecksite, where she placed a red nun buoy to warn passing vessels of the underwater tanker. Only the masts of Dixie Arrow stuck out of the water.[1][3]

The shipwreck was used as target practice by planes from the Cherry Point North Carolina Marine Air Station for the next year, and her masts collapsed into the sea in 1943.[1] Dixie Arrow's bell was recovered in 1944 by the USN during a dive to the wreck. The bell was later presented to designer Nicholas Pluymert, who dedicated it to Oscar Chappell.[1][22] After this, the remainder of the tanker's wreck was then wire-dragged to a depth of 43 feet (13 m) ensure that Dixie Arrow would not be a hazard for navigation.[3][51][75]

Dixie Arrow currently lays on a flat sand plain, roughly 15 miles (24 km) south of Hatteras Inlet, at the coordinates 34°54'0.58"N, 75°45'1.73"W, at a depth of 90 feet (27 m).[76][77] The bow and the stern sit upright, close together and aligned. Both the bow and stern portions of the wreck are both in good condition, with much of the machinery in those parts still in its original positions. The stem rises 30 feet (9.1 m) above the sand, and the boilers and engine are the most prominent features of the stern section. Amidships, however, Dixie Arrow's remains appear to have fallen down, leaving it as an unrecognizable mess of machinery, parts, and metal.[1][70][78]

A wide array of wildlife inhabit the wreck, which has become a center for the nautical ecosystem. Marine organisms that have made their home in Dixie Arrow's wreck include barracudas, sand tiger sharks, southern stingrays, loggerhead seaturtles, and various other species of fish.[3] Coral has also grown on the tanker's metal surfaces. Because of this, the wreck has become a popular diving site for marine biologists as well as charter fishers.[79][80] Despite some concerns about environmental sustainability due to Dixie Arrow's cargo,[69][81][82] her oil tanks are empty, and there is "no presence of oil on or within the shipwreck."[1][70]

A category 5 Atlantic hurricane came through the Outer Banks in 2003, named Hurricane Isabel. Despite damaging thousands of houses and washing out a portion of Hatteras Island,[83] Hurricane Isabel caused no damage to Dixie Arow. The storm simply swept up several feet of sand at the wrecksite, allowing divers to see portions of the tanker that had not been visible before the hurricane.[3] In May 2019, it was reported that a fishing net had gotten stuck on the wreck. It was soon removed by locals with no damage to Dixie Arrow or wildlife.[84]

On September 25, 2013, both Dixie Arrow's shipwreck and the 61.7 acres that surround her were labeled as a National Historic Place by the United States government.[85][86] The wrecksite was also labeled as part of the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration's Monitor National Marine Sanctuary in 2016, placing it under maritime protection per federal law. It was reported the change would not affect civilian wreck diving expeditions or charter fishing that commonly occurred at the site.[87][88]

See also

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Notes

[edit]
  1. ^ a b These ports included Galveston, Houston, Beaumont, Texas City, and Port Arthur.
  2. ^ Also written as SSS; stands for Submarine, Submarine, Submarine, Submarine.
  3. ^ Some sources, including U-71's official log, state that only two torpedoes were fired.
  4. ^ Spelled as "Chappel" in some sources

References

[edit]
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