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Esso Bolivar - (1937-1952)
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"Esso Bolivar", built in 1937. Scrapped in 1960.
"Esso Bolivar".
"Esso Bolivar", Forward look on deck, June 1939. ( Collection Dan Jensen )
"Esso Bolivar", looking aft on deck, June 1939. ( Collection Dan Jensen )
"Esso Bolivar".
"Esso Bolivar" seen here in service for the German Esso Company.
"Esso Bolivar".
Ship Report for "ESSO BOLIVAR"
IDNo:
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5614697
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Year:
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1937
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Name:
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ESSO BOLIVAR
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Launch Date:
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Type:
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Tanker
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Date of completion:
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07.1937
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Flag:
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PAN
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Keel:
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DWT:
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15255
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Yard No:
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568
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Length overall:
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Ship Design:
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LPP:
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148.9
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Country of build:
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DEU
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Beam:
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21.3
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Builder:
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Krupp Germania
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Material of build:
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Location of yard:
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Kiel
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Number of screws/Mchy/Speed(kn):
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1D-12
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Subsequent History:
-
Disposal Data:
Scrapped at Hamburg 2nd quarter 1960.
History :
ON
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LR/IMO
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ID
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Year
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Name
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Tons
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Name change
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Registered Owner
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5614697
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1937
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ESSO BOLIVAR
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10389
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-
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Panama Tpt Co.
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Additional Information from Uboat.net :
Name: Esso Bolivar
Type: Motor tanker
Tonnage: 10.389 tons
Completed: 1937 - Friedrich Krupp Germaniawerft AG, Kiel
Owner: Panama Transport Co (Standard Oil Co), Panama
Homeport: Panama
Date of attack: 8 Mar, 1942
Nationality: Panaman
Fate: Damaged by U-126 (Ernst Bauer)
Position: 19.38N, 74.38W - Grid DN 7921
- See location on a map -
Complement: 50 (8 dead and 42 survivors).
Convoy: -
Route: New York (26 Feb) - Newport News (1 Mar) - Aruba
Cargo: 10.500 tons of fresh water, 500 tons of commissary stores, deck cargo of acetylene cylinders
History: Completed July 1937
1953 registered under German flag for the same owner group.
1960/61 broken up.
Notes on loss:
About 09.00 hours on 8 Mar, 1942, the unescorted Esso Bolivar (Master James M. Stewart) was attacked by U-126 with gunfire about
30 miles southeast of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Shells struck the after house, wheelhouse and the midship house. The third shell explod-
ed in the afterhouse starting a fire in the galley which soon spread and blazed upward like a flaming torch driving the gun crew from the
after gun. Bulkheads caved from the intense heat. About one hour later the engines were stopped because the steering gear was shot
away and the deck cargo was set on fire. At 11.17 hours, a torpedo struck on the starboard side blowing part of the deck cargo several
hundred feet into the air and making a hole 50 x 35 feet next to the pumproom. She took a heavy list to port but stayed afloat. Of the 44
crew members and six armed guards on board (the ship was armed with one stern gun and four .30cal guns), seven crew members, in-
cluding the master and chief mate and one armed guard died and ten crewmen and four armed guards were injured. The survivors
abandoned ship in four rafts and one lifeboat, which picked up the men swimming in the water. All were picked up by the American
minesweeper USS Endurance and taken to Guantanamo Naval Base.
The abandoned tanker was towed to Guantanamo Bay and left on 25 March under her own power with a Naval escort, arriving Mobile
five days later. The permanent repairs were completed on 24 July and the ship returned to service on 6 August, when the tanker left
Corpus Christi, Texas with a full cargo for New York.
The chief mate Hawkings Fudske was awarded the Merchant Marine Distiguished Service Medal (MMDS) posthumously and a Liberty
ship was named after him. The chief engineer William McTaggart, Fireman Arthur Lauman and AB Charles Richardson also awarded
the MMDS for bravery in the attack on this ship.