Daily Event for September 16, 2014

Seneca (SP-427)-a steam yacht built in Boston, Mass., in 1888-was acquired by the Navy from the Johnson Lighterage Co., on 7 May 1917; and commissioned on 18 July 1917, Boatswain Thomas Winant, USNRF, in command.

Seneca
(later known simply as SP-427) served as a section minesweeper based at Tomkinsville, Staten Island, N.Y., during World War I. The ship was decommissioned on 2 January 1919; her name was struck from the Navy list on 6 January 1919; and she was returned to her owner the same day.

Above is the complete entry for USS Seneca (SP-427) as provided by Volume VI of the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, not much for a ship who's crew would become the most decorated Coast Guard crew in the Great War.

The day after Seneca was commissioned Lt. Commander William J. Wheeler, USCG was placed in command. Seneca did not remain in U.S. waters, but was also used as an convoy escort. Times must have been desperate to use such a ship for that kind of duty. Her first known brush with the enemy was on Apr. 25, 1918 when HMS Cowslip was sunk by SMS UB-105 off Cape Spartel, Morocco. Seneca picked up eighty-one men and took them to safety.

On June 28, 1918 as an escort for OM-79 it was Wheeler and USS Seneca to the rescue again. SMS U-53 and her infamous commander, Kapitänleutnant Hans Rose, managed to torpedo SS Queen. Twenty of her crew were lost, but Seneca rescued twenty-seven men from the water some distance off Cape Vilan, Spain. For these two actions the U.S. Navy awarded Lt. Cdr. Wheeler the Navy Cross. He also received letters of commendation from the British Admiralty, a third letter of commendation from the Admiralty was sent to him on Sept. 10, 1918 for efficiency while acting as an escort for convoy HG-101.

Six days after the third letter of commendation, Wheeler and USS Seneca were at sea, again as an escort for convoy OM-99. On September 16, 1918 the convoy was about 350 miles southwest of Brest, France when, around noontime, Kapitänleutnant Herbert Stohwasser and his SMS U-118 got close enough to fire a torpedo at the convoy. The ship hit was the SS Wellington, a 5,600 ton turret deck freighter built in 1905. The explosion took off about 30 feet of her bows leaving only a bulkhead to hold back the sea.

All thirty-six men got off the ship into lifeboats and rowed over to USS Seneca, the remainder of the convoy made all haste to escape further attacks from the U-boat. Wellington and USS Seneca were sitting ducks, but for reasons unknown to me Stohwasser made no further attempt to attack the ships.

When the British crew came alongside and were taken aboard, Lt. Fletcher W. Brown, USCG, requested permission to take a team of volunteers back to the stricken ship and attempt to bring her into port. Wheeler gave him permission and most everyone raised their hands to volunteer, but only eighteen men were chosen to go. The master of the Wellington, William C. Donovan and eleven of his crewmen returned with the U.S. sailors.

As soon as the ship was reboarded the gun was manned, the radio was cranked up and over a dozen men went into the boiler room. They found the boilers were almost out of water and the fires were nearly out, but in short order they pumped sea water into the boilers, had the fires up and the ship making 5 knots. After things calmed down and the ship was underway Lt. Brown radioed to Cdr. Wheeler in Seneca "We will make it all right" and Wheeler bid him farewell and made steam to rejoin the convoy.

As the hours past the sea became rougher and around midnight they were fighting a fair storm. The bulkhead could not take the continuous battering from the sea and finally gave way. Captain Donovan ordered the lifeboat to be lowered, but kept near the ship in case she began to go down fast. However the sea was overpowering and the eight men could not keep alongside the Wellington, after an hour or more the lifeboat drifted away leaving the rest of the men on the ship without much chance of rescue.

Electrician 2nd Class Morrill C. Mason, USCG was sending distress calls which were picked up by USS Warrington (destroyer #30) who moved toward the scene. The men in the lifeboat and those on the ship began sending up rockets to help the oncoming destroyer locate them in the rain and darkness, and suddenly to the great delight of the survivors, the lights of the destroyer could be seen. By 0200 on the 17th the eight men in the lifeboat were recovered, but the sea was too rough to move alongside the Wellington to effect a rescue. The fear of course was that the two ships would be dashed together and both vessels would be lost. The decision was made to wait until daylight before attempting a rescue.

The storm did not abate and the water continued to rise in the hull, at 0400 Mason sent a final message "We are turning over, you've done everything you could. Goodbye".

Oiler 2nd Class George M. Christy, at the risk of his own life, went back into the boiler room and shut everything down, insuring that the boilers would not explode. Up on deck just before the ship went down there was a difficult exchange between captain Donovan and Lt. Brown. Apparently Donovan looked at Brown and said "you know I can't swim". Brown did all he could to keep Donovan help him, but the sea claimed him shortly after entering the water. The men in USS Warrington could hear the cries of terrified men in the water, but rescue was difficult. Several were picked up, including Lt. Brown and E2c Mason and O2c Christy, but eleven U.S. Coast Guardsmen and five British merchant sailors perished that terrible night.

Twenty Coast Guardsmen were decorated, nineteen with the Navy Cross and one with the Distinguished Service Cross. So the ship which rated only two small paragraphs in the DANFS turns out to have had a busy and interesting career in the Great War. And with 20 Navy Crosses, 1 Distinguished Service Cross and three letters of commendation, had the most decorated crew of any Coast Guard ship in the Great War. Incidentally, only 47 Navy Crosses were awarded to the Coast Guard during the Great War.
© 2014 Michael W. Pocock
MaritimeQuest.com



Roll of Honor
In memory of those men from
USS Seneca SP-427
who lost their lives in
SS Wellington
"As long as we embrace them in our memory, their spirit will always be with us"

Name
Rate
Notes
Best, William H.
Watertender
Navy Cross
Boyce, William L.
Machinist
Distinguished Service Cross
Elam, Russell
Cook
Navy Cross
Marvelle, Paul L.
Gunner's Mate 2nd Class
Navy Cross
Nevins, James J.
Gunner's Mate 2nd Class
Navy Cross (Age 17)
Newbury, Carl S.
Coxswain
Navy Cross
Ovesen, Martin M.
Watertender
Navy Cross (Danish National)
Prime, William H.
Seaman
Navy Cross
Stellenwarf, Merton
Coxswain
Navy Cross
Tingard, Raymond H.
Watertender
Navy Cross
Zuleger, August
Assistant Master-at-Arms
Navy Cross

Roll of Honour
In memory of those who lost their lives in
SS Wellington
"As long as we embrace them in our memory, their spirit will always be with us"

Name
Rate
Notes
Donovan, William C.
Master
Fleming
Fireman & Trimmer
Linton, George A.
2nd Engineer
Merryweather, Squire
Donkeyman
Scarlett, Amos
Fireman

United States Coast Guard Survivors Awarded the Navy Cross
Name
Rate
Brown, Fletcher W.
Lieutenant
Christy, George M.
Oiler 2nd Class
Gorman, Raymond J.
Seaman
Grimshaw, Daniel E.
Machinist 1st Class
Mason, Morrill C.
Electrician 2nd Class
Ohrlein, Anthony
Seaman
Osborn, James C.
Coxswain
Pedersen, Jorge A.
Coxswain
Ryan, Michael J.
Machinist 1st Class



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