The three masted schooner George E. Klinck was built at Mystic, Connecticut in 1904, she was 152' 6" long and was registered at 560 gross tons. She was used in the granite trade on the U.S. east coast and by 1917 was about to be retired. The necessity of war kept her afloat and the need for ships after the war extended her life once again, this time she was used in the lumber trade between Portland, Maine and Jacksonville, Florida. The ship was still in existence in Jan. 1941 the old ship was reconditioned, auxiliary engines were installed and she placed back in service for the last time.

The ship was now owned by Captain Lewis MacFarland of Ellsworth, Maine and was 150 miles east of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina when she was caught in a strong gale. The schooner was taking on water and in danger of sinking. Distress flairs were fired off in a desperate hope that someone would come to their assistance. It must have been quite a surprise to MacFarland and his seven men when at 0007 hrs. on March 8, 1941 the USS Wasp CV-7 hove into sight.

Captain John W. Reeves, Jr., USN, commanding officer of USS Wasp, responded to the distress signals and personally supervised the rescue. Four of the men managed to get on to the Jacob's ladder on Wasp, but as the sea was rising and the winds increased it became necessary to move away from the ship lest the carrier collide with the small schooner. Reeves ordered a boat to be lowered and, even though the gale was blowing with Force 7 winds, men from Wasp took the boat to the schooner and rescued the other four men. Wasp was en route from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba to Norfolk, Virginia, where she landed the shipwrecked sailors.