Quaker City
Photo courtesy of the Mariners Museum, Newport News VA
| Name | Quaker City | ||
| Type: | Steam merchant (Hog Island) | ||
| Tonnage | 4,961 tons | ||
| Completed | 1920 - American International Shipbuilding Corp, Hog Island PA | ||
| Owner | US Lines Inc, New York | ||
| Homeport | Philadelphia | ||
| Date of attack | 18 May 1942 | Nationality:  American | |
| Fate | Sunk by U-156 (Werner Hartenstein) | ||
| Position | 15.47N, 53.12W - Grid EE 6237 - See location on a map - | ||
| Complement | 40 (11 dead and 29 survivors). | ||
| Convoy | |||
| Route | Capetown - Norfolk, Virginia | ||
| Cargo | 4500 tons of manganese ore | ||
| History | Laid down as Clematis, completed in January 1920 as Quaker City for US Shipping Board (USSB), Philadelphia. | ||
| Notes on loss | At 10.18 hours on 18 May, 1942, the unescorted and unarmed Quaker City (Master Edward A. Richmond) was hit by one torpedo from U-156 about 300 miles east of Barbados. The torpedo struck in the stern near the waterline and caused the ship to sink in ten minutes. The explosion shattered the propeller, the rudder and the after part of the ship and killed ten crewmen. The surviving ten officers and 20 crewmen immediately abandoned ship in four lifeboats and were questioned by the Germans. They were given the course to Barbados before the U-boat left the area. On 22 May, seven survivors in one boat were picked up by USS Blakeley (DD 150) in 15°01N/57°38W and landed at Trinidad on 24 May. On 24 May, the 15 survivors in the boat of the master landed at Barbados and eight survivors in another boat made landfall on the north coast of Dominica on 26 May. An oiler later died ashore from injuries. | ||
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