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World War One discussions.
SS Columbian and U-49 (Hartmann)
Posted by:
Eric Stone
()
Date: November 25, 2011 04:26PM
Hello,
Please bear with me, first some background:
I've been working on a brief biography of an American Master named Charles Bamforth who was Master of the Honolulan when she was sunk in July of 1942.
Bamforth had also served as a junior officer on several American-Hawaiian operated steamers during WWI, including Californian, West Eagle, & West Hampton, which he details quite extensively in his book.
He had left Californian just prior to the voyage when she struck a mine and sank. Before Master Malman took over on Californian, Bamforth had several voyages to South America on Californian under Master Curtis.
According to Bamforth, Curtis had previously been the Master of Columbian, which was sunk by U-49 (Hartmann). Other than the brief page on Columbian here at uboat.net, I only saw one forum posting from 2007 which stated: "The U.S. registered "Columbian" was sunk off Spain on November 8, 1916, after two days waiting out a storm for the safety of the crew. News reports claimed the sub was U-49" Michael Lowrey confirmed the U-49 was the attacker for the poster.
Bamforth recounts the Columbian's loss as follows:
"On her passage between Bordeaux and Genoa, the ship had been stopped by a German sub. The sub commander had the Columbian's papers examined, and finding no evidence of contraband, had let the ship proceed." He goes on to say "That night the Columbian's British-born radio operator radioed a nearby British man-of-war the position of the submarine. A few hours later another German sub surfaced and halted the ship once more. The Germans boarded her and protested to Captain Curtis that he had committed an act of war by having sent the offending message. Captain Curtis denied it, but the Germans got his radio operator to admit the deed. The ship's company was ordered at gunpoint to board the lifeboats, and the Germans blew up the Columbian. The submarine towed the lifeboats near the coast and cast them adrift. Captain Curtis was kept aboard the sub, and three days later he was put aboard a fishing vessel off the coast of Spain."
My questions are:
1. Is there any German documentation that would corroborate this story, especially Curtis' time aboard U-49?
2. Any idea who the first U-Boat might have been?
3. Are the procedures described valid for this time period?
Thank you and Best Regards,
Eric Stone
www.ssarkansan.com
Please bear with me, first some background:
I've been working on a brief biography of an American Master named Charles Bamforth who was Master of the Honolulan when she was sunk in July of 1942.
Bamforth had also served as a junior officer on several American-Hawaiian operated steamers during WWI, including Californian, West Eagle, & West Hampton, which he details quite extensively in his book.
He had left Californian just prior to the voyage when she struck a mine and sank. Before Master Malman took over on Californian, Bamforth had several voyages to South America on Californian under Master Curtis.
According to Bamforth, Curtis had previously been the Master of Columbian, which was sunk by U-49 (Hartmann). Other than the brief page on Columbian here at uboat.net, I only saw one forum posting from 2007 which stated: "The U.S. registered "Columbian" was sunk off Spain on November 8, 1916, after two days waiting out a storm for the safety of the crew. News reports claimed the sub was U-49" Michael Lowrey confirmed the U-49 was the attacker for the poster.
Bamforth recounts the Columbian's loss as follows:
"On her passage between Bordeaux and Genoa, the ship had been stopped by a German sub. The sub commander had the Columbian's papers examined, and finding no evidence of contraband, had let the ship proceed." He goes on to say "That night the Columbian's British-born radio operator radioed a nearby British man-of-war the position of the submarine. A few hours later another German sub surfaced and halted the ship once more. The Germans boarded her and protested to Captain Curtis that he had committed an act of war by having sent the offending message. Captain Curtis denied it, but the Germans got his radio operator to admit the deed. The ship's company was ordered at gunpoint to board the lifeboats, and the Germans blew up the Columbian. The submarine towed the lifeboats near the coast and cast them adrift. Captain Curtis was kept aboard the sub, and three days later he was put aboard a fishing vessel off the coast of Spain."
My questions are:
1. Is there any German documentation that would corroborate this story, especially Curtis' time aboard U-49?
2. Any idea who the first U-Boat might have been?
3. Are the procedures described valid for this time period?
Thank you and Best Regards,
Eric Stone
www.ssarkansan.com
| Subject | Written By | Posted |
|---|---|---|
SS Columbian and U-49 (Hartmann)
|
Eric Stone | 11/25/2011 04:26PM |
|
Re: SS Columbian and U-49 (Hartmann)
|
Michael Lowrey | 11/25/2011 11:45PM |