Ahoy - Mac's Web Log

Mac -

Many thanks for your letters web log, and to you and the various people who have posted memories, information, and comments about the last "Liberty" and "Empire" ships sunk in the Atlantic war.

Yesterday I had the privilege to present a professional paper at a maritime history conference about these ships, and the contributions of Mr. Burland, Flo, and others made it a much more interesting discussion. This is a project I have conducted in association with marine archaeologist Neil Cunningham Dobson, who made the original post at this site.

Here's a little bit of new information for you and anyone else interested in this topic.

My company, Odyssey Marine Exploration, two years ago located a submarine wreck not very far from the wrecks of Empire Gold and Cyrus H. McCormick. At first we thought it was U-1107, the sub that sank those ships. It was not. Extensive research and work with leading submarine expert Dr. Alex Niestle has managed to correct the historical record about the late war sub losses. U-1107, it turns out, was not sunk by the Catalina air attack, but instead the sub we discovered. (Another official report is still pending, so I can't name it now.)  Rather, the U-1107 was destroyed by a homing torpedo dropped by a Lancaster on ASW patrol.

We are continuing to develop the story of all 4 ships involved in this end-of-war event. The rescue ship, the sub, and the two torpedo victims will all be addressed in greater length in ne or two books. When we are free to release our papers for web publication, we will let you know!

In the meantime, anyone who ever served on any of the vessels or has stories to tell is welcome to get in touch. I especially wish to know where the photos you posted of the Empire Gold burning and blowing up - said to have been taken from a nearby Liberty ship - came from, who shot them, if the originals are available, and more. It looks like the first of those pics may even have the McCormick sinking in the foreground of the smoke cloud.

Best regards and thanks to all -
J. Lange Winckler
Historian
Odyssey Marine Exploration
Tampa, Florida

Lange,

I have been in Europe and am just back again in Melbourne.

Thank you for your interesting letter, I will be pleased to have any information about your find when you are able to release it.

At this distance from when I posted the Empire Gold photos, I am unsure where they came from, so apologise for not being able to give you the detail you requested.

Nice to hear from you, I am always interested in the work Odyssey Marine are doing around our oceans.

Kindest regards,
Mac. Gregory.