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Letters
Horace L. Lindsey went down with the Jacksonville DEAR SIR, MY FATHER-IN-LAW LOST HIS BROTHER ON THE JACKSONVILLE. ALL 3 BROTHERS WERE IN THE NAVY HORACE L. LINDSEY WENT DOWN WITH THE JACKSONVILLE. I READ THE INFO ON YOUR SITE AND IT FILLED IN A LOT OF BLANKS. MY FATHER-IN-LAW HAS GRI.EVED FOR ALL THESE YEARS. HE IS NOW IN HIS 80'S AND MY WIFE AND I ARE SETTING UP SHADOW BOXES FOR ALL 3 MEN BUT WE ONLY HAVE A VERY GRAINEY PICTURE OF THE JACKSONVILLE TO USE. I'M AFRAID THE NAVY DOESN'T HELP AN ARMY CAPTIAN MUCH AND BESIDES THEY ARE THANKS FOR YOUR KIND ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER. YOURS TRULY PHILLIP C. MORRISON
Thank you for your E-Mail. I will send you separately two pictures of SS Jacksonville, one is better than the other, but I trust they may fill your need. There is also a brief description of how the tanker was lost. I dug them out of the internet, my only cost a little time, and being 84 myself , and can understand your Father in laws grief. I am delighted to help in the smallest way, when you have your shadow box complete, if you take a photo, and send it to me, we will post it on AHOY, alongside other work about JACKSONVILLE, in a small way it can act as a memorial to Horace L. Lindsey. Best wishes from Australia. Mac. Gregory.
A little more about Jacksonville.
History and Notes: At approximately 1530 hours on August 30th, 1944, the SS. JACKSONVILLE was torpedoed by U-482 in the North Channel entrance to the Irish sea. She was sailing in Convoy CU-36. JACKSONVILLE was part of a column made up of S.S. ERIN, MEMMON, CAPE NOME and CROWN POINT that had just turned away from the main convoy on the way to Loch Ewe, Scotland. The U-482, commanded by KL Hartmut Count Graf Matuschka, was waiting for just such an opportunity. U-482 fired two torpedos and both hit. The resulting explosion broke the tanker in half, killing approximately 77 men in her crew and the Armed Guard on board. One merchant seaman, Frank B. Hodges, and a member of the Armed Guard, Marcellus R. Wegs, survived, both seriously injured. Incidentially, the U-482 went on to sink the HMS HURST CASTLE and then SS FJORDHEIM, the SS EMPIRE HERITAGE and SS PINTO, the merchant ships coming from Convoys ONS-251 and HXF-305. In her trip from Norway to the UK and back, U-482 traveled 2,729 miles...all but 256 of that underwater using a snorkel. The U-482 was sunk early the following year in roughly the same area after being caught in a British minefield laid there after the U-482's first trip. This information taken from deck logs of the escorts, the convoy escort and convoy commodore's reports, Armed Guard Reports,survivors reports, an interview with Frank B. Hodges, correspondence and interviews with seamen from other nearby ships, and the log of the U-482 among other sources. Best wishes, uboat.net entry on Jacksonville.
Phillip, Here is some detail of the U-Boat that sank Jacksonville, and her own demise in 1945. (from http://ubootwaffe.net )
Regards,
Mac.
JACKSONVILLE (August 30, 1944) American tanker of 1,345 tons commissioned in 1944 and built to carry 14,300 tons of high octane aviation fuel, was sunk by two torpedoes fired from the U-482 (Matuschka). Part of convoy CU-36 enroute from New York to Loch Ewe in Scotland, the Jacksonville was hit by two torpedoes, the first ignighting the fuel, which exploded in a ball of fire, the second splitting her hull in two. She sank some fifty miles north of Londonderry, Northern Ireland. On board were 49 Merchant Navy crew and 29 Naval Armed Guard. Only one crewmember and one Naval Guard survived. This was one of the highest casualty rates in tanker history Phillip, Oswald (DE-767) was laid down 1 April 1943 at the Tampa Shipbuilding Co., Tampa, Fla., Launched 25 April 1944 sponsored by Mrs. Zola F. Oswald, mother of Harvey E. Oswald, MM2/e; and commissioned 12 June 1944, Lt. Edward L. Patton, USNR, in command. Following a Bermuda shakedown Oswald sailed north to Boston, thence to New York wheie she reported for duty with CortDiv 22 in TG 21.6. On 19 August she sailed with CU 36 on her first transatlantic convoy escort mission. Off Northern Ireland, on the 30th, she hunted unsuccessfully for an enemy submarine after the loss of the tanker SS Jacksonville. Rejoining the convoy, the escort vessel saw the remainder of her charges into Londonderry and on 4 September began the voyage back to New York. During the next 8 months, she escorted ten additional convoys across the North Atlantic without a loss.
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