USS EDSALL WRECKAGE FOUND

 15 NOVEMBER 2024: 

Yikes! Halfway through November, Thanksgiving (in U.S.) in under two weeks and the year end just 6 weeks away. Can't quite figure out what happened to 2024 - though I am not sorry to put it in the wake. This week's post comes from several sources - Washington Post, FoxNews and NBC as well as the U.S.Navy. 

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The wreckage of the USS Edsall, an American warship that was sunk during a battle with Japanese forces in World War II, has been discovered more than 80 years after it was lost at the bottom of the sea, U.S. and Australian officials announced Monday.

 

The final resting place of the USS Edsall, a Clemson-class destroyer, was discovered late last year at the bottom of the Indian Ocean, according to the U.S. Navy and Royal Australian Navy.

 

"Working in collaboration with the U.S. Navy, the Royal Australian Navy used advanced robotic and autonomous systems, normally used for hydrographic survey capabilities, to locate USS Edsall on the sea-bed," Chief of Royal Australian Navy, Vice Admiral Mark Hammond, said in a statement.

The warship was sunk on March 1, 1942, three months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, during an encounter with Japanese battleships and dive bombers.

"Captain Joshua Nix and his crew fought valiantly, evading 1,400 shells from Japanese battleships and cruisers, before being attacked by 26 carrier-dive bombers, taking only one fatal hit. There were no survivors," Caroline Kennedy, the U.S. ambassador to Australia, said in a statement.

Japanese forces spotted the Edsall about 225 miles south of Christmas Island as the U.S. warship was en route to aid another ship. Historians have said that the Edsall sustained previous damage that would prevent it from outrunning any of the Japanese cruisers or battleships.

Put into a "hopeless" position, historians say Nix, in an act of defiance against the enemy, "chose to make a fight of it," laying a smoke screen and commencing evasive maneuvers that thwarted the Japanese aim for more than an hour before being overcome by dive bombers.

Nix’s evasive actions earned the respect of the Japanese, who said the Edsall performed like a "Japanese dancing mouse," a popular pet in Japan at the time that was known for its manic movements.

"The commanding officer of Edsall lived up to the U.S. Navy tenet, ‘Don’t give up the ship,’ even when faced with overwhelming odds," Lisa Franchetti, the U.S. Navy chief of naval operations, said in a statement. 

 

"The wreck of this ship is a hallowed site, serving as a marker for the 185 U.S. Navy personnel and 31 U.S. Army Air Force pilots aboard at the time, almost all of whom were lost when Edsall succumbed to her battle damage," the statement continued.

While it was believed all those aboard the Edsall died at sea, it was later learned, many years after the war ended, that a few survivors were picked up by the Japanese and beheaded on March 24, 1942.

Kennedy said the discovery is part of continued efforts to honor those who made the ultimate sacrifice.

 

"We will now be able to preserve this important memorial and hope that the families of the heroes who died there will know their loved ones rest in peace," she said.

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A fine story for the week following Veterans Day here in the U.S. Truly an inspiring act of heroism! 

Until next time.

                                            Fair Winds

                                                        Old Salt

 

SHACKLETON'S ENDURANCE

4 November 2024: Here we are in November - less than 60 days left in 2024! Where does the time fly to! U.S. elections loom and other storms still churn in the Atlantic and Caribbean. Some pretty amazing images have been revealed from underwater exploration of the wreck of Ernest Shackleton's Antarctic exploration ship, Endurance which sank in the Weddell Sea during his ill-fated journey in 1915  to the South Pole. From HistoryHits.

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Almost a century since Sir Ernest Shackleton’s abandoned exploration ship Endurance sank beneath the ice floes of the Antarctic’s Weddell Sea, new 3D images compiled from 25,000 photographs show just how much of the ship survives.

The images show Endurance’s hull intact as the vessel rests on its keel on the seabed at a depth of 3,008 metres. They reveal that the ship’s steam engine funnel, masts, anchors and guard rails remain attached, despite the damage inflicted by crushing ice after the ship became immobilised in 1915. Additionally clothing and crockery can be seen on the deck.

 

Shackleton’s Trans-Antarctic Expedition was halted in its tracks when their ship became beset in pack ice in January 1915. Having drifted in the ice, Shackleton ordered the evacuation of the badly damaged ship on 27 October. A month later, he watched the ship sink and its captain Frank Worsley estimated its sinking position.

In March 2022, the ship was discovered by the Endurance22 team on board the S.A. Agulhas II, mere miles from the position given by Worsley. The subsea team led by Nico Vincent used the Saab Sabertooth AUV to capture thousands of images in 4K resolution, which were combined to create a digital 3D photo mosaic.

 

“It is our hope,” writes Nico Vincent in the book Endurance: The Discovery of Shackleton’s Legendary Ship, “the 3D digital model becomes the lasting testimony of our expedition and awakens a wide audience and new generations to Shackleton and the Endurance story.”

The view of Endurance’s portside bow shows the ship’s broken foremast and both anchors on the forecastle deck, which was dislodged from the hull. It also shows the two intact glass portholes of the galley forward bulkhead.

 

The imagery also shows items on the deck of the vessel. A flare gun, the same gun Frank Hurley recorded firing as the Endurance sank, is among the debris. A seaman’s leather boot is also pictured beside rigging and wooden pulleys. It is speculated to belong to Shackleton’s second-in-command Frank Wild, The images, which depict a ship in a remarkable state of preservation, are highlighted in a National Geographic documentary which features Dan Snow and is co-produced by History Hit. They feature in the accompanying book Endurance: The Discovery of Shackleton’s Legendary Ship by John Shears and Nico Vincent. It documents that months of analysis of the digital photographs and 3D laser data led to the identification of additional artefacts, including a telescope and a sewing machine.who is photographed in a similar boot.

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An exciting series of images of the ship and with amazing detail. The technology used to bring us these remarkable pictures is breath-taking. Really cold water is an excellent preservative! 

Until next time,

                                   Fair Winds,

                                                   Old Salt