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AUE Weekend Dive Report June 15-18, 2007
Hunting U-507's First Targets in the Gulf of Mexico

In early May 1942, Korvettenkapitän Harro Schacht and the U-507 arrived at the entrance of the Gulf of Mexico and set up station in preparation to intercept outbound shipping traffic.  In the next 24 hours, he would send three ships to the bottom, giving notice that the U-boat threat to the United States was much greater than initially anticipated. 

GULF OF MEXICO HAT TRICK

NORLINDO

The Norlindo was built in 1920 by the Superior, Wisconsin shipyard of Globe Shipbuilding.  Originally christened the Lake Glaucus, she was 253 feet in length, 44 feet in beam, and displaced 2,686 tons.  She was sold in 1925 to the Merchants and Miners Transportation Company of Baltimore, Maryland, and her name was changed to Volusia.  She was sold yet again in 1941 to the Norlasco Steamship Corporation of New York, whereupon her name was changed to Norlindo.

MUNGER T. BALL

The Munger T. Ball was built as the Lilmae in October 1920 by the Terry Shipbuilding Company of Savannah, Georgia. 

She registered a total length of 391.9 feet, a beam of 51.2 feet, and displaced 5,104 tons.  Later, her name was changed to Chilsco, before her final name, Munger T. Ball.

 

JOSEPH M. CUDAHY

The 430-foot long tanker Joseph M. Cudahy was built in February 1921 at the Chester, Pennsylvania shipyard of the Sun Shipbuilding Company.

 

 

At 5:42 p.m., a single torpedo from the U-507 struck the starboard side of the Norlindo between the number three and number four cargo holds.  She quickly developed a starboard list from the flood of water into these empty aft holds.  Schacht noted the attack in his war diary:  “The steamer goes down right away at the stern, and in three minutes stands vertical…sinks.”  At 1:32 a.m. on May 5, a torpedo from U-507 struck the forward hull of the tanker Munger T. Ball, ultimately sending her to the bottom in approximately 15 minutes.  Nearby, the tanker Joseph M. Cudahy broadcasts a radio report of the attack, and begins to flee to the north.  Schacht eventually tracks the Cudahy down, and after an initial miss, strikes her amidships with a torpedo at approximately 4:30 a.m.  The Cudahy would burn and drift for over two days before ultimately being sunk by the USS Coral (PY-15) as a menace to navigation.


Above: attack plots of the Munger T. Ball and Joseph M. Cudahy as it appears in U-507's war diary.

In August 1955, the Maritime Administration put the sunken hulks of numerous merchant vessels up for auction, including the Munger T. Ball and the Joseph M. Cudahy.  An August 21 notice published in the New York Times cited the Ball rested in forty five fathoms (270 feet), while the Cudahy rested in ninety fathoms (540 feet).  It would appear these depths were based on initial (and inaccurate) sinking positions.  Strangely enough, the wrecks were both bought for $300 each by Murel Goodell of Houston, Texas.  However, no documented salvage was ever conducted on these tankers.

To date, the final resting spots of these three ships have not been documented.  However, the Association of Underwater Explorers has been working to document the wrecks of these first Gulf war casualties.  Using survivor's reports, archival information including the war diary of U-507, and assessing potential unidentified targets on the southwest Florida shelf, we believe we have identified two of the three missing shipwrecks.  Investigations at two unidentified wreck sites, known locally as the "Oil Wreck" and the "Phosphate Carrier," resting in 145 feet and 420 feet of water, respectively, have yielded the identifications of the two tankers; the wreck of the freighter Norlindo has yet to be found, though work continues.

The "Phosphate Carrier" is an extreme dive:  over 70 nautical miles from the nearest land (Dry Tortugas) and 130 nautical miles from the nearest city, and resting in over 400 feet of water, the logistics to explore this wreck are complicated.  Fortunately, Team Johnson was as enthusiastic as we were to visit this wreck.  Brothers Jeff and Chris Johnson, Chris's son Mason, and Mike Muscato supported Joe Citelli and Michael Barnette on Jeff's 36-foot Grady White out of Nokomis.  We had great weather as we headed out Friday night on our 160 nautical mile journey to the unidentified wreck.

After checking out another site in 380 feet of water, we eventually arrived over the "Phosphate Carrier" on Saturday afternoon.  Deploying our shot line, we found a mild current of just over one knot.  We geared up and splashed into the deep blue water.  At a depth of approximately 150 feet, I proceeded to quickly lash my .mp3 player to the shot line so I could enjoy some music during decompression while Joe motored past me on his scooter.  I quickly followed and we passed into cooler and dimmer water.  We eventually landed on the stern of the massive wreck at a depth of approximately 370 feet. 

After a quick check of our handsets and adjusting ourselves, we soon found ourselves on the hull of a large tanker resting on its starboard side.  A large Warsaw grouper stared at us while we took stock of our surroundings.  Signaling "OK" to each other, we set off towards the bow in search of any definitive identification.  As we dropped down along the wreck's centerline, we were dwarfed by the massive hull.  The wreck was very much intact, save her superstructure decks that now lay in heaps of debris on the seabed below.  The site was very much like that of the tanker E.M. Clark off Hatteras, North Carolina, with the exception that unlike the Clark, which has over one-third of its beam settled into the sand, this wreck was totally exposed on a hardpan seabed.  Passing the bridge remains, we saw the mast angled down from the center of the ship with the visible remains of the crow's nest.  We then noticed that the bottom of one of the forward tanks was blown outward, as we could see right through the bottom of the ship.  This appeared to be the only visible attack damage to the vessel.  We eventually made it to the bow, and I started scanning for the bell while Joe inspected the forward hull for raised lettering.  After a few minutes of searching with negative results, we headed back aft.

I stopped at the bridge remains to look for navigational equipment or other notable artifacts.  Numerous massive portholes were scattered loose amongst the wreckage.  I spotted several pieces of china, and proceeded to bag a couple in hopes of finding the shipping line embossed on the face.  After shooting a bag with the artifacts, we motored back to the stern to remove our shot line in anticipation of our departure for decompression.  Back at the stern, I checked out the engine room skylights and then shot back over the fantail to look for any raised lettering in a last hope for some clear evidence of the wreck's identity.  I then joined Joe who had descended down to the bottom to recover our hook.  Once we cleared the mountainous hull, we quickly drifted off the wreck, noting several large chunks of debris out across the seafloor.  We steadily ascended, eventually surfacing 165 minutes after we splashed in.  Hoping to identify the "Phosphate Carrier," I had expected to dive on the wreck of a freighter I believed to be the Norlindo, but instead found a massive tanker.  Not the answer I expected, but an answer nonetheless.

After an evaluation of our dive observations on the "Phosphate Carrier" and previous dives on the "Oil Wreck," as well as the available archival information, we have concluded that the "Phosphate Carrier" is the wreck of the tanker Munger T. Ball, while the "Oil Wreck" is that of the Joseph M. Cudahy.  Supporting evidence for this conclusion includes:

While the reported scuttling position of the Joseph M. Cudahy places the wreck in deep water west of the Dry Tortugas, we believe the reported position is a publication error and are currently awaiting accurate deck logs of the Coral from NARA.  Therefore, based on the above information, we tentatively conclude that the wreck of the Munger T. Ball rests in 420 feet of water approximately 130 nautical miles west of Naples, while the Joseph M. Cudahy rests in 145 feet north of the Dry Tortugas.

We would like to extend our appreciation for the assistance and enthusiasm of those that made our dive on the "Phosphate Carrier" possible:


(l) Mike "Unabomber" Muscato; (r) Divemaster Mason pointing out our max depth of 433 feet.


(l) Captain Jeff Johnson; (r) Brother Chris preparing to mix some celebratory cocktails.

We eventually arrived back in Nokomis on Sunday morning, and after unloading the boat opted for a relaxing beverage poolside.  What a great way to end the excellent weekend.  Now all that is left is to find the missing Norlindo!