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USS Illinois
Online Article By Leigh Bishop
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American Dream
US Steamship ‘ILLINOIS’
'Photography and words By Leigh Bishop'
|
| During the Great War the Texas Company tankers could be seen
ploughing the waters of the world. Stories of action aboard
these tankers were numerous and colorful not to mention. During
1915, the steamships ‘Illinois’, ‘Georgia’,
and ‘Brabant’ were released temporarily from the
coasting and nearby trades and put on runs to the United Kingdom.
The company was particularly fortunate to have owned enough
tonnage to move UK products as the rates for chartered tankers
rose with the increasing demand. The Texas Company was among
the first to suffer at the Germans hands. |
February 1917
The tanker 'Illinois' having departed from Port Arthur, Texas,
USA on February 17th 1917, with a cargo consigned to England
was on her return trip laden with ballast.
On March 18th the 'Illinois' was Northwest of Cherbourg and
approx. 20 miles north of Alderney in the very heart of the
English Channel and effectively the center of the war zone between
England & Germany. At approx. 7.45 that morning one of her
lookouts reportable spotted a submarine about three miles distance
away.
|
The ship sinking in 1917 |
| The ships master H.H.Iversen watched on as the enemy dived
hoping desperately this would be the last they would see of
it. This wasn’t to be as within a short period of time
the German U-boat UC-21 surfaced much closer and as Iversen
observed movement aboard UC-21 his vessel was soon under fire.
Shells whistled above and soon took out the wireless equipment
as well as penetrating the engine room forcing the engineers
to shut down her engines. |
Diver on the wreck |
Unarmed Iversen had no option other than to order his men
to the boats and as UC21 continued fire the German commander
ordered Iversen to bring his boat along side the U boat. What
exactly happened here maybe contrary to factual records as research
indicates that several of the crew were then replaced by German
sailors whom were rowed back to ‘Illinois’ to place
scuttle charges aboard in order to sink her. Whether this is
true can be difficult to ascertain, as visiting divers will
note for themselves that the damage to her starboard quarter
appears to have been made by a torpedo. |
August 1989
Skin Deep, Notorious for hard offshore deep wrecking, a reputation
spanning over two decades hooks into a new target 40miles
south into the Channel from her home birth! The date August
5th 1989. Skippered by the late legendary Weymouth Skipper
Andy Smith Skin Deep awaits a slack window indicated by a
still submerged pill. The grapnel holds well as those Kingston
and Elmbridge divers of the day prepare themselves for a 70m
dive on what could only be described as one of their biggest
unknown targets to date.
Alan Dunster: -
“ Come slack water we entered the water and descended
the shot line in visibility of 40-50ft, then an awesome &
fantastic sight, not an upside down vessel as we had suspected
but an upright intact ship! Andy's grapnel comfortably caught
within the fo'c'sle secured our return the shot line itself
laying over the fo'c'sle, the bow stem & the starboard
anchor (housed) being the 1st sight of the wreck along with
her winches. My first of what was to be many visits would
see me as far up the wreck as the accommodation block along
the starboard Gunnel. After 25 years of diving this rates
as the best wreck I've ever dived!
On return dives the divers soon discovered what could
only be described as a huge torpedo hole in her starboard
stern quarter. ?
|
February 1917
Quite possibly scuttles may have indeed been placed aboard although
without the desired effect and that UC21 had slammed a torpedo
into her to finish the vessel off? Had the crew by then rowed
to a distance or been in a position where they could not observe
such actions? To add further evidence to support this theory
is that the damaged is within the area of the cargo storage
tanks, an unlikely place to have planted charges if at all the
Germans could access the inner keel at this location.
|
Inside the engine room today |
| Normal practice would have been to plant explosives at the
lower reaches of locations such as the engine/boiler room or
pump house. Fortunately all her American crew survived their
ordeal only to be picked up some time later by the Alderney
pilots boat. Photographs of the Illinois sinking (that accompany
this article) were infact taken from the German U-boat UC-21
responsible for the engagement. Later they had been circulated
throughout Europe as propaganda evidence of the effectiveness
of the German U-boats. For the commander of UC21 the ‘Illinois’
home country could have been no clearer being heavily decorated
with the US stars and strips as well as USA printed in large
letters after her name. However declaration of war against the
central powers did not come until April 6th of that year. Other
vessels sunk to the credit of UC-21 had been the 'King Bleddyn'
a British steamer of 4387 tons in the Bay of Biscay on Dec 1st
1916 and the 'Longscar' a 2777-ton steamer in the Bay of Biscay
during Feb of 1917. |
Diver with restored porthole |
March 1912
The ‘Illinois’, hull No 162 had been completed by
the Newport News and s/Building & dry dock company directly
a year after work commenced in 1912. The Illinois was a steamship,
with a 3-cylinder triple expansion steam engine (26' x 44' x
51') and 3 single ended Scotch boilers (15'dia 10'6"long)
WP 190lbs. She was 390 ft in length had a beam of 52.1 ft a
draft of 30.8 ft with a gross displacement of 5225 tons.
August 1997
The bank holiday weekend and while most charter’s quietly
hug a sheltered cove awaiting a second dive Skin Deep &
Weychieftain II have made their way deep south to the separation
zone between the east and west bound shipping lanes. Today the
23rd will be a memorable day in the diving history of the wreck;
today ‘Illinois’ would give up her prized possession.
|
The divers? a mixed group consisting of both
Kingston and Starfish Enterprise as well as Weychieftain's regulars.
For 8 long years her bell had been searched for and not being
in its regular place was still hiding within the wreckage. For
Portsmouth diver Bob Hughes today was the day he would drive
home with a name the deep wreckin community would dub him for
years to come ‘Illinois Bob’!
Bob Hughes logbook August 23rd 1997: -
"I had intended to explore the engine room in greater detail
but the shot was between the bow and midships bridge. The visibility
was not fantastic and as it turned out I had moved towards the
bow. I entered the starboard side of the forecastle and in among
the debris the bell was buried upside down. A combination of
doubt and disbelief at my find at the 10 min. mark of my run
time slowed down the recovery. Any casual onlooker would have
laughed at my efforts. What I did here was another divers curses.
I really could not believe my fortune at having gone straight
to the bell, having previously talked about our luck turning
aboard WeyChieftain". |
Bob Hughes with the treasured bell he recovered
in 1997 |
January 1998
Following continued and extensive research by Bob Hughes himself
after the recovery of her bell, to date it has not been possible
to discover who actually owns the wreck. At the time of the
sinking the owner was indeed the Texas Steamship Company, or
Texas Company, as it was known at the time. The direct successor
is Texaco Inc, the multinational corporation based in Delaware
USA. It may well be that the modern Day Company Texaco would
have some claim to Ownership of the sunken Illinois, but it
seems that records dating back to 1917 are hard to locate as
it has relocated several times and checks on files are still
continuing.
As the loss occurred in wartime, under conditions of conflict,
it may be likely that a war risk insurer would have been involved,
settled a claim for the loss and consequently have an interest
in the wreck. However, neither Texaco, the US Dept. of Transport
Marine Administration, the UK Dept. of Transport or the Receiver
of Wreck Veronica Robbins have any record of this. |
| The National Archives in Washington DC, stating the obvious,
say that under US law, once insurance is paid out the company
cannot pursue a further claim on the wreck.Texaco, which has
not relinquished any property rights to the vessel, has no objection
to divers visiting the wreck, provided they comply with UK law.
It cautions further that claims, which may arise from activities
in relation to the wreck, are the responsibility of the aforementioned
divers. |
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