The origins of the ship that would become the Arkansan, like most ships built during her time, was the First World War. Specifically; the loss of Merchant Shipping during that war to the Imperial German Navy U-boat forces, and the need to replace that shipping. In this respect, the Arkansan’s creation and destruction are both the result of the U-boat.
According to historian Norman L. McKellar, by the middle of 1915 the British had recognized the fact that they were at capacity and needed to obtain ships from other countries in order to keep up with their losses. Neutral America, as well as Asia were to be important sources for these ships.
Despite a monumental effort to meet the demand, the U.S. was quickly at capacity trying to meet her own demands as well as those of her allies. Efforts included the building of several new ship yards and developing modular designs, called “fabricated ships” that could be built in sections and delivered by rail to dockyards for assembly and launching. Eventually they needed to look to the far east, to China and Japan to supplement their enormous requirements.
The EFC initially bought about 15 ships from Japan in various stages of completion, followed by contracts to build 30 more.
From China the EFC would contract only 4 ships, the Celestial, which would become the Arkansan, and her three sister ships. The story of how this contract came to be is an interesting one. According to Norman L. McKellar; “The Chinese contracts arose from an approach to Washington by the Superintendent of the Kiangnan Dock and Engineering Works in Shanghai. A canny Scot, he left the U.S. with a contract in his pocket for the building of 4 ships from steel to be supplied by the U.S. Government. These proved to be excellent vessels.” The date the contract was awarded was July 10th, 1918 and the ‘canny Scot’ McKellar refers to is none other than Captain Robert Dollar, who would come to be known as "The Grand Old Man of the Pacific".
According to Robert Dollar’s own memoir;
“I spent half of August (ed: 1918) either in New York or Washington. It was really hot but I got through with a great deal of business, principally in connection with the consummation of the contract for the Chinese Government to build steamers for the American Government. On closing the contract the Chinese Government through their Ambassador, Wellington Koo, conferred a very high honor on me by telling Mr. Hurley, President of the Shipping Board, that his Government requested the American Government to hand over to me all the money in payment for the ships, which would amount to many millions of dollars and not ask me to give either bond or agreement for the money. I cannot help but prize this confidence as one of the highest honors I have ever received.
For our part in this business the President of the Chinese Republic honored me with the Chia Ho, a description of which is herewith given in the following excerpt from the San Francisco Chronicle.
“The distinction conferred upon Captain Dollar is one that rarely goes to foreigners, General John J. Pershing also is a member of the order.
“Captain Dollar has extensive interests in China and his reputation for honesty and integrity is so well established that no bond or other security was required of him by the Chinese Government in handling the $14,000,000 shipbuilding contract. The money, secured from the United States Government, was turned over to the Chinese Government by Captain Dollar.
“The Chia Ho in English takes the meaning of Bountiful Harvest. The decoration was brought to this country by officers of one of the ships of the Dollar Steamship Company.” Four of the ships were River Gunboats, but the other four ships were cargo ships, launched in order as Mandarin, Celestial (Arkansan), Oriental and Cathay (see table below):
They were of Kiangnan Dock and Engineering Works own design for a 10,000 Dead Weight Ton Steel Cargo Ship, which the EFC assigned the number 1092 (see plans below).  It would not surprise me if Dollar had some input on their design. The Kiangnan shipyard had been established back in 1865 and had built dozens of ships over the following years, but nothing on the scale of these ships. Their vessels ranged from 112 ton to 1,480 ton with the exception of the passenger ship Kiang Wah at 3,692 tons.
Celestial and her sisters were thoroughly modern ships for their day. They were designed from the start as oil burners (coal was being phased out), had a typical riveted hull, included accommodations for wireless ship to shore communications (telegraph only, not voice) and had three decks for more efficient distribution of dry cargo.
Her forward and aft masts each incorporated four steam powered loading booms, each with 5 tons capacity. The forward mast also included a 30 ton heavy lift boom. Her forward pair of king posts each had two 3 ton booms, and the aft king posts each had a single 3 ton boom. All designed to move cargo in and out of her 5 large holds efficiently.
Below is a wonderful picture I obtained of Celestial from the Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, CA. This is probably during her sea trials, while still in China. Note the awning over her full width Flying Bridge, the number and size of the lifeboats, and the crew that can be seen in various places along the deck.
After the war, in 1948, the liberty ship James D. Trask was acquired by Mount Steamship Corp. (an American-Hawaiian subsidiary) and briefly renamed Arkansan. The following year ownership was transferred to the parent company, and then in 1950 she was sold to Pantransit Steamship Co. and renamed Oregonian after another loss from the war. After several more changes in ownership she was eventually scrapped in Mukaishima, Japan in 1967. The American-Hawaiian Steamship Company was acquired in a hostile takeover by billionaire Daniel K. Ludwig in 1955, who soon sold off the remaining ships and assets and eventually liquidated what was left in 1968 so I have no idea at this time what may have happened to any documentation they may have had.
On the evening of July 29th, 1937 Arkansan was about to depart Chesapeake Bay when Master Jones noticed the nearby Chesapeake Steamship Company’s excursion steamer City of Baltimore (Not to be confused with the vessel by the same name operated by The Baltimore Mail Steamship Company) was on fire and raced to the rescue.  As described by reporter Jerry MacMullen in his article ‘BLAZING STEAMER LEAVES MARKS IN ARKANSAN’S SIDE’ – “Struck by a steamer ablaze from stem to stern – a steamer heading aimlessly about Chesapeake Bay, and whose frantic people she was trying to rescue – was the experience of the American-Hawaiian’s big freighter Arkansas [sic], which arrived here yesterday afternoon. Dented plates in the Arkansan’s starboard side told their own tale of her encounter with the flaming City of Baltimore, in which five persons perished [Note: later downgraded to three] the evening of July 29. The Arkansan, San Diego bound from New London, Conn. was only some 1500 feet from the City of Baltimore when the latter vessel burst into flames, and Capt.Paul Jones immediately headed for the doomed ship, now out of control and belching sheets of flame and smoke. Six minutes from the time the alarm was given, the Arkansan was close alongside, and one of her boats in charge of Fourth Officer F. Van Syckle of San Francisco, was in the water, seeking survivors who had jumped from the flaming excursion steamer. Five of those saved owe their lives to the alertness and daring of the Arkansan’s officers. So close to the City of Baltimore did the Arkansan go that they could clearly see the terror-stricken faces of those huddled in the bow. Then, in some unknown manner, the burning vessel took a sheer toward them. Quick orders to the helmsman – jangling of bells below! The Arkansan tried to get out of her way, but was unsuccessful. The City of Baltimore crashed into her starboard side, almost below the bridge. The Arkansan’s huge bulk reeled from the blow, and the City of Baltimore slid away, to run aground on a mud bank. Her rescue work ended – the bay now was swarming with smaller craft – the Arkansan went on to Norfolk. Here the inspectors ordered that a cement patch be placed behind the damaged plates before she was allowed to proceed to the west coast. Quick work was made of the Arkansan’s cargo here. It was 4:30 in the afternoon when Capt. H.C. Meriwether, port pilot, put her alongside Pier 1, and she was reported as sailing at 10 for the north.” The City of Baltimore was a 297-1/2 foot long excursion steamer operated by the Chesapeake Steamship Company. There were 96 people aboard and according to modern day reporter Rafael Alvarez of the Baltimore Sun; “The fire erupted about an hour out of Baltimore, off Anne Arundel County near Seven Mile Knoll and Bodkin Creek. Within three minutes, all of the steamship City of Baltimore was ablaze and passengers on a Summer of 1937 cruise down the Chesapeake were leaping into the bay. Most of the passengers were in the salon or the dining room when the fire was discovered by a 21-year-old kitchen helper named James Johnson. Buckets of galley water had no effect.” Alvarez also stated; “An exact cause was never established, but investigators believed a lighted cigar or cigarette got caught under a load of 100-pound bags of sugar before the City of Baltimore left the Chesapeake Lines' Pier 19 terminal on Light Street. The ship's captain, Charles O. Brooks, had his license suspended because he failed to immediately sound a general alarm and was lax in getting passengers into lifeboats. Second Engineer Albert Neil was also found guilty of negligence for not using all available pumps to bring water on the fire. By midnight, the City of Baltimore lay grounded in 13 feet of water some 500 feet east of Bodkin Point, its hull still burning.” She burned to the waterline and you can see old videos taken at the time here. 
On the morning of September 19th, 1937, Arkansan, under the command of Paul Jones, entered San Pedro Harbor (Los Angeles) and proceeded slowly along a jetty. Suddenly they spotted another vessel, the Isthmian Lines Knoxville City, appear from a behind a group of anchored vessels moving in their direction at high speed. There was no time to react, and the Knoxville City sliced into the port bow of Arkansan, causing a massive amount of damage to both vessels. According to a newspaper article at the time, damage to the Arkansan was estimated at $100,000.00, and to the Knoxville at $60,000.00. Beyond the physical damage to each vessel there was also the matter of their cargo, both vessels being fully loaded.  In the press the collision was described as follows: “Colliding with a rending crash heard throughout the San Pedro waterfront, two freighters were badly damaged yesterday in the main ship channel of Los Angeles Harbor. All hands aboard both vessels escaped death or injury, and managed to dock their craft before inrushing water waterlogged the vessels.  Both ships were making approximately twelve knots [Note: not true, Knoxville City was making 12 knots (Shanahan lied and said 8 knots), but Arkansan had already reduced speed to 3-4 knots] and approached on a collision course for several hundred yards without apparent attempts to change course or alter speed, eyewitnesses said [also not true based on evidence submitted in court].  The Knoxville City’s sharp prow knifed through the port bow of the Arkansan, ripping and buckling huge steel plates and hull frames in a space thirty feet high and twenty feet wide. As the Knoxville City’s bow was withdrawn from the gapping hole, water poured into the Arkansan’s forward holds so rapidly that within a few minutes she had settled deeply by the bow.
 As Judge Denman would state in his decision; “This is a proceeding in admiralty in which are consolidated appeals from three decrees all based on a holding that the steamer Knoxville City was solely in fault for a collision with the steamer Arkansan. The collision was the result of maneuvers by the Knoxville City in navigating from her anchorage in the outer harbor of San Pedro to proceed to sea through the westerly opening of the San Pedro jetty and by the Arkansan which was steaming to pass through the opening to enter the harbor. The colliding point was inside the harbor to the northerly of the opening. The Isthmian Steamship Company, owner of the Knoxville City, has three appeals, one from an interlocutory decree in favor of the American-Hawaiian Steamship Company, owner of the Arkansan; one from a final decree dismissing its libel against the Arkansan; and a third from an interlocutory decree in favor of libelants Aiken Country Stores and others owning cargo on the Arkansan, for its damage as a result of the collision. The only questions raised by the appeals are concerning claimed errors in navigation on the part of each of the steamers. The testimony was given in part at the hearing and in part by depositions. The depositions exceeded the number of viva voce witnesses, but the two principal witnesses, the captains on each steamship, were heard by the court. 
In the district court the proctors for the Knoxville City, faced with the alternative embarrassments, not infrequent in admiralty practice, of the strong inferences against the ship if those concerned in her navigation are not produced and of offering witnesses who have so testified in the federal administrative proceeding investigating the collision, chose the latter course. They attempted to show by other testimony that the claimed actual maneuvers, some of which her officers had misrepresented to the inspectors, demonstrated that the Arkansan was solely in fault. We feel that the lower court was fully justified in rejecting the contentions of the witnesses from the Knoxville City. It considered the other evidence and properly accepted as true the testimony it heard from the captain of the Arkansan. This finds support in the Arkansan's log and in other viva voce testimony from witnesses not connected with either vessel, though differing from the testimony of other such witnesses.” You can find a full transcript of the appeals verdict here. Regardless of the lengthy legal proceedings, the false accusations by Master Shanahan against Master Jones, and Shanahan’s eventual guilt, neither career seems to have been affected by the incident. Repairs to each vessel were completed, and everyone moved on, each man remaining in command of their respective vessels.  In an interesting coincidence, less than five years later both the Arkansan and Knoxville City, still commanded by Jones and Shanahan respectively, were sunk by U-boats in the Caribbean within days of each other. Shanahan’s Knoxville City was sunk June 2nd, 1942 with torpedoes and gunfire by U-158 (Erwin Rostin) about 50 miles southeast of Cape Corrientes, Cuba. Arkansan, of course, was sunk June 15th, 1942 by U-126 (Ernst Bauer) as described in the rest of this site.  Special thanks to the Blackett family for sharing their father's (Geoffrey Blackett) photos and newspaper clippings of the Knoxville City/Arkansan collision.
As I mentioned on the 'Bernard Bio' page, I ran across an interesting piece of "trivia" years ago while searching for more information on the Arkansan. On the Newspaper Archive site I found that the Arkansan was previously damaged on September 11th, 1941 while in Suez, Egypt. This was during a German Luftwaffe bombing raid on the port. She was one of several ships that were in Suez re-supplying British forces in Egypt that were under extreme pressure from the Germans at this stage of the war in North Africa. The famed Afrika Korps commanded by General Erwin Rommel had pushed the British across North Africa where the British were putting up a last stand of sorts West of Cairo, Egypt. I had no idea how interesting and non-trivial this story was until just recently. In fact, I wasn't even sure this was the same ship at first. Ships are traded all the time, and it's not unusual to have two or more ships with the same name in service around the world at any given time. Add to that the confusion caused by the names being recycled for newer ships replacing their obsolete predecessors. From an Associated Press report I found in the Sunday, September 14th 1941 edition of The Helena Independent, Helena Montana of all places, I was able to find details on the Arkansan's sailing dates, her crew, as well as the damage. The sailing dates are noted on Bernard's page. Her crew at the time of the attack was listed as 38, which was comprised of 36 Americans, one Briton and one Dutchman. Their names were:
And this is where my search took an interesting twist. Shortly after launching the website I contacted Captain George W. Duffy who I met a few years ago. This was to inquire about his new book 'Ambushed under the Southern Cross' and ask him some questions about the Mass Nautical School. George had graduated there 10 years after Bernard had. I also invited Capt. Duffy to visit my site and let me know what he thought. While reviewing the site he comes across the crew list above and two names jump out at him: Rodman L. Dickie and John G. (aka: Jocko) Carlson. As it turns out George knows both of these men and they are both living here in New England. George and Rodman have been friends for some sixty years and George had no idea Rodman was aboard the Arkansan when she was bombed. George being George, he immediately got to work trying to organize a meeting. As luck would have it George and Rodman were having a regularly scheduled luncheon with a group of other former Merchant Marines the following week and George cordially invited me and my wife as guests.  Needless to say we had a great time. As I mentioned in the section above, Rodman has been working on a book of his own, detailing his experiences aboard the Arkansan as well as subsequent action aboard the American-Hawaiian SS Samuel Chase as part of the infamous Convoy PQ-17 to Russia. Rodman has generously permitted me to include a summary of his time aboard the Arkansan, which I present here: When Arkansan was on her way back to New York from the West coast they received word that the Arkansan had been chartered to the US Government to load “lend-lease” cargo. When they arrived in New York they found that most of the cargo was unknown except for a few identifiable vehicles and four twin-engine bombers. The aircraft were placed on top of Arkansan’s hatches, wheels chocked and lashed down to her decks. Soon after loading they found out they were headed for the Middle East. Arkansan left New York for Cape Town South Africa on July 19th, 1941. Once there they dropped off a sick crew member (Englishman James McKee - diabetic issues), refueled and sailed within a few hours. They rounded the Cape of Good Hope, past Port Elizabeth, then Durbin, and then North past Madagascar. They arrived in Port Sudan on September 5th. The port arranged to have an ancient steam powered crane on a barge pulled up alongside the Arkansan the next day to unload the aircraft. The first plane was lifted from Hatch #3, but the sling broke and the plane belly-flopped back down onto the deck. Luckily, no one was injured, and the Arkansan apparently sustained no serious damage. The bomber was ruined but at least it could be salvaged for spare parts. The other three planes were unloaded successfully once the new wire sling was rigged up. Arkansan left Port Sudan on September 8th for Port Tawfik, Suez, Egypt. The planes they had unloaded the day before flew over them and dipped their wings in thanks. When they arrived in Port Tawfik they were warned about a possible air raid that night. It sounded like a routine event. The sirens sounded long after nightfall. 3rd Mate Dickie, Capt. Jones and seaman Joe Martin were on the open port bridge wing during the attack. There they caught an occasional glimpse of one the German planes in the search lights, watched the ack-ack (anti-aircraft fire) rise up, and the bombs falling and exploded throughout the port. Then, a cluster of 3 bombs bracketed the Arkansan. 2 exploded on the solid quay on their starboard side, and one exploded on the port side just when it made contact with the water. Shrapnel from this last bomb pierced the port side of the hull above the water line in several places. Joe Martin was slightly wounded on his hand, and they left to get him medical attention. It was a very close call for all three men. A repair gang patched the holes in the port side of the number 3 hold the next day. Arkansan’s pre-war white Deck House stood out like a beacon during the raid. One hundred painters were hired the next day to paint all the white areas gray. The crew had a day or two to explore, some of them visiting the pyramids, and then Arkansan departed for India in ballast. They sailed past Mecca and made a brief stop at the Port of Aden for refueling. From there they continued Southeast and went through the passage between Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and the Southern tip of India. Next they docked at the port of Vizagapatam and loaded 3000 tons of Chromite ore. They planned to fill the ship with jute (bales of burlap) at Calcutta. When they finally reached Calcutta no mooring was available, so they had to tie up to a large buoy. The crew had to disconnect the anchor and move about 90 feet of anchor chain to do this. Very difficult work, as each link weighed nearly 50 pounds. The next day when a dock opened up they had to reverse the whole process. As they were finishing, the anchor chain was accidentally dragged over Chief Mate Lewis’ feet, causing serious injury and requiring immediate hospitalization. This last paragraph becomes the key to why Bernard ended up on the Arkansan. Bernard came on board in Calcutta to replace the injured Lewis. He transferred over from the Hawaiian, as detailed on the 'Bernard Bio' page. Unfortunately, Mr. Dickie doesn’t remember Bernard at all. He had picked up a case of dysentery in Egypt, and while he managed to stand all his watches, he spent the rest of his time in his cabin. George B. Eaton was added as 4th Asst. Engineer in Calcutta October 18th, 1941, followed by Bernard as Chief Mate on October 20th. Once I was able to locate a crew list for the Arkansan on the voyage she was lost on, I was able to determine only 7 men stayed with Arkansan after this voyage:
The
same evening that the Arkansan is bombed, President Franklin Delano
Roosevelt gives one of his most famous in a series of "fireside chats"
over the radio to the American people. It concerned the attack on the USS Greer,
an American destroyer that was fired upon by a German U-Boat off
Iceland, as well as numerous other attacks on neutral American and
Panamanian shipping, including the Robin Moor, Sessa, and Steel Seafarer.
It builds the case for protecting our vessels by force if necessary and
the freedom of the seas in general from an increasingly aggressive foe.
It would informally become known as the "rattlesnake speech" for the
analogy Roosevelt draws between the German U-Boat and a dangerous
serpent that needs to be crushed before it can do harm. You can read a
full transcript of the speech and even listen to the full 28 minute
recording here. The Steel Seafarer was another American ship that was traveling to Suez with supplies for the British. It was sunk by a German bomber equipped with torpedoes on the evening of September 5th in the Red Sea, while Arkansan was docked in Port Sudan, and along the route Arkansan would travel to Suez. I have noted the location on the map above with a yellow symbol. As far as the newspaper article of the Suez attack, it states; "While the legation's communication spoke of the missiles striking the Arkansan as "shell fragments" officials here said the official who sent the message was not a military man and concluded that the vessel might have-been hit by fragments from a bomb, an anti-aircraft shell, an aerial torpedo, or from a shell fired by a cannon-carrying plane." They went on to say it was substantial enough to "pierce her plates". From another article I discovered that two of the crew were injured slightly, although their names were not provided. I now know from the crew list that Rodman provided these were Able Bodied Seamen Joe Martin and Bill Lewis. Yet another search uncovered a lawsuit by Lewis charging that Captain Jones and American-Hawaiian were liable for his injuries because the ship was blacked out, and alleged that if the American flagged ship had only had its lights on to identify it as a "neutral", then it would not have been targeted. A charge the judge found laughable and so do I. Joe stayed on for the voyage home, but Bill Lewis was discharged in Suez. He was replaced by John Paenlo in Capetown on November 15th, 1941. The Suez attack was carried out by the Luftwaffe's X Fliegerkorps Division, Unit III. / LG 1 operating from Derna in the eastern desert of Libya, known as Cyrenaica (see red symbol on map above). X Fliegerkorps was commanded by Lieutenant-General Hans Ferdinand Geisler at this time. The planes involved were most likely Junkers JU-88 A-4/Tropical. I also looked into the type of planes that Arkansan delivered to Port Sudan. Rodman could not recall which type, but thought perhaps B-25 Mitchells. However, a little research on my part discovered those weren't given to the British until a year later. After looking at all the other American aircraft that would fit the "twin-engine bomber" description, the Douglas DB-7/Boston III was my primary candidate. Again, while reading "Iron Jaw: A Skipper Tells His Story - Captain Charles N. Bamforth (1895-1975)" (see Credits and Tools for more information on the book) I found another clue. On page 266, Bamforth talks about his outbound voyage that following March on the Honolulan and states "March 30, with the crew doing repairs to the running rigging aloft, one of them accidentally dropped a marlin spike, and it went through one of the nine partially-assembled Boston Bombers on deck." and then later "On the seventh we docked and started discharging the nine Boston Bombers via a floating crane and then discharged grain to the dock." and then goes on to tell an amusing story about a little graffiti performed on the planes by one of the crew members. Again, no guarantee, but an example that another American-Hawaiian ship delivered Douglas Bostons from New York to British forces in the Middle East around the same time. As a result of the Suez attack, the Arkansan was thrust into another conflict, this one political, as there was much impassioned debate at this time as to whether we should arm our merchant ships to protect them. I came across several newspaper articles citing the Arkansan attack as further evidence that we needed to arm and defend our ships: <Previous Next> | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
