Denizens of Davy Jones' Locker Quiz

Answer: Freighter

The Edmund Fitzgerald was the largest Great Lakes freighter at the time of its launch in 1957. Even at the time of its demise in November 1975, it was one of the largest ones on the lakes, regularly setting records for the most freight handled in a year.

At the time of its wreck, the Fitzgerald was carrying about 26,000 long tons of iron ore from the Minnesota Iron Range to plants near Detroit. On that fateful night gale force winds of 60 miles per hour and waves up to 25 feet buffeted the boat. The Fitzgerald attempted to find shelter, but was listing heavily and had lost its radar. The ship sank, breaking apart and claiming the life of all 29 crew members.

Many years later the original bell from the ship was salvaged and placed in a museum. A replacement bell with the names of the crew members was then placed back on the wrecked ship.

Answer: Santa Maria

Columbus set sail to the Americas in 1492 on his flagship vessel, the Santa Maria, with two smaller ships, the Nina and the Pinta (the Isabella is fictitious). All three vessels landed successfully in Hispaniola. On the return voyage, Columbus apparently had not slept for two days and turned over navigation duties to his steersman.

The steersman also went to sleep, forcing a cabin boy to control the ship. Tides and currents forced the ship onto a sandbar, causing it to begin sinking. Columbus ordered his men to salvage the wood of the sinking ship to build a fort on the island.

Answer: Sweden

Sweden was a major European military power in the 17th Century. After a series of naval defeats, King Gustavus Adolphus started construction of a fleet of ships which emphasized artillery fire. The first of the ships was the Vasa, built in 1628.

The king ordered a large number of guns for the ship, which then required a second deck to have space for all the weapons. This led to the ship being top-heavy, lacking the wider base of the hull to provide required stability. On its initial voyage, the Vasa rolled severely, but righted itself, when a strong gust of wind buffeted it. As it sailed towards open water, a stronger gust caused a more severe roll, which caused flooding in the lower gundeck. The ship sank quickly, less than 400 feet from shore, with the loss of about 30 sailors.

More than thirty years after the Vasa sank, many of its guns were salvaged by using an early diving bell. In 1960 after being nearly forgotten, the Vasa was successfully raised and is now a museum piece in Stockholm.

Answer: MS Estonia

The MS Estonia was a car ferry, which travelled on the Baltic Sea between Sweden, Finland, and Estonia. It was built in 1980 and previously was named the Viking Sally, Silja Star, and Wasa King as it changed hands.

The Estonia had eleven decks with two of them dedicated to cargo and passenger cars. On the day that it sank, the Estonia was listing already from poor distribution of the cargo. A bow door separated, allowing water to enter the car deck. This increased the amount of listing, causing other decks of the ship to flood and disabling communication equipment. A later enquiry faulted the ship's crew for failing to take immediate action.

Only 137 of the original 989 passengers survived the disaster.

Answer: Squalus

The Squalus, launched in September 1938, was the second next-generation US submarine. In May 1939 after completing 18 test dives, it sank near Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The induction valves, which allow fresh air to enter the submarine when on the surface, failed to close properly on the dive and the aft area of the ship flooded. This led to the death of 26 sailors in that section of the ship.

Fortunately, the crew was able to seal doors leading to the forward section. The 33 survivors were able to communicate with the sister ship, the Sculpin, until a cable broke. A new rescue chamber and improved methods for deep dives were used to bring the survivors to the surface in small groups.

The US Navy decided it was important to raise the Squalus to determine the cause of the catastrophe, especially since it might indicate the cause of other submarine disasters. The Squalus was raised by steps, using cables and pontoons to gradually raise it. However, on the first attempt in 1939 it rose too fast and breeched causing to to sink again. A second attempt was successful.

The Squalus was overhauled and repaired, recommissioned as the Sailfish. Reportedly, any crew member using the term Squalus or Squailfish was threatened with court martial (sailors are notoriously superstitious). The Sailfish, in the words of that time "had a good war". The submarine went on 12 patrols and was responsible for destroying several freighters and warships.

At the conclusion of the war, the Sailfish returned to Portsmouth and was decommissioned. Local residents requested that the Squalus/Sailfish be turned into a memorial for the crew. The Government allowed only the conning tower to be saved, and it is preserved in the Portsmouth Naval Shipping Yard.

Answer: USS Arizona

The attack on Pearl Harbor killed over 2,000 people, sinking twelve ships. The most serious damage was inflicted to the USS Arizona, which sank after a bomb caused an explosion in the ammunition storage area. The Arizona lost over 1100 men, and heavy damage occurred to the battleships Nevada, Oklahoma, West Virginia, Maryland, and California.

The memorial was built in 1962 and lies over the sunken battleship, the Arizona. Smaller monuments at the Pearl Harbor site are present for the USS Oklahoma and USS Maryland.

Answer: Boiler explosion

The steamboat SS Sultana was launched in 1863 and was used to carry troops and supplies between St. Louis and New Orleans during the American Civil War. It had very powerful boilers, which required careful maintenance to avoid clogging of lines and metal fatigue.

Its fateful journey began two days before the assassination of Lincoln. On its way to New Orleans the captain of the Sultana agreed to transport over 1000 repatriated prisoners to the North on its return trip. On its return from New Orleans one of its boilers sprang a leak before reaching Vicksburg. The local mechanic recommended replacing some parts of the boiler, which would have required several days. The Sultana's chief engineer decided to patch the leak to avoid losing the significant payday from returning the Union soldiers.

The steamboat was heavily overloaded, carrying nearly 2,000 soldiers versus its capacity of 376 passengers. This caused the ship to become top-heavy and list as it fought its way north against a massive spring flood in the river. Outside Memphis three boilers exploded in quick succession, destroying the pilothouse and causing the ship to reach a 45 degree angle. The burning ship drifted along the river while some passengers were rescued.

One cause of the explosion was low water level in some of the boilers as the top-heavy ship careened. Another cause was the river water was very muddy and tended to clog the boilers and create hotspots.

Answer: Halifax

In December 1917 the Mont Blanc was carrying explosives from New York, stopping at Halifax before sailing to France. While entering the harbor, it collided with the Norwegian ship Imo, which was picking up medical supplies to go to Belgium. The Imo had been delayed by the late arrival of fuel and was attempting to make up time while speeding through the channel. Another ship had entered the harbor on the wrong side and forced the Imo to take a path close to the Mont Blanc. Confusion or dispute over the right of way caused the Imo and Mont Blanc to have a slight collision.

When the Imo reversed engines to become unentangled, a spark caused spilled benzene on the Mont Blanc to ignite. The Mont Blanc crew recognized the danger and abandoned ship. It then drifted onto the beach, where attempts to halt the fire or pull the ship to open sea failed. The blast, estimated to have 1/5 the force of the atomic bomb at Hiroshima, destroyed about 1.6 square kilometers of the city of Halifax, creating a tsunami 60 feet in height with the blast being felt as far as 100 miles distant.

Rescue efforts arrived quickly from nearby Canadian provinces, but blizzards hampered relief from the northeast United States and other parts of Canada. The city of Boston sent medical supplies and other aid by sea, later supporting efforts to rebuild damaged parts of Halifax. As a token of gratitude the city of Halifax sent a Christmas tree to Boston in 1918, a practice it formally resumed in 1971.

Answer: France

The German navy built its two largest battleships, the Bismarck and the Tirpitz just before World War II began. The Bismarck's one offensive action occurred in 1941, when it was commanded to raid North Atlantic shipping. The Allies tracked the Bismarck and the Prinz Eugen near Scandinavia, and a battle ensued with the cruiser The Hood and battleship The Prince of Wales. The Hood was destroyed in the battle, and other ships were damaged.

British naval forces tracked the Bismarck as it traveled towards occupied France for repairs of its battle damage. Churchill ordered all available British ships in the area to aid the search. Torpedo planes, launched from the aircraft carrier Royal Ark, damaged the steering mechanism of the Bismarck. Battleships and heavy cruisers battered the disabled German ship, which was eventually scuttled to prevent the British from boarding it.

The Bismarck's hull was discovered in 1989, about 400 miles west of Brest France, at a depth of about 3 miles.

Answer: Costa Concordia

In January 2012 the cruise ship Costa Concordia struck a rock off the Isola del Giglio (Giglio Island) on the western shore of Italy. The collision caused a 53 meter gash on the cruise ship, flooding parts of the ship and disabling power. It drifted towards the shore and eventually rolled onto its starboard side on a rocky ledge near the shore. It required six hours to evacuate over 4,000 people from the ship. Unfortunately 32 people lost their lives in the incident, and the captain was sentenced to prison for manslaughter and abandoning the ship.

Immediate salvage operations removed the fuel from the ship. Two years later, the ship was brought to an upright position and towed to Genoa to be scrapped.