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LAKE TANKER PEDERNALES |
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The two photo below are the
Lake Tanker Pedernales, which was one of the early Lake Tankers bringing crude
oil to the Lago Refinery from Lake Maracaibo. On the night of the German
U-Boat attack four tankers were torpedo
and three of them sank. This tanker was
the first one to be torpedo, the
Oranjestad
being the second. Pedernales was hit between the mid-ship section and the
aft section and did not sink although she did catch on fire. The crew managed
to abandoned ship and left the burning hulk floating. The following day,
after the fire had burned out, she was taken under tow and brought just off of
Palm Beach, where she was cut in two, the torpedoed section removed and the two
remaining sections (The aft end with the engine and the bow) were towed to the Lago Dry Dock, the
aft end and the bow were rejoined, welded together, a temporary
wheel house was added and she was taken to Baltimore under her own steam.
In Baltimore a
new mid-ship section was installed and she returned to service. Link to
the story of the U-Boat attack. (LINK TO U-156)
With the torpedo
attack on the Lago Refinery thus began the total night time black out for the refinery and Colony that
lasted until the end of the war.
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Lake Tanker Pedernales,
after being torpedoed, cut in half, taken to the US, had a new
mid-section installed and returned to service. When torpedoed
she was in Andrew Weir colours and registered in London. This
information supplied by Bryan McCall.
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| Lake Tanker Pedernales,
after she was torpedoed. |
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| Deck of Lake Tanker
Pedernales after she was torpedoed. |
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| Another view of the
deck of the Lake Tanker Pedernales sent in by Ted Gibbons. Here
you can see the riveted steel sheets that formed the side of the ship
bent every which way. |
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Here you see the bow
and a part of the mid-ship, minus the bridge tied up to a pier at lago
and waiting to be joined to the aft end with the engine. |
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| Lake Tanker Pedernales
as she leaves for the US to have her mid-section reinstalled. The
box added to the mid-ship section (compare these photos to the one of
the bow tied to the pier, above) is a temporary bridge which was added
for the trip and constructed of wood. |
| A stamp issued by the Aruba
Post Office showing the Pedernales after being torpedoed, as well as
the torpedo that landed on Eagle Beach. The photos above of
the Pedernales,
as well as the photo to the torpedo on the beach found on the
LAGO AT WAR, WORLD WAR II
page must have been used by the artist when he did the stamp
drawings. |
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Today, May 17,2008, Willem Donck sent
me an email saying: "I just returned from Aruba and at your request
I made some pictures particularly of the debris of the Pedernales.
These wreck parts (of the mid-section) are at a depth of 25 ft. Feel
free to use these pictures for your website." |
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Great photos, thanks so much Willem.
Dan Jensen |
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RETURN TO THE STORY
OF THE U-BOAT ATTACK |
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RETURN TO THE LAGO
REFINERY DIRECTORY |
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RETURN TO THE WORLD WAR II
DIRECTORY
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MORE PHOTOS
OF LAKE TANKERS |
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