Tankers – Aruba’s and WWII’s lifeline
A large number of Tankers serviced the enormous Lago Refinery, which supplied almost all the aviation and vehicle gasoline used in Europe by the 8th Air Force, armored units and troop support vehicles. The examples below illustrate some that were lost to German U-boats during the war. Families and cargo also rode tankers to and from New York.
John Turner’s father was Captain of the MARA, one of 18 Lake Tankers. Some were lost during WWII; the last (the Trujillo) was sold in 1954 after Lake Maracaibo was dredged to allow larger tankers to enter. As they were being sold Captain Turner wrote a bittersweet poem about their demise. John’s brother Dennis has created an excellent MP4 (video) file of that poem and added extensive photos of Lake Tankers. It is well worth your time to view it. It is a very large file so it might take time to open on your device, depending on how much memory the device has and the speed of your internet connection.
The file can be opened by clicking here.
Captain John P. Turner
Lake Tankers brought crude oil from the Venezuelan oil fields to Aruba for refining. Here is SS Pedernales (1938 – 1942) after being torpedoed by the U-156. The same night, the SS Oranjestad (1927 – 1942) was sunk, leaving the lake fleet woefully short of capacity. SS Tia Juana (1928 – 1942) and SS San Nicholas (1926 – 1942) were torpedoed separately.
Here’s the Pedernales‘ bow after having her damaged mid-section cut out. The bow and stern sections were welded together by Lago and here she is on the way to the US to have a new mid-section built and welded in.
SS Orangestad (1927 – 1942) was sunk in 230 feet of water during the same attack on the Pedernales. 10 men were lost. In 1946 ESSO Bayonne snagged Orangestad’s anchor (see photo below). Oranjestad’s propeller was recovered in April, 2009, after 66 years underwater.
In 1946 the ESSO Bayone snagged Orangestad’s anchor, while she was pulling up her own.
Esso Aruba (1931 – 1965?), in better days.
ESSO Aruba in Galveston, after being torpedoed by U-511, while carrying 104,170 barrels of diesel fuel on the Aruba – New York run. Her port side is stove in and decking ripped up. She was repaired and back in service within six months.
The J.A. Mowinckle (1935 – 1950), a long-time contract visitor to Aruba, was torpedoed off Hattaras while en route to Aruba with a cargo of 6,000 tons of water. After being torpedoed she hit a mine while escaping. While under tow she hit a second mine. Here, her stern is low in the water. Mowinckle was also repaired.
German torpedo that ran up on the beach in Curacao. In the background, the crippled SS Rafaela is under tow by the tug Parmo.
The Curacao torpedo on the left, and on the right, one that ran ashore by Eagle Beach in Aruba. Four Dutch marines were killed, attempting to disarm it.
Esso Houston (1938 – 1942), sunk by U-162.
Esso Williamsburg (1941 – 1942) sunk by U-254 while on the Aruba – Reykjavik run.
Esso Harrisburg, a T-2 tanker, (1944 – 1944), sunk by U-516
Esso Bolivar (1937 – 1960), damaged by U-126 in 1942 while on the NY – Aruba run with 10,500 tons of water and 500 tons of commissary stores.