| Name: | Mercury Sun | ||
| Type: | Motor tanker | ||
| Tonnage: | 8.893 tons | ||
| Completed: | 1931 - Sun Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co, Chester PA | ||
| Owner: | Sun Oil Company, Philadelphia PA | ||
| Homeport: | Wilmington | ||
| Date of attack: | 18 May, 1942 | Nationality: American | |
| Fate: | Sunk by U-125 (Ulrich Folkers) | ||
| Position: | 20.01N, 84.26W - Grid DL 9633 |
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| Complement: | 35 (6 dead and 29 survivors). | ||
| Convoy: | |||
| Route: | Beaumont, Texas (13 May) - Cristobal - Pearl Harbor | ||
| Cargo: | 93607 barrels of Navy fuel oil | ||
| History: | |
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| Notes on loss: | At 06.06 hours on 18 May, 1942, the unescorted and
unarmed Mercury Sun (Master Willard Davis Jr.) was hit by two
torpedoes from U-125 about 125 miles south of Cape Corrientes, Cuba,
while steaming a zigzag course at 8.5 knots. The torpedoes struck on the
port side at the #4 and #5 tanks and broke the back of the ship. The
carbon dioxide smothering system on the tanker successfully kept the
cargo from igniting after the first torpedo hit, but when the second hit
the ship burst into flames. 29 of the nine officers and 26 crewmen
managed to abandon ship in two lifeboats. At 06.35 hours, a coup de
grāce struck the vessel on the starboard side at #8 tank, but the ship
remained afloat and sank about three hours after the first attack,
sagging in the middle. The master, chief mate, second mate and three
crew members were lost. The lifeboats stayed near the burning ship until daybreak and then sailed towards the coast. 28 survivors were picked up nearly 40 hours after the attack by the American steam merchant Howard and landed on 19 May at Mobile, Alabama. One seriously injured crewman was transferred to a US Coast Guard boat at the Tampa Sea Buoy. |
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