SS Ohioan (1914)

SS "Ohioan" was a cargo ship built in 1914 for the American-Hawaiian Steamship Company. During World War I she was taken over by the United States Navy and commissioned as USS "Ohioan" (ID-3280).

"Ohioan" was built by the Maryland Steel Company as one of eight sister ships for the American-Hawaiian Steamship Company built for inter-coastal service via the Panama Canal. When the canal was temporarily closed by landslides in late 1915, "Ohioan" sailed via the Straits of Magellan until the canal reopened in mid 1916. During World War I, USS "Ohioan" carried cargo, animals, and a limited number of passengers to France, and returned over 8,000 American troops after the Armistice, including the highly decorated American soldier Alvin York. After her Navy service ended in 1919, she was returned to her original owners.

"Ohioan"s six older sister ships; , and in the latter.] The contract cost of the ships was set at the construction cost plus an 8% profit for Maryland Steel, but with a maximum cost of $640,000 per ship. The construction was financed by Maryland Steel with a credit plan that called for a 5% down payment in cash with nine monthly installments for the balance. Provisions of the deal allowed that some of the nine installments could be converted into longer-term notes or mortgages. The final cost of "Ohioan", including financing costs, was $73.58 per deadweight ton, which came out to just under $730,000.

"Ohioan" (Maryland Steel yard no. 133) was the second ship built under the contract. She was launched on 24 January 1914, and delivered to American-Hawaiian on 30 June. The ship was , , and s sister ship USS|Minnesotan|ID-4545|2 took three months,cite DANFS | author = Naval Historical Center | title = Minnesotan | url = http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/m11/minnesotan.htm | short = on ] but it is not known how long "Ohioan"'s refit took.

In March, "Ohioan" returned 1,627 men to New York, mostly from the 348th Infantry Regiment of the U.S. 87th Infantry Division, [cite news | url = http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9404E1DB1E39E13ABC4A52DFB5668382609EDE | format = pdf | title = More 27th troops return from front | work = The New York Times | date = 12 March 1919 | accessdate = 2008-08-25 | page = 8 ] followed up by another 1,596 officers and men, and 1,000 homing pigeons on 16 April. Among the pigeons were Cher Ami—the only bird sent out by the Lost Battalion that was able to get a message through—and 100 captured German pigeons.cite news | url = http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=990DEEDB1238EE32A25754C1A9629C946896D6CF | format = pdf | title = 6,000 arrive from France | work = The New York Times | date = 17 April 1919 | accessdate = 2008-08-25 | page = 6 ] Cher Ami had received the French Croix de Guerre with Palm and had been recommended for the Distinguished Service Cross by General John J. Pershing. [ cite web | url = http://www.si.edu/Encyclopedia_SI/nmah/cherami.htm | title = Cher Ami--World War I Carrier Pigeon | publisher = National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institute | date = | accessdate = 2008-08-25 ] [ cite news | last = Julian | first = C. V. | title = Chicago pigeon, hero of victory, to get medal | work = Chicago Daily Tribune | date = 17 April 1919 | page = 1 ]

"Ohioan" docked at New York on 22 May on her next voyage with a portion of the 328th Infantry Regiment of the U.S. 82nd Infantry Division. [cite news | title = Hero of heroes is back | work = The Washington Post | date = 24 May 1919 | page = 2 ] One of the members of the unit was Sergeant Alvin C. York, who had led an attack on a German machine gun nest during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive and captured 132 German officers and men. [cite web | url = http://www.history.army.mil/html/moh/worldwari.html | title = York, Alvin C. | work = Medal of Honor Recipients – World War I | publisher = U.S. Army Center Of Military History | date = | accessdate = 2008-08-25 ] York had been honored with the U.S. Medal of Honor and the French Croix de Guerre with Palm (among other awards), both of which he wore on his coat on arrival at New York. [cite news | title = Sergeant York, Argonne marvel, back from war | work = Chicago Daily Tribune | date = 23 May 1919 | date = 3 ] After "Ohioan" had docked, York held a well-attended press conference on board "Ohioan". [Lee, p. 34.]

On 20 June, "Ohioan" returned troops including Base Hospital 98, [cite news | title = The friend of the soldier | work = Chicago Daily Tribune | date = 17 June 1919 | page = 8 ] and the 20th Engineers. [cite news | title = The friend of the soldier | work = Chicago Daily Tribune | date = 1 July 1919 | page = 8 ] By the time "Ohioan" had completed her sixth and final trooping voyage on 16 September 1919, "Ohioan" had carried home 8,383 healthy and wounded men. USS "Ohioan" was decommissioned on 6 October 1919, and returned to American-Hawaiian.

Later career

"Ohioan" resumed cargo service with American-Hawaiian after her return from World War I service. Though the company had abandoned its original Hawaiian sugar routes by this time, [Cochran and Ginger, p. 363] "Ohioan" continued inter-coastal service through the Panama Canal in relatively uneventful service over the next 17 years.

In early morning hours of 8 October 1936, however, "Ohioan" ran aground near Seal Rock on the south shore of the Golden Gate, just outside San Francisco Bay. The ship, sailing in a dense fog, strayed too close to shore and grounded on the rocks, sending a shower of sparks that lit up the night. [Sprout and Sprout, p. 54.] When the fog cleared later in the morning, the ship was firmly seated on the rocks at the base of a convert|250|ft|m|sing=on cliff, and some convert|300|ft|m from the mainland. Coast Guardsmen on shore attached three lines to the ship and set up a breeches buoy to take off the harbor pilot, but the crew stayed on board the ship in hopes that the high tide would free her from the rocky perch. As word of the shipwreck spread, spectators clambered over the cliff to get a view of the scene; one man died from a heart attack and two women broke ankles in separate falls. Newsboys soon arrived on the scene, selling newspapers telling of "Ohioan"'s woe within sight of the stranded ship. Policemen were called out to keep order as the crowd grew into the thousands.

As the seas battered the ship and drove her farther on the rocks, two Coast Guard boats took 31 men from the ship.Three officers and two cooks remained on board "Ohioan" to prevent a completely abandoned ship from becoming a salvage prize.] American-Hawaiian announced that a Los Angeles salvage firm had been hired to retrieve the convert|1500|LT|t|adj=on cargo,cite news | author = Associated Press | title = 31 saved off ship as crowds watch | work = The New York Times | date = 10 October 1936 | page = 19 ] which included explosives and oil, among other things.cite news | title = Flames menace explosives | work = The Washington Post | date = 7 March 1937 | page = 13 ] Two heavy-duty electric pumps were lowered to the ship via the breeches buoy and plans for connecting them to the San Francisco municipal electric system were drawn up.

The crowds of onlookers continued to watch as salvage efforts progressed; a 75-year-old woman from Oakland fell down the embankment while watching the action on 13 October. [cite news | author = Associated Press | title = Woman viewing ship salvaging injured | work = Los Angeles Times | date = 14 October 1936 | page - 12 ] The mayor of San Francisco, Angelo J. Rossi, rode the breeches buoy to the ship and toured it for 45 minutes on 19 October. [cite news | author = Associated Press | title = Bay City mayor visits stranded ship | work = Los Angeles Times | date = 19 October 1936 | page = 3 ] On 22 October, the "Los Angeles Times" ran an Associated Press story saying that marine experts were considering the use of a method first patented by Abraham Lincoln in May 1849 in order to re-float the stranded ship. [cite news | author = Associated Press | title = Lincoln's old patent found | work = Los Angeles Times | date = 22 October 1936 | page = 10 ] The patent, No. 6469, dated 22 May 1849, was entitled "Buoying vessels over shoals".] All efforts, however, were unsuccessful, and by 31 October, American-Hawaiian placed an advertisement in the "Los Angeles Times" requesting bids for the purchase of the ship and her cargo "as and where she now lies ... on the rocks near Point Lobos, San Francisco". [cite news | title = For Sale: S. S. "Ohioan" and Cargo…" | format = display ad | work = Los Angeles Times | date = 31 October 1936 | page = 6 ] E. J. Mitchell was the winning bidder, securing rights to the ship and its cargo for $2,800.

In March 1937, five months after the wreck, the hulk of "Ohioan"—still aground near Seal Rock—caught fire when a watchman aboard the ship attempted to burn some meat in a refrigerator. The flames died out before reaching the explosives that remained aboard the wreck. [cite news | title = Grounded for five months ... | work = The Washington Post | date = 8 March 1937 | page = 5 ] A Pacific storm in December the same year caused the hulk of "Ohioan" to break in two. [cite news | title = Havoc wrought by storms, east and west | work = Chicago Daily Tribune | date = 12 December 1937 | page = 2 ] By 1939, only remnants of some of "Ohioan"'s rusty steel beams were still visible on the rocks. [Riesenberg, p. 216.]

Author Mark Ellis Thomas suggests that English poet and novelist Malcolm Lowry, may have been inspired by the wreck of "Ohioan" in his poem "In Tempest Tavern". One excerpt from the poem refers to "The "Ohio" sic smoking in Frisco on a sharp pen / Of rock". At the time of "Ohioan"'s grounding, Lowry was in San Diego, preparing to sail to Acapulco. [Thomas, p. 233.]

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* " [http://www.cliffhouseproject.com/history/Ohioan/ohioan.htm Wreck of the Ohioan] " from the Cliff House Project, with several images of "Ohioan" while aground