At 12:33 on the clear summer afternoon of June 27, the American Export passenger-cargo liner S.S. Excalibur nosed out of New York harbor into a collision with the inbound Danish freighter Colombia (TIME, July 10). As water poured through a 38-foot hole between the Excalibur's No. 2 and No. 3 holds, Captain Samuel Groves rang up full speed, beached her on the mud bottom off Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. Within an hour all 114 passengers had been taken off and American Export Lines began a furious race to get the Excalibur ready for...
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