In foggy darkness, 700 miles west of Land's End, two U.S. merchant ships collided. The American Farmer, with a 35-foot hole in her port side, soon had her forward holds full of water and her fore-decks awash. The William J. Riddle took aboard the Farmer's 57 passengers and crew, transferred them to another U.S. ship, and then made shore at Barry, Wales, with her own bow stove in at the waterline.
Meanwhile the derelict Farmer was legitimate quarry for salvagers. An 8,258-ton vessel owned by the United States Lines, she was loaded with...
To continue reading:
or
Log-In
