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On March 17, 1917, my grandfather was first officer on the Savannah Lines SS City of Memphis and was returning to Savannah, in ballast, after unloading a cargo of horses at LeHavre. German U-Boat 66 surfaced and stopped the vessel near Fastnet just off the coast County Cork, Ireland. The U-boat skipper ordered the crew into lifeboats, shelled and torpedoed the ship, sinking it. On St. Patrick's Day, annually, my grandfather and shipmates celebrated their rescue and St. Patrick's Day at a tavern in NYC. L.P. Borum of Matthews, VA, was ship's captain. He had the bad luck of being also sunk again by a U-Boat in WWII while skippering a Liberty Ship, but had the good luck of surviving both sinkings. Matthews, Va., is famous for its maritime history of supplying seaman to the U.S. Merchant Marines, the civilian branch of the wartime North Atlantic shipping effort which bore the brunt of U-Boat sinkings and deaths in WWII. My grandfather joined the Navy and skippered a coal tender, U.S.S. Lake Pepin. After the war, he went back to sea. After Pearl Harbor he was given command of the civilian S.S. Sundance to take part in Murmansk convoy, but received orders to rejoin the USN after waiving his exemption for essential civilian service. He received a Presidential commission to the rank of Captain, but retired from the Navy, never to return to sea and was a tugboat skipper in Savannah until suffering a debilitating stroke. Erin Go Bragh.

Fascinating story Gil. Too bad you can't celebrate St. Patrick's day in Savannah.

Tom, I have the book. It took years for the Merchant Marines to be afforded limited wartime VA benefits . I also recommend Operation Drumbeat by Michael Gannon which details the U-boat operations off the East Coast, into the Caribbean up to the Louisiana coast. He researched through interviews of U-Boat crew survivors, the historic record and interviews of Americans involved. The German U-Boats sank over 500 ships killing 5000 mariners during their 6 months campaign just miles off the US coast and through the Caribbean. One ship out of Savannah lost 49 lives when the City of Atlanta was sunk off the Outer Banks. The ineptitude of Admiral King, commander of the Eastern Sea Frontier, in his response was evident and appalling as the ships were largely unprotected. Propaganda by the US to combat the near panic of mariners was mocked by the mariners. One made up event was the alleged sinking of a U-Boat by a Coast Guard crew had the catch phrase, "Sighted sub, sank same" supposedly said by a Coast Guardsman to which the Merchant Mariners responded : "Sighted sub, glub-glub." One infamous sinking happened in shallow water off Jacksonville Beach when U-Boat Captain Rheinhard Hardegen's U-123 torpedoed SS Gulfamerica during the night and placed his sub between the beach and ship and shelled it until it exploded in front of Jax's horrified summertime beach goers. He survived the war and his story was on Youtube. He was inteviewed in Gannon's book. I commend both books to all those interested. Gil