For New Year's Day: A Daring Rescue

[asakiyume]

The wreck of the Pendleton, by Tony Falcone

For New Year's Day, would you care to hear the tale of the rescue of the crew of the Pendleton, from icy February waters, off Cape Cod? My fisherman cousin told me this story when I visited him this past summer.

The Pendleton was a 503-foot, 10,448 gross ton tank vessel, carrying 122,000 barrels of kerosene and heating oil. It had a crew of forty-one men. On the evening of 17 February 1952, the ship was caught in a nor'easter off the coast of Cape Cod, and in the early morning of the following day, the ship broke in two. The captain and seven crewmen perished when the bow half sank; the rest of the men were left drifting on the sinking stern section.

It was one of two tankers destroyed that night by the nor'easter. The other, the Fort Mercer, had been able to send out a distress signal before it broke up, so at first, the Chatham Lifeboat Station thought it was rescuing crew from just one tanker, the Fort Mercer. It was only as the day went on that they realized there were two stricken tankers.

Boatswain Bernard Webber led the expedition to rescue the survivors of the Pendleton. He and three others set out into the wind, waves, and snow of the storm in a 36-foot wooden lifeboat, with only a compass to guide them--a compass that was swept away when a wave smashed through the lifeboat's windscreen.

Webber lashed himself to the wheel, and the lifeboat found its way to the side of the sinking stern section of the Pendleton. One after another, men jumped into the icy water and were pulled aboard the lifeboat, until at last the lifeboat had rescued 32 people.

Captain W. Russell Webster, whose account I'm cribbing, writes,

Lost, with no compass to steer by and in zero visibility conditions, [the lifeboat had] just two choices. Head east into the seas and hope to survive 10-12 more hours until a new day's light brought the slim chance of transferring passengers yet again to a larger rescue ship. Or, put the wind and seas on the small boat's stern and let them force the vessel ashore somewhere where help might be nearby.

Webber chose the latter course--and the lifeboat was blown and pushed to safety in Chatham Harbor. Webber and the other three were awarded the Gold Lifesaving Medal for "extreme and heroic daring."



Information from W. Russel Webster, "The 'Pendleton' Rescue."

There's audio of an interview with Webber here.

Comments

[zdenka]

Heroic indeed! I always like hearing stories about people who quietly carry on with their duty in extraordinary circumstances. Even better when they all survive.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Even better when they all survive.

Absolutely! It felt to the lifeboat crew like suicide, going out for this rescue, but they did it anyway, and not only survived, but also were able to rescue a large portion of the crew .

[cucumberseed.livejournal.com]

That's badass.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

I agree--(ant)arctic-explorer level badass!

[mnfaure.livejournal.com]

The extraordinary generosity and heroism people are capable of takes my breath away.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

I'll say!

[slobbit.livejournal.com]

I needed a wonderful tale today. Thank you.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

My pleasure!

I need to email you soon--I have a tentative schedule for my volunteering in at the You-Know-Where Correctional Institution.

[tooticky.livejournal.com]

I love those sorts of stories. :) I also really like that it was so recent and within living memory, as that makes it somehow far more close to home.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

As I recall, my cousin said that **someone** involved in the rescue was a family friend.