The crew aboard USS General A. W. Greely stand by to receive the crew from Flying Enterprise, who abandoned their ship at the command of their captain and transferred to the Greely via open lifeboats. ning of what would be one of the fiercest storms in fifty years recorded in the English Channel. I can imagine the state of the passengers’ anxiety as the ship rolled, and especially when she shook every time her screw pitched out of the water, accelerating in the open air. She was being hit broadside continuously by enormous waves. In time, the constant beating caused major structural damage and the nearly 400-foot ship developed a 45-degree list to port. The heavy list caused cargo in the hold to shift and the ship then failed to answer her helm, exacerbating their situation. Carlsen recognized that his ship was in peril and broadcast an S-O-S on 28 December. The next morning, MV Sherborne, a British freighter, was the first on the scene, and other ships would soon arrive, ready to assist. The crew and passengers were taken by small boat to the waiting vessels. All
survived except Nicolai Bunjakowski, a passenger who drowned during the transfer to the American ship USS General A. W. Greely via lifeboat. Although the Sherborne had been the first to arrive on the scene, Captain Carlsen was reluctant to relinquish his passengers to the British ship. Later, it was rumored that the captain waited for the arrival of an American ship because, in addition to the Enterprise’s unassuming freight, it was also carrying a secret cargo of zirconium. Zirconium would have been instrumental in the development of USS Nautilus, which had just been authorized by Congress a few months prior to be built as the world’s first nuclear-powered submarine. Once the General A. W. Greely was on the scene, Carlsen oversaw the transfer of the entire ship’s company minus himself. Carlsen would have understood that if he abandoned the ship, there
was a good chance it would be boarded and potentially claimed as salvage. The captain remained onboard the stricken ship and maintained radio contact with all ships in the area. Arrangements were made via radio for a tow, and on 3 January the tug Turmoil arrived from Falmouth. She was one of many Bustler-class rescue tugs. After many failed attempts in rough seas, it seemed like it would not be possible to get a towline over to the foundering ship. By the next day, the seas were cresting at thirty and forty feet and the tug maneuvered dangerously close to the crippled Enterprise. Turmoil’s first mate, Kenneth Dancy, tried repeatedly to get a towline over to Carlsen, who was hanging perilously on to a bollard at the bow of the pitching ship. The tug’s skipper, Captain Parker, nudged the tug closer and the two ships touched, allowing
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