Before returning to my cabin from the open air of the fantail, I paid my respects to Captain Carlsen and offered a little prayer, for it was exactly in that spot of the ocean that his ship slipped beneath the waves and where, many years later, his cremated remains would be scattered.
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stated that the cargo was classified and could not be confirmed. Journalist Frank Delaney’s book on the sinking, Simple Courage: A True Story of Peril on the Sea (Random House, 2006), discusses the zirconium rumor and presents it more as fact. Some have offered that Captain Carlsen would have stayed with his ship as long as it was still on the surface no matter what the cargo, as a true and brave professional who took his responsibility as a shipmaster very seriously, as well as his dedication to his employer to make every attempt to salvage the ship and its cargo.
Kenneth Dancy (left) with Captain Kurt Carlsen (right) upon their arrival in Falmouth, England. Carlsen was a veteran mariner, who had trained aboard square-riggers as a youth. Kenneth Dancy was already a ship master by then and was only filling in for Turmoil’s first mate, who had taken ill that day. In recognition of their efforts to save the Flying Enterprise, Carlsen and Dancy were honored with a ticker-tape parade upon their arrival in New York. Dancy was later awarded a medal for Industrial Heroism by the Daily Herald and an Illuminated Citation from the American Institute of Marine Underwriters. Capt. Carlsen was awarded a Lloyd’s Silver Medal for Meritorious Services and was later offered $250,000 for his story by the Daily Express in the UK, and twice that much by a Hollywood producer. He declined both offers and went back to sea, where he spent the rest of his career. Carlsen died in 1989 at the age of 75. At his request, his ashes were spread at sea in 1990 at 49° 38’ N by 4° 07’ W, the location where Flying Enterprise had slipped beneath the waves thirty-eight years before.
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Dancy to leap across to Enterprise’s deck with the towline in hand. With Dancy’s help, Carlsen eventually managed to get the wire hawser shackled to a bollard on the bow. Turmoil’s crew ran out an ample 3,600 feet of line and the big freighter began to move slowly, headed to the safety of the harbor at Falmouth, England. The Flying Enterprise was resisting the tow in the heavy sea state, and her list increased to sixty degrees. Just forty miles from safety, the towline parted. Soon the Turmoil was joined by two other tugs but it was too late for the stricken vessel. Enterprise lay over on her side, allowing the sea to pour into her funnel. Carlsen and Dancy crawled to the edge of the stack and were rescued by Turmoil’s crew. The Flying Enterprise sank at 1610 hours on 10 January 1952 to a valiant salute of whistles, sirens and foghorns from the surrounding flotilla. Ray was not one to question Carlsen’s valor, however he did remark about the foolishness of risking one’s life over a merchant ship with a hold full of pig iron and Volkswagens. This gave fuel to the aforementioned rumor, and other questions remained: Why were there so many American destroyers dispatched to the scene? Also, why did the FBI later question some of the sailors involved in the rescue? Fifty years later, a Danish documentary, Det Skæve Skib (English title: “The Mystery of Flying Enterprise”) that aired in 2002 speculated about the zirconium rods but
Austin Dwyer is a Fellow and past president of the Puget Sound Group of NW Painters. He is also a signature member of the American Society of Marine Artists and former member of its board of directors. A native of County Tipperary, Ireland, Dwyer’s experience includes service in the US Air Force, a career in advertising as co-founder of CohenDwyer Advertising and Marketing in Seattle, and as an instructor of illustration and design at his alma mater, the Burnley School of Professional Art. Since his retirement from Cohen-Dwyer in 2005, he has been actively making art, writing and illustrating books on maritime subjects, and exhibiting his paintings in galleries throughout the United States and Europe. He recently co-founded the Pacific Rim Institute of Marine Art, of which he serves as president. The story and art of the Flying Enterprise and Turmoil incident is one of many told and illustrated in Ships to Remember: 1400 Years of Historic Ships by Mr. Dwyer and Rorke Bryan (The History Press, 2016). You can view— and purchase—the original painting at the Maritime Gallery at Mystic Seaport.
SEA HISTORY 167, SUMMER 2019