The Wreck of the Caribsea The Caribsea, a 251′ long freighter was sunk today (March 11) in 1942 by U-158 while under the command of Captain Erich Rostin. Originally named Lake Flattery, the Caribsea was a Great Lakes freighter built in 1919 at Duluth, Minnesota, for Stockard Steamship Company of New York. At 2,609 tons (1,610 net tons), the 251′ long vessel carried freight along the East Coast from Caribbean ports to New York and Philadelphia. At the beginning of March 1942, the Caribsea departed Santiago, Cuba, bound for Norfolk, Virginia. Early in the morning March 11, she was running at a slow speed 12 miles east of Cape Lookout to comply with U.S. Navy orders for all vessels passing Cape Hatteras. The U-158, under the command of Captain Erich Rostin, spotted the small freighter. According to German naval reports Rostin mistook her for a Coast Guard cutter. The U-158 fired two torpedoes from her bow tubes at the Caribsea and both struck the freighter’s starboard side simultaneously. One struck the #2 hold just forward of amidships a the other struck amidships. The small ship sank within 3 minutes, and there was no time to launch all lifeboats. Twenty-one members of the crew perished in the attack, and seven survivors leaped overboard and clung to whatever was floating nearby. The survivors were picked up by the Norlindo and put aboard a Coast Guard cutter off Cape Henry, Virginia
The bottom of this wreck lies at 90′ with her remains rising to within 45′ of the surface.
N34° 36.414’/W76° 18.846′
27042.5, 39741.0
The Wreck of the Caribsea
The Caribsea, a 251′ long freighter was sunk today (March 11) in 1942 by U-158 while under the command of Captain Erich Rostin.
Originally named Lake Flattery, the Caribsea was a Great Lakes freighter built in 1919 at Duluth, Minnesota, for Stockard Steamship Company of New York. At 2,609 tons (1,610 net tons), the 251′ long vessel carried freight along the East Coast from Caribbean ports to New York and Philadelphia. At the beginning of March 1942, the Caribsea departed Santiago, Cuba, bound for Norfolk, Virginia. Early in the morning March 11, she was running at a slow speed 12 miles east of Cape Lookout to comply with U.S. Navy orders for all vessels passing Cape Hatteras. The U-158, under the command of Captain Erich Rostin, spotted the small freighter. According to German naval reports Rostin mistook her for a Coast Guard cutter. The U-158 fired two torpedoes from her bow tubes at the Caribsea and both struck the freighter’s starboard side simultaneously. One struck the #2 hold just forward of amidships a the other struck amidships. The small ship sank within 3 minutes, and there was no time to launch all lifeboats. Twenty-one members of the crew perished in the attack, and seven survivors leaped overboard and clung to whatever was floating nearby. The survivors were picked up by the Norlindo and put aboard a Coast Guard cutter off Cape Henry, Virginia
The bottom of this wreck lies at 90′ with her remains rising to within 45′ of the surface.
N34° 36.414’/W76° 18.846′
27042.5, 39741.0