At the Height of WW II, The Hurricane of 1944 Claimed Most of Its Lives at Sea
By M.L.Baron westislandweather.com
FAIRHAVEN: Some local survivors will argue that the hurricane that struck near midnight on September 14, 1944 was more destructive than the infamous‘1938 Hurricane six years prior. To a certain extent they were right. The category 3 hurricane impacted a smaller land mass, but for the areas that got hit, the damage was incredible. It appears that wind damage had more of a destructive feature than the tidal surge. In a town report, the Fairhaven tree warden reported more trees fell in town than in 1938. The newly erected radio tower in1940, for WNBH-WFMR at Crow Island had 225ft snapped off leaving a 120ft stub at the base. Although the death toll reached 46 on land it was much higher at sea.
WW II Navy veteran Antone “Tony-Tex” Teixeira, 91 of North Fairhaven (right) recalled being right in “the middle of hell” with a naval task force steaming south down the east coast en route to the Panama Canal.
After just completing several dangerous missions in The Battle for The Atlantic, they were re-assigned to head into the Pacific theatre. The convoy ran smack into the hurricane that had 75 foot seas and 150 mph gusts. Radio silence was strictly enforced, so if any ship got into trouble they were mostly on their own.
Mr Teixeira recalls as a sailor on board the destroyer escort USS ORLANDO, that the Captain decided at one point to reverse screws and let the storm push at them with less resistance, rather than let the ship face it head on.
As the ship tossed about, the stern would rise out of the sea and the engines would rev up as the propellers spun rapidly out of the water. With the ocean this intense it could easily break a good sized ship in half. Somehow they made it and the convoy proceeded to the war in the Pacific.
However, 5 ships sank which included the 381 ft. USS Warrington DD 383 about 450 miles east off Vero Beach, Florida with 248 lost out of a crew of 321. (Above: The USS Warrington DD 383 with crew on deck in New York harbor.1939 US Navy photo )
A minesweeper, along with 2 Coast Guard cutters - the Bedloe and Jackson - that were escorting a torpedo damaged liberty ship into port were sunk, drowning 85 sailors off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina.
The 128 ft. Vineyard Sound Lightship (US Navy photo below) took all 11 of its crew to the bottom 3 miles off Cuttyhunk Island. In a 1963 expedition to the Vineyard Sound, divers found bow plates punched in were the ships center storm anchor may have come
loose and was tossed about freely during the height of the storm creating a gaping hole in the hull that quickly sank the ship. Ships of this type lacked any real water tight bulk heads. One diver described the sunken wreck as they approached it. The ship still sits upright in sixty feet of water as if in a perpetual vigil. When inside the wreck, greenish rays of sunshine glisten eerily through the hole as fish swim in and out of the ship. It’ is a haunting yet beautiful and peaceful sight. He said. This storm is referred to as The Great Atlantic Hurricane. Named hurricanes began in the early 1950's. The first named hurricane to strike New England was Carol on August 31, 1954. For more info on The 1944 Hurricane visit westislandweather.com.
