On the Friday/party evening of April 10, 1942, the Gulf Oil Co. tanker SS Gulfamerica sailed on its maiden voyage from Port Arthur, TX to NY with 90,000 barrels of fuel oil aboard. About 4 nautical miles offshore from the boardwalk, U-boat 123 fired a torpedo at 10:20pm, hitting the Gulfamerica amidships - which broke the ship in half. Reinhard Hardegen, German Captain of U-123 wrote about this attack on page 359 of his book "Operation Drumbeat" - which states:
"Hardegen conned the boat close to shore where he recognized resorts and cabanas, a pier, a roller coaster, other amusement rides, and beach houses. That had to be Jacksonville Beach, he reasoned. Everything wes richly illuminated and automobiles with bright headlights cruised incredibly back and forth on the beach itself, throwing white reflections on the dancing waves to starboard." After the torpedo hit, "Hardegen ordered the deck guns manned and approached the broken vessel with the intent of holing her fatally with artillery. When he saw the large number of spectators on shore, however, and noted the proximity of the beach homes to the point of attack, he worried that the shells he fired from seaward might overshoot and hurt innocent people and their property. He therefore made a turn around the vistim's stern and came up on its shoreward , or port, side, where any errant shells would pass harmlessly out to sea."

On shore, "frivolity quickly turned to horror as the shocked revelers beheld the funeral pyre at sea and the U-boat itself bombarding the fiery corpse. Their faces red from the glare, the witnesses stood in stupefaction, endeavering to comprehend how a war they considered so officially remote from their daily lives could suddenly appear in front of them."

Townsend Hawkes was one of several residents who launched boats in their attempt to rescue survivors. Of the 41 crewmembers & 7 Armed Guard for the deck gun on the stern, 29 were rescued & 19 died.

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You may also read more detailed information concerning this sinking, by typing in "SS Gulfamerica" on the Internet, and where you will find that it is an official Florida landmark (FL501).

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