According to my dad's service records, he served on the S.S. Examiner which I can find very, VERY little about. Today, I found that there was a ship S.S. Examiner that had been renamed S.S. Excello. The Excello was torpedoed and I know that my father was on a ship that was torpedoed as well. Does anyone have any information that could help me find out if the Examiner was indeed the Excello.
Thanks in advance for any help that you can offer.
My Dad was on the SS Examiner as a seaman/wiper at the age of 15. I have Ancestry.com records showing him joining 10/26/43 in Baltimore. Also a record of the ship departing Liverpool England 11/30/43. The next record I can find he is on the SS James C. Cameron (ammo ship) departing Leghorn Italy? 9/29/44. Trying to fill in the gaps between late 43 and late 44.
Your best bet to fill in those gaps is to try to obtain a copy of your father's complete merchant marine service record via the U.S. Coast Guard. His service record should identify the ships in which he served, applicable dates, training, shipboard positions held, etc. Please see this page from the Armed Guard website that I manage: http://armed-guard.com/searchmil.html. In particular see section A.2. Records of Individuals – Merchant Marine. You will have to contact the U.S. Coast Guard’s National Maritime Center in Martinsburg, West Virginia. The Coast Guard was and is responsible for issuing certain documents ("seaman's papers") to U.S. merchant mariners, so should have information about your father's merchant marine career. You will have to provide as much identifying information as possible about your father. There may be a fee for this service but I would expect the Coast Guard would not begin work without informing you of any charges.
Good luck. I hope this information is useful.
Ron Carlson, Webmaster Armed Guard / Merchant Marine website www.armed-guard.com
I'm also researching the SS Examiner since my Grandfather (Chief Officer) was aboard her during WWII. In fact I have a customs document dated Feb 10, 1943 when she came to port in NYC... So is it possible there were 2 SS Examiners?
It is entirely possible for there to be two (or more) ships of the same name.
As noted elsewhere in this thread, there was a ship that carried the name EXAMINER between 1928 and 1941, at which time she was renamed EXCELLO. She was sunk in 1942.
But see http://shipbuildinghistory.com/history/shipyards/1major/inactive/bethquincy.htm and scroll to hull number 1484. This ship was also named EXAMINER. She was a class C-3 cargo ship, built in 1941 and scrapped in 1970. So, obviously, she was not the EXAMINER/EXCELLO that was lost in 1942 and may very well have arrived in New York in 1943.
It is possible that the second EXAMINER was owned by the same company that owned the first ship of the same name. The first EXAMINER was renamed in 1941, which often happens when a ship is sold. So, to speculate, the shipping company may have sold the first EXAMINER in 1941 (at which time the new owner renamed her) even as a replacement ship was being built for the first company. I find many examples in my research of a given shipping company owning two or more ships of the same name over time, although obviously not at the same time.
Or the fact that two ships had the same name might be coincidental.
Yes, I've also found a number of references to more than one EXAMINER, which is pretty interesting. Any ideas on how I could find out who scrapped her? I've found a couple of marine scrap yards online but haven't found the one who knew of the EXAMINER.
I noticed on another post where someone was able to confirm a name of a crew member of a Liberty ship. Does the public have a way to do that? As I mentioned in my post, all I have is a piece of paper and it would be great if I could find my grandfather's name on the crew list...
My father also was on board the EXCELLO when she was torpedoed on 13 November 1942. There were three lifeboats with the survivors - the first one was picked up I believe a few hours later; the second the next day, and the third one a week later. My father was on the third lifeboat. I'd love to hear your father's story.
I have just found a photograph of the survivors of the Excello in the lifeboat. Taken from the aircraft that found them. It's not very good copy as it comes off a microfilm copy but it's better than nothing. I'm trying to track down the original. How do I post it?
I see your message was posted four years ago so I hope you're still searching for news about the Excello. Hope this helps: The survivors of the Excello were located by members of 44 Air School (Grahamstown) and then again by members of 42 Air School (Port Elizabeth) who diverted the hospital ship "Atlantis" to go to their assistance. At 12:38 hours on November 20, 1942, Anson number 3279, piloted by Lt Clegg with crewmen Lac Bryant, Lac Hetherington and A/C Cowall spotted a lifeboat with seven occupants, red sails and four oars drifting in the Indian Ocean at position 34° 08' S 26° 17' E (about 20km south of Bird Island). They dropped rations, water and a message reading: "Help is coming". The Air Schools were part of the joint South African Air Force / Royal Air Force Joint Air Training Scheme during WW2.
Hi, my grandfather was part of the armed guard on board the excello and has told me in great detail about what happened if you're interested . Thanks and let me know if I can help. Brett
Hi Brett, Thanks for your offer of help. I am particularly trying to find out more about the sinking and if he was one of those landed at Port Elizabeth. I am also looking for a decent copy of the photo showing the survivors adrift. Can you help? Kind regards, Ivor.
Yes, the Examiner and the Excello were one and the same. Be careful, however. There were at least two different Examiners and Excellos!
Your Examiner was renamed the Excello in January 1941.
Since you know your Dad's ship was torpedoed, I have a good idea which ship this was. If you'll send me your e-mail address (mine is "rick@pitz.net") and I will send you a detailed list of the ports of call for this ship from May 1940 until she was sunk by U-181 on November 13, 1942.
Oh, Rick, thank you so very, very much. This helps immensely. If I find out that this is one of my father's ships, I can't tell you how much that would mean to me about the attack. The location of the attack were among those that he told me about so please say a prayer that this is one of his ships. Even if not, at least I feel that I'm making progress and not just stuck with no path to follow.
My e-mail address is mmhefner@charter.net
I have goosebumps thinking that maybe....just maybe I'll get some information about the ship he was on was on when he had to jump into a flaming sea. He wasn't burned badly but when he came home during his next leave, he told his parents that he had had a severe sunburn. To my knowledge, no one knew of his experience until recently when an article about the Armed Guard was written for a local paper and a gentleman who served during that time told me about the attack. I can't imagine my sweet, sweet Daddy having to endure that nor any of the other veterans during the war for that matter.
Again, thank you so very, very much for any help you can give.
This appears to be evidence that EXAMINER and EXCELLO were the same ship.
See this page from the website Shipbuilding History, http://shipbuildinghistory.com/history/shipyards/4emergency/wwone/aisc.htm, and scroll down to hull #1484. This is a list of ships built by American International Shipbuilding Corp. of Philadelphia. A ship originally named CINNEBAR/SINSINAWA (I have no idea why a ship would have two "original" names) was delivered for service in October 1919. She was later renamed EXAMINER in 1928, then renamed again EXCELLO in 1941, before being torpedoed and lost in 1942.
That's probably as good a reference as you will be able to find.
Thank you so much for your reply and help, Ron. You know how much it would mean to me if I did, indeed, find out this was one of his ships.
Since I began to find out more about his time in the service, I kept running into dead ends about the Examiner. I'll have to admit that I haven't worked as hard as I should in doing my research, but, still, I was having no luck so I just gave up. I started again tonight, and, I honestly have no idea how I ended up finding out about the name change. I'm so hoping this is one of the ships he was on.
Thank you, my friend, for everything you do including helping all of us with research.
The A.G. members list on this site includes a Robert E. Parker, along with the info that he was a member of the gun crew on S.S. Excello from June to November 1942. Where he is, if he's alive, it doesn't say. C.A. Lloyd may know more about him. Good luck. -- Fran
Just found out my Dad served on the Excello July 1942-November '42 as an oiler. I want to learn anything I can. He's been deceased for some time, and I recall him mentioning the torpedo, but not making a big deal out of it. Incredible! How can I confirm whether or not he was on board? Thank you so much.
Posted by Ron Carlson on September 13, 2013, 4:06 pm, in reply to "Re: Information needed about S.S. Excello" Edited by board administrator September 13, 2013, 4:26 pm
Mary,
Here's what I have been able to find about your father, Henry Poniktera and SS EXCELLO.
As mentioned in some of the earlier messages in this e-mail thread, the cargo ship SS EXCELLO, built in 1919, had previously been named EXAMINER. In 1941 she was renamed EXCELLO. (There was another, separate ship also named EXCELLO, but renamed in 1940, and another ship named EXAMINER, built in 1942, so it's a little difficult keeping them all straight.) See http://shipbuildinghistory.com/history/shipyards/4emergencylarge/wwone/aisc.htm and scroll to hull number 1484 for your father's ship.
In any case, on June 10, 1942, EXCELLO returned from a voyage that had begun in January 1942 and took her at least as far as Capetown, South Africa. As was and is standard practice, most of the merchant marine sailors and officers were "paid off" and left the ship, to find positions on other ships as soon as possible. A like number of new merchant officers and sailors were signed on as crew for the next voyage of EXELLO. One of these men was Henry Poniktera, age 22, a U.S. citizen. His position aboard the ship was not noted in the record I found, which only listed the new replacement crewmen. The next voyage was described by the ship's captain as "Atlantic Ocean eastward of New York," with a projected sailing date of July 11.
The ship departed New York on either July 11, as the captain predicted, or on July 9, as a different source claims. She apparently proceeded to Hampton Roads (i.e., Norfolk), Virginia. There she joined convoy KS-521, which departed Hampton Roads on July 17 and arrived in Key West, Florida, on July 22. See http://www.convoyweb.org.uk/ks/index.html?ks.php?convoy=521!~ksmain.
Key West was a major starting point for convoys into the Caribbean and to South America. While I cannot trace EXCELLO beyond Key West until her loss nearly four months later, she may not have proceeded into the Caribbean. Whether she did or not, however, eventually I believe she made her way east into the Mediterranean and continued all the way east to the Suez Canal, discharging her cargo at some point. She was very likely in one or more convoys during this period.
One source I found indicates that EXCELLO was on her way from Suez, Egypt (at the southern terminus of the Suez Canal) to Capetown "in ballast," meaning carrying no cargo. She sailed independently, i.e., not in a convoy and without warship escort. On the morning of November 13, 1942, she was struck by one torpedo from U-181 while off the east coast of Africa, south and east of Durban, South Africa. EXCELLO sank in about 20 minutes with two casualties, an Armed Guard sailor and a merchant marine engineering officer who died in a life boat. (Since your father held an engine room position, he was surely acquainted with the officer, Patrick Finegan, and may actually have served directly under him.) The surviving crewmen, in three lifeboats, were rescued over the next seven days: one lifeboat the day after the sinking, a second lifeboat one day later, and the last lifeboat a week after the sinking. See http://uboat.net/allies/merchants/ships/2423.html. Also see http://uboat.net/allies/merchants/crews/ship2423.html for a poor-quality photograph of EXCELLLO.
I found a separate record showing your father repatriated to the United States aboard SS F. J. LUKENBACH, which picked up your father and three fellow crewmen from EXCELLO in Durban, South Africa, and reached Baltimore on January 20, 1943. (The four EXCELLO crewmen were joined by five other stranded seamen who had been rescued from two other unrelated sinkings.) That record describes your father as having been born July 22, 1919, in Detroit, with a home address of 2387 Lyman Place in Detroit.
Unrelated to his voyage in EXCELLO I found records of your father sailing aboard SS MARY LUKENBACH on a voyage from New York to Glasgow, Scotland, and return between March 30, 1942, and June 7, 1942, in which his position was that of water tender, another engine room position. (One of his fellow engine room crewmates on that voyage, a William Killian, was also aboard EXCELLO on that ill-fated voyage so possibly he and your father were friends.)
Also unrelated to EXCELLO, I also found your father aboard SS MARK HOPKINS on a voyage from Espirito Santos, New Hebrides islands in the Pacific, departing on September 16, 1943, and arriving Los Angeles on October 8, 1943. What is remarkable is that he is one of six "repatriated seamen" on that voyage. A repatriated seaman is one who has had to depart his original ship and is later transported to his home country. This could mean a survivor of a ship that sank (like EXCELLO) or was damaged beyond repair, or a seaman who became sick or injured and had to be left behind in a hospital, someone who was removed from his original ship for disciplinary reasons, or for some other reason was no longer aboard his original ship. There is no indication in the record of the original ship to which your father was attached, nor the reason he was no longer aboard that ship. But it's possible that your father was the survivor of two sinkings, not one.
Returning to EXCELLO, she was one of a number of ships that were sunk in the Indian Ocean in 1942-1943 due to the actions of German spies operating in Gao, a Portugese territory on the west coast of India. Spies would obtain information on the sailing times of Allied merchant ships (and perhaps other information like course and destination) which was then radioed to U-boats from a German merchant ship that was detained in the port of Mormugao, Gao. (Gao was neutral in the war so German (and other) ships could seek refuge there without danger, although participating in a spy network was a violation of that neutrality.) The German ship was eventually taken out of commission through a daring and unlikely raid on the part of a group of retired British military men. Read about this spy network that resulted in the ambush of EXCELLO, and the later raid, at http://www.defensemedianetwork.com/stories/soe-enlists-an-over-the-hill-gang-for-a-mission/ and http://www.defensemedianetwork.com/stories/operation-creek-going-to-war-on-a-river-barge/.
And finally, since there were likely still other voyages and other ships in which your father sailed beyond those I have been able to find, you may be able to obtain a copy of your father's complete merchant marine service record via the U.S. Coast Guard. In addition to identifying the ships in which he served, applicable dates, training, shipboard positions held, etc., his service record might also indicate why he was a repatriated seaman in late 1943. Please see this page from the Armed Guard website that I manage: http://armed-guard.com/searchmil.html. In particular see section A.2. Records of Individuals – Merchant Marine. You will have to contact the U.S. Coast Guard’s National Maritime Center in Martinsburg, West Virginia. The Coast Guard was and is responsible for issuing certain documents ("seaman's papers") to U.S. merchant mariners, so should have information about your father's merchant marine career. You will have to provide as much identifying information as possible about your father. There may be a fee for this service but I would expect the Coast Guard would not begin work without informing you of any charges.
Good luck. I hope this information is useful.
Ron Carlson, Webmaster Armed Guard / Merchant Marine website www.armed-guard.com
My grandfather Lee Spearman was a armed guard crewmember (USN) on Excello and gave me many details about the sinking and his friend who passed away. I’m very curious about his later assignments in the war, unfortunately I can’t remember all of them although I do know he was in the pacific theater from then on out.
Brett - Mary, the original poster asking about her dad is my mom and I just started doing more research about my grandfather, and the Excello. Were you able to find anymore information? Would love to learn more about what your grandfather told you about his time on the Excello. Thanks!
Hi Ron, Thanks so very much. I think you're right, I received my dad's records which indicate that he was also aboard the SS M H De Young from beginning 7/21/4, it was torpedoed by Japanese sub on Friday 8/13/43, and this might explain the record on the Mark Hopkins. Imagaine that - 2 sinkings in such a short time. I would like to get hold of his Academy records because I believe the training he received launched his long and successful career as a tool designer for various defense and power companies throughout the US, but mostly in So California. Do you know how I might go about that? Again, thanks so much! Best, Mary