The Story of the SS Arkansan

Welcome to my site!

It started out as an effort to detail the events surrounding the loss of my wife's Great Uncle, Bernard Conners on June 15th, 1942 aboard the freighter SS Arkansan.

My original plan was to create a site just for family. I had put together a written report for family a few years prior to the website, and some more information has come to light since then. The thought of printing, binding, and distributing a new release didn't really appeal to me and I thought the web would be a better medium for a work in progress like this. 

Then I thought, 'why limit it to family?' Put it out there for everyone to see, and who knows, maybe I'll hear from a family member of someone else that was there and that will lead to more information. Since then I've continued to expand it to include information on American-Hawaiian Steamship Co. and their other losses during the war.

Whoever you are, I hope you find it interesting.

Eric Stone

In the Works

This site has continued to grow and expand in ways I never imagined when I first created it. Not only does the search for answers go on concerning the loss of the Arkansan and the men who served on her, but through comments and e-mails from visitors there is a definite hunger for information on American-Hawaiian and other vessels in their fleet.

This has resulted in a number of parallel investigations that start and stop as time and information permits until I can get them to a point where I can incorporate them into the site.

There is no set schedule or priority. These investigations tend to move at their own pace, but between updates at least you’ll know what’s ‘In the Works’;

Ohioan - working on various updates surrounding the wrecks discovery.

Coloradan - working on a few updates relating to the wrecks discovery.

SS Arkansan - Planning on adding additional details about Master Paul R. Jones' childhood.

American-Hawaiian - Collecting information on the company's First World War losses with the goal of adding a new page or pages to detail this time period.

SS William D Burnham - Working on a new page on the loss of the Burham in '44 including a Bio on her A-H namesake.

Planning on adding additional biographies of American-Hawaiian "Masters, Mates & Pilots" I've come across as part of my research that were not involved in a sinking.

SS Oregonian - Collecting information for new page. Good progress on crew list and Mariner files.

Military Author Radio interview - Check out my interview with Dr. Tom Gauthier and Dari Bradley on Military Author Radio, which you can listen to here.

Salem Common Memorial – Still hoping to get this corrected one day.