Credits & Tools

Note: This is a list of the wonderful people and organizations that helped me directly or indirectly along the way to tell the story of Arkansan's loss and of American-Hawaiian Steamship Company in WWII. For the most part, these sources helped with the original scope of work. As I expanded the site to include detailed stories of other vessels in American-Hawaiian's fleet and the men who served on them, I added sources specific to those investigations which you can find on thier unique pages. No solicitations please.

Almeida, Fernando for detailed career information on Schweichel.

Ancestry.com for crew and passenger list information on many A-H vessels as well as biographical information on specific crewmembers.

The Associated Press at apimages.com for their picture of the Arkansan.

The Bancroft Library, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720-6000 for information from the Robert Dollar Papers, [ca. 1872-1967] concerning the Celestial/Margaret Dollar, photo of Celestial, and for the Robert Dollar Memoir.

Bamforth family for allowing me to quote Arkansan/American-Hawaiian related passages from "Iron Jaw: A Skipper Tells His Story - Captain Charles N. Bamforth (1895-1975)", Charles A. Bamforth and Richard A. Bamforth, Editors, Published in 2002, Dorrance Publishing Co. (Pittsburgh, Pa), ISBN 0805954171. Currently out of print but new signed copies are now available both online and directly from R. A. Bamforth, P.O.Box 5068, Augusta ME 04332, 207-626-0073 or prbamforth@gmail.com

Beaumont, Walter for photos and information on SS Alabaman and his father who served on her, Dennis R. Beaumont.

Boone, Dave - (tugboatpainter.net) artist who generously provided many photographs of American-Hawaiian vessels from his private collection from the 1930's originally taken by Francis Palmer.

Bruns, Rainer for help fine tuning the translations of the Torpedo Reports.

Cock, Howard for U-126 loss information via ubootwaffe.net. Without a doubt, the most significant breakthrough occurred in April of 2004, when Howard, the editor of the ubootwaffe.net site put me in contact with a gentleman by the name of Ken Dunn. I had written Howard about the time zones referenced on his site and mentioned that I was researching the U-126 and Arkansan. Howard was on the ball and not only answered my initial question but knew Ken had studied U-126 extensively and could help me with my research, so forwarded my contact info to him. Unfortunately, in January 2013, Howard decided to indefinitely suspend the ubootwaffe.net website for personal reasons, so I have disabled the hyperlink.

Connelly, John for sharing letters Bernard wrote while he was on the training ship Nantucket.

Connelly, Virginia "Jinnie" for Bernard's Graduation Certificate from the Massachusetts Nautical School, and general information about Bernard and Ann.

Conners family for Bernard's obituary and picture from 1927.

Cundall, Peter for many details provided throughout the website.

Desmarais, Jeanette for information on her Uncle, Louis Leo Marchesseault, including a letter from Captain Jones, Pictures of Leo and several newspaper clippings.

Dickie, Captain Rodman L. for information about his time on the Arkansan, specifically the Suez incident and his permission to use a summary of that event on my site, the bridge wing photo of the Arkansan and insight on Captain Jones.

Duffy, Captain George W. for information and photos on the Nantucket, the Massachusetts Nautical School, and advice on the Merchant Marine and ship design. Insight on Bernard's training was provided by Captain Duffy's book:'Ambushed Under the Southern Cross - The Making of an American Merchant Marine Officer and His Ensuing Saga of Courage and Survival'.

Dunn, Ken for:

• • U-126 translated KTB excerpt for June 15th(Kriegstagebuch, or War Diary),

  • Arkansan and Kahuku excerpts from 'U.S. Merchant Vessel War Casualties of World War II' - Robert M. Browning, Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 1996,

  • Torpedo Report ordering information and assistance analyzing,

  • and additional U-Boat & Merchant Marine advice too numerous to list here. Ken had been researching Bauer since 2000 and generously shared much of that hard work with our family. His father was Third Engineer on another ship, the Cardonia, hit by U-126 on its previous patrol in the Caribbean. Ironically, even though Bauer’s attack on Cardonia initially put Ken’s father’s life in jeopardy, Bauer’s professionalism in ceasing the attack when the Cardonia’s captain signaled ‘abandon ship’ enabled his father to escape from below decks. Ken said it best: “I started out researching an enemy and ended up researching a man I respected quite a bit.” As a matter of fact, the research Ken performed on Bauer led to some information that de-bunked the myth about the U-boat service machine-gunning survivors as was and is often portrayed in films, the most recent was U-571. Here is a link to Ken's excellent article if you want to learn more: http://www.uboat.net/articles/index.html?article=55

Falkirk Cultural Center for the Robert Dollar Biography.

Finch, Ted at Mariners website for information on Liberty Ships and Victory Ships in American-Hawaiian service.

Freetranslation.com for help with initial German to English Torpedo Report translations.

Gerhardt, Frank A. at US Maritime Commission website for information on Maritime Commission Ships in American-Hawaiian service. Special thanks for allowing me to post image of Benjamin Ide Wheeler after her attack and to link to photo pages of various A-H US Maritime Commission vessels.

Gillham, Skip and Sykes, Al for "Pulp & Paper Fleet. A History of the Quebec and Ontario Transportation Company". Published in 1988 by Stonehouse Publications. Colabee picture from Gillham Collection.

Glynn, William J. (MNS class of 43) via George Duffy for the information on Nantucket's 1929 and 1930 cruises.

Google Sites (google.com/sites) for free Website tools and hosting.

Google Maps (google.com/maps) for free custom map creation tools.

Google Documents (docs.google.com) for free documents, spreadsheets and forms to incorporate into sites.

Grissom, Elizabeth Allee, daughter of crew member George H. Allee, for the passenger list from the SS George Washington which repatriated the majority of the Arkansan survivors, and special thanks for introducing me to the possibilities of the Ancestry.com service.

Hall, Andrew W. and the Past Foundation at pastfoundation.org for Type IXC renderings and with Maritime Texas for U-126 specific renderings.

Haworth, Rodger and his miramarshipindex.org.nz site for general and specific data on American-Hawaiian ships.

Helgason, Gudmundur for Bauer career information via uboat.net.

Hind, Stephen at (steegle.com) for his very helpful Google Sites add-on instructions.

Hofmann, Markus for Bauer career information via u-boot-archiv.de/mannschaften (in German).

Larsson, Bjorn at Maritime Timetable Images for information on American-Hawaiian sailings during 1936 and 1940.

Lawson, Siri for her wonderful warsailors.com site for information on the Høegh Giant.

Library of Contemporary History in Stuttgart, Germany for Arkansan and Kahuku Torpedo Reports.

Lloyd's Register of Ships from 1930 to 1945 via Plimsoll Ship Data for specifications on the Arkansan.

Luftwaffe and Allied Air Forces Discussion Forum (forum.12oclockhigh.net) for help on Suez attack.

Mason, Jerry and Charla for U-126 and U-173 BdU KTB's and technical/glossary information from their uboatarchive.net site.

Massachusetts Maritime Academy (maritime.edu) for Bernard's transcripts and school history.

Moore, Capt. Arthur R. for "A careless word...A NEEDLESS SINKING". Eighth Printing - 2006. Published and distributed by the Dennis A. Roland Chapter of the American Merchant Marine Veterans, Midland Park, NJ. Printed by Reed Hann, Williamsport, PA.

Moore, Richard - (ship-paintings.com) artist for introducing me to Dave Boone and providing painting of Washingtonian.

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Historical Meteorological and Climatological Data for Locations in the Caribbean Area [1899-1999] from the NOAA Central Library Climate Data Imaging Project posted by NASA at: http://gcmd.nasa.gov/records/GCMD_NOAA_NCL_CARIBBEAN_AREA.html

National Archives for numerous pieces of documentation relating to this story:

• • War Action Casualty Report filed by Captain Jones,

  • Report from the USS Pastores,

  • Medical Reports and Survivor accounts from US Naval Operating Base, Trinidad, BWI,

  • BdU's reconstructed U-173 second patrol KTB on microfilm T1022-2885,

  • Photo of Sigurd Bentsen.

NavSource Naval History for images and data on US Navy ships via: http://www.navsource.org/.

Neilson, Larz for clipping of U.S.S. Nantucket in 1932.

Newspaperarchive.com for articles on Arkansan's history.

The New York Times archive via nytimes.com for information on the Arkansan's history, including crew list.

Oh, Irish for information on his great uncle, Master George P Shanahan, Master of the Knoxville City when it collided with the Arkansan in San Pedro, CA.

The Online Dictionary, German-English at: odge.info for help with initial German to English Torpedo Report translations.

Pacific Northwest Folklore Society for providing information on Ryo Yei Maru, including song by J.W. Sparrow.

Postlethwaite, Mark (posart.com) artist for the use of his painting "Hunting the Hunters".

Roberts, Captain Stephen S. USNR (Retired) for EFC Design 1092 plans provided on his site shipscribe.com and information on Arkansan origin from the article by Norman L. McKellar - Steel Shipbuilding under the U. S. Shipping Board, 1917-1921, in ‘The Belgian Shiplover, No. 87 May/June 1962.

Stone, Rachel for graphic design artwork provided for the site.

Sundfær, Per from lardex.net (in Norwegian) for specifications and histories of Arkansan and her sister ships.

U.S. Coast Guard National Maritime Center, 100 Forbes Drive, Martinsburg, WV 25404 for Merchant Marine career information on Bernard and Sigurd.

U.S. Merchant Marine Organization (usmm.org) for statistics on Merchant Marine losses, specifics on Kahuku casualties, and information on other American-Hawaiian ships and officers.

U.S. Naval Observatory, Astronomical Applications Department for Sun and Moon data via: aa.usno.navy.mil.

U.S. Navy Armed Guard and U.S. Merchant Marine in World War II website (armed-guard.com) for information on Scottsburg and Kahuku including report from Lt. (JG) Robert B. Berry USNR.

Vancouver Maritime Museum, Vancouver, B.C. for photograph of the Margaret Dollar.

Watts, Ian and his Hawspipe blog for continued information on American-Hawaiian SS Co. history, uniform and device history and permission to use hat pin image.

Wikipedia free on-line encyclopedia for numerous summaries on individuals, places, aircraft and vessels that played a part in this story.