1920 — Feb 29, tanker Cubadist last contact off Diamond Shoals, NC (storm?) — 37-40
Compiled by Wayne Blanchard; last edit 6-4-2025 for upload to: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/
–40 AP. “Fear For Safety of American Tanker…Three Days Overdue.” Birmingham Age-Herald, AL. 3-9-1920, 7.
–40 New York Times. “Fear The Cubadist Sank…Forty Persons Aboard.” 3-10-1920, p. 9.
–39 Wikipedia. “SS Cubadist.” 5-6-2025 edit. (Cites NY Tribune. “Shipping News.” 2-21-1920, 17.)
–37 U.S. Bureau of Navigation. Merchant Vessels of the United States…1920, p. 447.
Narrative Information
US Bureau of Navigation: “St.s…Cubadist…5,788 [tons]…1916 [built]… 37 [on board]…37…[lives lost]…Foundered…Sailed from Habana [sic], Cuba, for Baltimore, Md., and was last reported by radio Feb. 29, 1920, 110 miles southwest of Diamond Shoals, N.C.”
March 8, AP: “By Associated Press. New York, March 8 – The American tank steamer Cubadist, which left Mantanza [Matanzas], Cuba, February 26 for Baltimore, with a cargo of molasses, is more than three days overdue and fears for her safety and that of the 40 members of her crew were expressed today by her owners here, The Cubadist was last heard from Friday, when she sent a wireless message that she was then three miles south of Diamond Shoals. The Cubadist, 5,788 gross tons, is a sister ship of the Mielero, which broke in two and sank January 23, last, while making the same voyage. The captain of the Mielero, his wife, two children and nineteen of members of the crew, who left the ship in a lifeboat, have never been heard from. Another boat with the first mate and the remainder of the crew were picked up at sea.” (Associated Press. “Fear For Safety of American Tanker Now Three Days Overdue.” The Birmingham Age-Herald, AL. 3-9-1920, p. 7.)
March 10, NYT: “Officials of the Cuba Distilling Company gave up hope yesterday for the tank steamer Cubadist, Captain H. L. Michelson and the crew of thirty-nine men, which last was heard from on Feb. 29 by wireless 111 miles southwest of Diamond Shoals, off the coast of North Carolina, on its way to New York from Cuba.
“One of the worst gales of the year is believed to have carried away the wireless and wrecked the ship. The waters near this position have been searched, without definite results. The Milero of the same line was sunk by a gale off the Georgia coast in January of this year.” (New York Times. “Fear The Cubadist Sank; Owners Give Up Hope for Tanker and Forty Persons Aboard.” 3-10-1920, p. 9.)
Sources
Associated Press. “Fear For Safety of American Tanker Now Three Days Overdue.” The Birmingham Age-Herald, AL. 3-9-1920, p. 7. Accessed 6-4-2025 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/the-birmingham-age-herald-mar-09-1920-p-7/
New York Times. “Fear The Cubadist Sank; Owners Give Up Hope for Tanker and Forty Persons Aboard.” 3-10-1920, p. 9. Accessed 6-4-2025 at: https://www.nytimes.com/1920/03/10/archives/fear-the-cubadist-sank-owners-give-up-hope-for-tanker-and-forty.html
United States Bureau of Navigation, Department of Commerce. Fifty-Second Annual List of Merchant Vessels of the United States…For the Year Ended June 30, 1920. Wash.: GPO, 1920. Google digitized at: http://books.google.com/books?id=mF4uAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_v2_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q=&f=false
Wikipedia. “SS Cubadist.” 5-6-2025 edit. (Cites New York Tribune. “Shipping News…American Ports.” 2-21-1920, p. 17.) Accessed 6-4-2025 at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Cubadist