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CALVERT FOOTE

During World War II a cadet by the name of Calvert Foote lost his life at sea.  He was on his sea year at the Merchant Marine Academy onboard the ship SS Pan Atlantic.  He was studying to become a deckie.  On July 6, 1942 his ship was bombed and sunk by German dive-bombers about 180 miles north of Cape Kanin.  His ship was en route from Philadelphia to Archangel, Russia when it was sunk upon entering the White Sea.  The ship was carrying war supplies and explosives in its forward holds.  The ship had been separated from its convoy after meeting up with British Admiralty.  There were forty-eight men on the ship, and twenty- five of them lost their lives during the attack.

            Three minutes after the forward end of the ship was blown up, the ship sank.  The Captain was rescued by the only lifeboat they managed to launch.  The final man rescued had spent nine hours in the water clinging to a ladder.  Three days later the survivors where picked up by the British ship HMS Lotus, and brought to Archangel, which was their planned destination.  After spending two weeks in a hospital the crew was put on the SS Bellingham, which was torpedoed on its way to the United States.  Luckily the entire crew was rescued by the British Rescue Ship Rathlin, and finally taken home aboard the SS Queen Mary on October 15, 1942.