File:Lot 4102-14 (19413670193).jpg
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| Description | Lot 4102-14: Operation Torch, November 1942. America at War: The Voyage of the Contessa. Destiny plucked the Contessa, a veteran U.S. fruit steamer, out of routine Atlantic convoy crossings, filled her with a crew that represented a cross-section of the Allied nations, and gave her one of the war’s unusual missions to perform. During Allied landings in North Africa, it was necessary for the Allies to control an airport twelve miles up the Sebou River on the North African coast-vital because it would give landing boats the necessary cover of land-based aircraft support. The problem of taking the field could no be from the air, but the fighters and bombers had to have ammunition and fuel to carry on operations once they landed. That was the task assigned to Contessa. She was to move a precious cargo of 100-octane gasoline and ammunition across the Atlantic, up twelve miles of uncharted Sobou. The task was given to the Contessa because she was the only available ship big enough to carry the cargo and yet able to draw so little water that she could move explosives up the channel believed to be seventeen feet deep. She was halfway across the Atlantic en route to the United States when told to report an East Coast port to make ready for the trip. By the time the cargo was loaded and a crew collected, the rest of the North African convoy was gone, so the Contessa steamed lone across the ocean. She met the rest of the convoy near the African coast, then proceeded alone under fire up the treacherous Sobou. One well-placed bullet could have sent her up in flames. One jagged rock ripping into her sides could have caused a fatal explosion. The Contessa went around once but she shuddered off. Two miles from her goal she struck a sand bar, but hours later a rising tide and the seamanship of Captain William H. John, the ship’s American master, freed her. The Captain finally backed the Contessa to her goal. Emergency repair work kept the Contessa afloat until she finally returned to America. Shown is Ahmed Ali, an Arabian oiler on the Contessa. Men of all races and creeds served together on the Contessa to write another glorious chapter for Allied merchant seaman. Collection of the Office of War Information, 1946. (7/24/2015). |
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| Source | Lot 4102-14 |
| Author | National Museum of the U.S. Navy |
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This image was originally posted to Flickr by Photograph Curator at https://flickr.com/photos/127906254@N06/19413670193 (archive). It was reviewed on 10 July 2018 by FlickreviewR 2 and was confirmed to be licensed under the terms of the Public Domain Mark. |
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This file is a work of a sailor or employee of the U.S. Navy, taken or made as part of that person's official duties. As a work of the U.S. federal government, it is in the public domain in the United States.
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| This file has been identified as being free of known restrictions under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights. | ||
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| Date/Time | Thumbnail | Dimensions | User | Comment | |
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| current | 18:34, 10 July 2018 | | 1,694 × 2,434 (1.92 MB) | Hiàn (alt) (talk | contribs) | Transferred from Flickr via #flickr2commons |
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