11-07-2021, 04:44 PM
(This post was last modified: 11-07-2021, 04:48 PM by peter scott.)
(11-07-2021, 04:28 PM)westcliff Wrote: Is it part of the radio beacon from the Nantucket lightship LV-117, which was hit and sunk by the Olympic?
Gus.
Almost. It was the direction finding aerial on the Olympic. The ship was traveling at reduced speed in thick fog and the accepted procedure was to steer directly to a lightship or other DF aid rather than at some offset. In this case the accuracy of the DF took them dead centre to the lightship with visibility less than the stopping distance of the Olympic.
"The Olympic was nearly 75 times the size of the Nantucket Lightship LV-117. She cut through the Lightship in seconds, breaking the vessel in two, and within a minute or two the LV-117 had sunk to the bottom of the ocean. The Captain of the Olympic ordered his crew to drop the lifeboats and assist the survivors. Seven of the eleven crew, including Captain Braithwaite, were rescued and brought to the safety of the Liner’s decks. Not long after, three members of the Lightship’s crew had died. The Olympic kept watch for a few hours in hopes that the other members of the Lightship’s crew would be found."
The video shows some footage of the Olympic including its totally undamaged bow.
https://youtu.be/4Jaq9fnmMNI
Peter
