The CO Stillman was a tanker owned by the International Petroleum Company Ltd , which entered service in 1928. From 1928 until its sinking in 1942, it was the largest oil tanker in the world.
On February 1, 1928, the Bremer Vulkan shipyard delivered the tanker CO Stillman, launched on November 29, 1927 under construction number 646, to the client, International Petroleum-Company Ltd. in Toronto, from. The 171 m long new building was considered the largest tanker in the world at the time and was the first motor tanker built by Vulkan . The ship, which initially sailed under the British flag, was named after the financier and President of the National City Bank of New York , James Stillman (1850-1918).
The End
On June 6, 1942, CO Stillman, with a crew of 47, eight armed guards and three overworkers from other tankers under the leadership of Captain Daniel H. Larsen, was under way with a cargo of 125,812 barrels of oil and 39 tons of general cargo from Aruba to New York . About 60 nautical miles southwest of Puerto Rico , the unescorted tanker was hit on the starboard side, aft of its midship superstructure, at 03:07 a.m. by a torpedo from the German submarine U 68 under the command of Karl-Friedrich Merten. The deckhouse began to burn at its aft edge, whereupon the engine was stopped and the abandonment of the ship began using two lifeboats and four life rafts. About 20 minutes later, CO Stillman was hit by a second torpedo on the starboard side in front of his engine room. Debris and oil rained on deck and the remaining sailors jumped overboard and swam to the liferafts, while the tanker sank within minutes, killing three crew members.
Just before sunset on June 7, 22 sailors and three armed guards on the four life rafts from were boat 83310 the US Coast Guard taken on board, which had been informed by a military plane. On June 8, the survivors disembarked in Ponce, Puerto Rico and were brought back to the United States on the American steamer Seminole . The two lifeboats drifted until sunset on June 6th and then sailed towards the Dominican Republic . One boat landed in Yuma Bay with 17 survivors and the other landed in La Romana with 13 survivors .
