SS Cotopaxi

Cotopaxi was one of seventeen EFC Design 1060 {{DWT|4200}}, {{GRT|2351}} steam-powered "Laker" type bulk carrier ships built for the USSB by the Great Lakes Engineering Works (GLEW), River Rouge Yard, Ecorse, Michigan, as hull number 209. The design was unique to GLEWThe twenty-four 1060 ships were built at one of the two yards. Seven were built at the Ashtabula Yards, Ashtabula, Ohio, with the remaining seventeen ships built at the River Rouge Yards, Ecorse. with deckhouse and engines aft (a design commonly termed a "Stemwinder") with four cargo hatches forward served by two masts.{{cite web |url=http://www.shipscribe.com/mckellar/Contract5.pdf |title=Steel Shipbuilding under the U. S. Shipping Board, 1917-1921, Contract Steel Ships, Part V |last=McKellar |first=Norman L. |work=Steel Shipbuilding under the U. S. Shipping Board, 1917-1921 |pages=321–322 |publisher=ShipScribe }}{{cite web |url=http://www.shipscribe.com/mckellar/pix/1060.html |title=EFC Design 1060: Illustrations |last=McKellar |first=Norman L. |work=Steel Shipbuilding under the U. S. Shipping Board, 1917-1921 {Illustrations) |publisher=ShipScribe }}The reference, [http://www.shipscribe.com/mckellar/pix/1060.html EFC Design 1060: Illustrations] has inboard profile, plan and photographs of sister ships.

Cotopaxi, official numberThe number assigned as the United States unique identifier for commercial vessels prior to the adoption of the IMO number system introduced in 1987, and mandatory 1 January 1996, by international treaty. 217270, signal letters LNWH, was {{cvt|253.4|ft|m|1|abbr=on}} registered length, {{cvt|43.7|ft|m|1|abbr=on}} beam with a depth of {{cvt|25.1|ft|m|1|abbr=on}}.{{cite book |year=1925 |title=Merchant Vessels of the United States, Year ended June 30, 1925 |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=Department of Commerce, Bureau of Navigation |page=52 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4_fLbYKZ11YC&pg=PA52 }}{{cite web |title=Historical Collections of the Great Lakes — Vessels — Cotopaxi |publisher=Bowling Green State University |url= https://greatlakes.bgsu.edu/item/434615 }} The keel was laid 29 August 1918, with launch on 15 November, and delivery to the USSB on 30 November 1918.{{cite book|title=The Great Lakes Engineering Works. The Shipyard and its Vessels |publisher=Marine Historical Society of Detroit |location=Detroit |page=Hull 209 |url=http://www.mhsd.org/glew/8hulls206-249.pdf}} The Design 1060 ships were propelled by one triple expansion engine of {{convert|1350|ihp|lk=on}} with steam power from two coal fired Scotch marine boilers. The ship was completed at a cost of $827,648.48 ({{Inflation|US|827000|1918|fmt=eq|r=-3}}).{{cite book |year=1925 |title=United States Shipping Board and Emergency Fleet Corporation: Hearings: Exhibits to Testimony |volume=Part C |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=Government Printing Office |pages=2300–2301 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yX_NAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA2300 }}

After arrival in Boston, on 22 December 1918, the ship was allocated to a USSB operator serving routes from U.S. ports to the East coast of South America. On 16 June 1919, while on a voyage from Philadelphia to Salvador, Brazil, Cotopaxi ran aground in the Braganca Channel, Pará, Brazil. After jettisoning some 400 tons of coal the ship limped into port on 19 June, badly damaged, including damage to the engines.{{cite journal |date=July 4, 1919 |title=Marine Losses for June 1919 |journal=The Eastern Underwriter |page=19 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=q7gjAQAAMAAJ&pg=PR49-IA109}}{{cite journal|date=June 21, 1919 |title=Marine Casualties |journal=The Nautical Gazette |page= 415 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2d5EAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA415}} Repairs cost nearly {{US$|200000|1919|long=no|round=-5|about=yes}}.

On 23 December 1919, Cotopaxi was delivered to the Clinchfield Navigation Company under terms of a sale at a price of $375,000, with $93,750 to be paid cash, with $281,250 to be paid in three installments of $93,750, on promissory notes secured by mortgage on the ship due on 22 December 1920, 1921, and 1922. In 1920, the ship entered Havana Harbor, on a voyage from Charleston, South Carolina, with a cargo of coal and collided with the Ward Line tug Saturno. Cotopaxi was not seriously damaged but the tug sank. A case resulting from the accident was on appeal determined to be the equal fault of both vessels and damages were thus allocated.{{cite journal |date=August 10, 1920 |title=Marine Mishaps |journal=American Shipping |volume= 11|page=82 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sh3mAAAAMAAJ&pg=RA8-PA82}}{{cite court|litigants=The Cotopaxi |vol=20 |reporter=F.2d |opinion=568 |pinpoint= |court=2d Cir. |date=July 5, 1927|url=https://cite.case.law/f2d/20/568/}}

On 29 November 1925, Cotopaxi departed Charleston, for Havana, under Captain W. J. Meyer, with a cargo of coal and a crew of thirty-two.{{cite news |title=Cotopaxi Still Lost; Lighthouse Men Watch; No Word Since Tuesday |newspaper=The Sunday News |issue=6 December 1925 |page=1 |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=M4hJAAAAIBAJ&dq=cotopaxi&pg=2089%2C167535}} On 1 December, Cotopaxi radioed a distress call reporting that the ship was listing and taking on water{{cite news |title=Ships and the Sea |newspaper=Evening Post |issue=27 March 1926 |page=27 |url=http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&d=EP19260327.2.161}} during a tropical storm.[https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2199&dat=19251201&id=DRtiAAAAIBAJ&sjid=sXUNAAAAIBAJ&pg=2892,926927&hl=en Lawrence Journal-World December 1, 1925 .p.1][https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=0klj8wIChNAC&dat=19251208&printsec=frontpage&hl=en The Spokesman-Review December 8, 1925 .p.2 "Think Ship Typhoon Wreck] The ship was officially listed as overdue on 31 December.{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Mails and Shipping |date=31 December 1925 |page=18 |issue=44157 |column=D}}

The wreck of Cotopaxi lies {{cvt|35|nmi}} off St. Augustine, Florida.{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/2020/02/09/803812433/wrecks-identification-95-years-after-ship-s-disappearance-puts-theories-to-rest|title=Wreck's Identification 95 Years After Ship's Disappearance Puts Theories To Rest|publisher= National Public Radio|author=Hannah Hagemann|date=9 Feb 2020|accessdate=9 Feb 2020}} She was discovered in the 1980s, but could not be identified, and subsequently dubbed the "Bear Wreck".{{cite web |last=Wu |first=Katherine J. |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/lost-ship-rediscovered-after-disappearing-near-bermuda-triangle-95-years-ago-180974109/ |title=Lost Ship Rediscovered After Disappearing Near Bermuda Triangle 95 Years Ago |publisher=Smithsonian Magazine |date=3 Feb 2020 |accessdate=10 Feb 2020}} Cotopaxi was identified in January 2020, based on fifteen years of investigation by marine biologist Michael Barnette.{{cite web |url=https://www.newsweek.com/ship-vanished-bermuda-triangle-century-ago-1484311 |title=Ship That Mysteriously Vanished in Bermuda Triangle Almost a Century Ago Discovered |date=28 January 2020 |publisher=Newsweek |accessdate =30 January 2020}}

Cotopaxi was one of three of the seventeen Design 1060 ships built at the River Rouge Yard lost and initially listed as missing. Coushatta (hull 216, ON 217728), renamed John Tracy, was listed as missing on a voyage from Norfolk, Virginia, to Boston, January 1927. The ship is now listed among the collier wrecks of Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary where ships with coal cargoes are second only to fishing vessels as victims of disaster.{{cite book |last1=Lawrence |first1=Matthew |last2=Marx |first2=Deborah |last3=Galluzzo |first3=John |year=2015 |title=Shipwrecks of Stellwagen Bank: Disaster in New England's National Marine Sanctuary |location=Charleston, SC |publisher=The History Press |isbn=9781626198043 |lccn=2015935120 |pages=72–74 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AIT8CQAAQBAJ&pg=PA72 }} Coverun (hull 221, ON 218005), after being renamed Mahukona, and then sold and operating as Santa Clara, under the Brazilian flag, was listed as missing southwest of Bermuda, February 1941, while on a voyage from Newport News to Rio de Janeiro.{{cite journal |last=Hunter |first=H.C. |date=March 1941 |title=Weather on the North Atlantic Ocean |journal=Monthly Weather Review |volume=69 |issue=3 |page=82 |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=United States Department of Commerce |doi=10.1175/1520-0493(1941)069<0082:WOTNAO>2.0.CO;2 |bibcode=1941MWRv...69...82H |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=SXPpAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA82|doi-access=free }} Several were lost due to wartime action, with others lost to other causes. Corydon (hull 206, ON 217236) foundered in the Bahama Channel during a hurricane in September 1919. Cottonwood (hull 211, ON 217423), renamed Stanburn, foundered October 1946, after striking a submerged object.

One of the ships, Covena (hull 220, ON 217810), became notable as the uniqueThe other nine port repair ships were conversions from Navy Maritime Commission type N3-M-A1 vessels. U.S. Army Port Repair ship Junior N. Van Noy. That ship was first of the port repair ships to sail for Europe where it engaged in repairs at Cherbourg, France.{{cite web |url=http://www.history.army.mil/reference/normandy/TS/COE/COE16.htm |title=The Corps of Engineers: The War Against Germany: CHAPTER XVI Developing Beaches and Reconstructing Ports |access-date=2019-11-15 |archive-date=2010-01-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100111001434/http://www.history.army.mil/reference/Normandy/TS/COE/COE16.htm |url-status=dead }}

In the 1977 film Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Cotopaxi is connected to the legend of the Bermuda Triangle, and is discovered in the Gobi Desert, presumably set there by extraterrestrial forces.{{cite book|author=Ray Morton|title=Close encounters of the third kind: the making of Steven Spielberg's classic film|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B-ERraCGxkYC&pg=PA311|accessdate=10 March 2011|date=1 November 2007|publisher=Hal Leonard Corporation|isbn=978-1-55783-710-3|pages=311}}{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/films/2007/11/26/close_encounters_of_the_third_kind_dvd_2007_review.shtml |title=Close Encounters: 30th Anniversary Ultimate Edition DVD (1977) |publisher=BBC |accessdate=10 March 2011}}

{{reflist|group=note}}

{{reflist}}

• "Lloyd's Posts Cotopaxi as 'Missing'{{-"}}. The New York Times, January 7, 1926.
• "Efforts to Locate Missing Ship Fail". The Washington Post, December 6, 1925.
• "Lighthouse Keepers Seek Missing Ship". The Washington Post, December 7, 1925.
• "53 on Missing Craft Are Reported Saved". The Washington Post, December 13, 1925.

{{Bermuda Triangle}}

{{1925 shipwrecks}}

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Category:1918 ships

Category:Merchant ships of the United States

Category:Steamships of the United States

Category:Maritime incidents in 1925

Category:Bermuda Triangle

Category:Ships built in Ecorse, Michigan