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Ship San Gil torpedoed off Maryland Coast by U boat
Lewes Del Feb 4 Axis submarine sank the freighter San Gil after a torpedo strike and shelling near the Maryland coast. Captain Walter W Koch and 39 crew members plus passenger Stewart Winslow Condon were saved by Coast Guardsmen. Two crewmen were killed. Distress signals aided survivors seven hours later. Four crew were injured. The ship was the fifteenth Allied vessel sunk off the Atlantic coast since the U.S. entered the war, with a tanker Malay attacked but escaping. Distressing details include a harrowing engine room blast and a daring lifeboat maneuver to safety. The passenger Condon, an accountant for United Fruit, reported the crew faced sudden peril with little time to react. A separate North Carolina tuberculosis death-rate report notes 51.6 per 100,000 in 1939, down from 52.7.