Construction Antilles, US official number 204018, was a ship built in the shipyards of
William Cramp & Sons Shipbuilding Company,
Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania delivered April 1907.
Antilles was a twin screw steam vessel with nominal speed of and dimensions of on load line, extreme
beam and mean
draft of with a
displacement at normal coal supply of 10,500 tons. The vessel was operated as a combined passenger and cargo ship by the
Southern Pacific Steamship Company from the time of its launch until 1917.
Antilles and
sister ship Momus, along with several other ships, operated between New York and New Orleans with Southern Pacific Steamship's Morgan Line.
Destruction Following
American entry into World War I, selected by the
Shipping Control Committee,
Antilles was turned over May 26, 1917, and chartered by the
United States Army for use as a civilian-crewed US Army Chartered Transport (USACT). The ship was among those in the first troop convoy to depart on June 14, after considerable confusion and delays in troop loading, from the
Hoboken Port of Embarkation.
Antilles sailed from New York on September 24 in a four ship convoy, designated Group Number 8, composed of
Antilles, a new Navy transport , another Army chartered transport and another Army chartered ship that turned back, . The convoy made the crossing successfully but both
Antilles and
Finland were torpedoed on the return voyage. On October 17, 1917, three days out of
Saint Nazaire, France and two days out of
Quiberon Bay where another ship had joined the convoy for the return voyage,
Antilles was torpedoed by
German U-boat reportedly sinking in four and a half minutes after being hit. The ship was in a small convoy composed of
Antilles,
Henderson and escorted by the patrol yachts , , and . Both
Aphrodite and
Corsair had been among the escort on that first convoy to France in June. In rough weather
Kanawha had been forced to turn back due to the weather with the convoy slowed by the same weather. At about 6:45 a.m., during a course change,
Antilles was astern of
Corsair and seen to suddenly sheer out of formation and began settling by the stern.
Alcedo turned back to where
Antilles had sunk and began picking up survivors while
Corsair circled in a search for the submarine until about 8:30 with no sign of a submarine found and the search for survivors and the submarine discontinued at 10:30. The majority, 118 survivors, were rescued by
Alcedo with 50 rescued by
Corsair. Among the fifty persons rescued by
Corsair was then Brigadier General William Sharp McNair who had been ordered to return to take command of 151st Field Artillery Brigade. A total of 67 people died in the sinking. The loss of life was the first case in the war involving a large number of US casualties. Survivors were landed in France on October 21 where they were immediately cared for by the Red Cross. Those that died were some of the first to come under the new war-insurance law allowing payment of $6,000 ($ in ) payable to families in installments of $25 ($ in ) per month over twenty years. ==Footnotes==