A Terrible Storm
On the morning of Feb. 18, 1952, an alert came across the radio at a Coast Guard Station in Chatham, Massachusetts. It said that a T2 tanker, the Fort Mercer, had snapped in two off the coast just north of Nantucket due to a vicious storm that struck the region. Then, a few hours after the Coast Guard had sent a rescue crew to aid the Fort Mercer, their radar showed that another tanker—the Pendleton—had also snapped in half about 10 miles off the coast of Chatham.This violent storm was labeled a nor'easter due to wind and rain that came out of the northeast. New England experiences plenty of these storms and most area residents are trained on how to avoid or endure them. However, this one was especially bad as 8 1/2 inches of snow had fallen, causing hazardous road conditions and hundreds of vehicles to be buried in deep snowdrifts.
Since most of the available coast guardsmen were already out conducting a rescue of the Fort Mercer, Webber was ordered to take three Coast Guardsmen out in a small, wooden, 36-foot motorboat—the CG 36500—the only craft available. Ervin Maske, Andrew Fitzgerald, and Richard Livesey volunteered to go into the storm that produced 60-foot waves and hurricane-force winds. Webber knew his biggest challenge was to get past the Chatham sandbar that was known to produce bad waves in calm weather and violent waves during storms.
When the rescue boat left, it was already dark out. Webber strapped himself to the lifeboat but didn’t wear a life jacket so his movements wouldn’t be restricted. Everything went smoothly at first; Webber was perfectly maneuvering the waves by cutting the boat’s throttle off and on.
But as soon as the boat came over the infamous sandbar, a giant wave crashed into it, sending the boat flying into the air. It landed on its side between two waves but righted itself before a second wave smashed into it. This time, the wave blew out the windshield into Webber’s face and dislodged the boat’s compass.
Webber and his crew blindly continued in the dark night until hearing loud sounds of metal twisting and crunching. The rescuers turned on the search light and saw a giant, twisted chunk of metal in the sea. It was the rear half of the Pendleton.
They started to circle the ship, and with the spotlight, suddenly saw a man waving his arms before disappearing. Moments later, the 33 remaining crew members of the Pendleton all came on deck jumping and waving.
Even though Webber was worried about his boat’s maximum capacity of 16 people, he told all of the men to come onboard. The Pendleton crew threw down the side of the ship a Jacobs ladder, a crude ladder of rope and wood planks, and the men started to climb down. However, the violent waves threw some of them off the ladder and out into the sea. Webber’s crew helped them onto the rescue boat. Other Pendleton crew on the ladder were sent crashing back into the ship’s side.
After 32 of the 33 men onboard the Pendleton made it onto the rescue boat, George “Tiny” Meyers headed down. The cook asked to be last to help all of the other crewmen. Meyers made it halfway down the Jacobs ladder before slipping, crashing into the ship, and falling into the sea. Despite efforts to rescue him, Meyers didn’t survive.
With 32 men onboard his small motorboat, Webber wondered what to do next. It was dark, he had no compass, and he wasn’t exactly sure where he was. He could wait for a bigger boat and transfer the rescued men, but he decided to head back to shore.
A Miraculous Rescue
In the years since the rescue, the U.S. Coast Guard has attempted to replicate the rescue. They put 36 people on the same CG 36500 rescue boat, but were unable to do so.
