70 years since Emidio’s sinking

Service to honor anniversary Tues.

The first American merchant ship to be attacked by the Japanese during World War II broke apart on the sea stacks of Crescent City 70 years ago.

Many Del Norters already know the story of the S.S. Emidio, which was attacked 200 miles north of San Francisco by a Japanese submarine. 

A ceremony marking the 70th anniversary of this attack will be held at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday in Beachfront Park, next to a section of the S.S. Emidio’s hull, which marks where the ship’s bow landed in the harbor.

“It's not really too well known that the Japanese had submarines working on the coast in the weeks immediately following Pearl Harbor,” said Guy Towers, president of the St. George Reef Lighthouse Preservation Society, which is hosting the event.

The history of the ship will be shared with presentations by representatives of the Merchant Marine Association, the city, veterans groups and members of the lighthouse society.

The S.S. Emidio was a general petroleum tanker. It was tracked by a Japanese submarine on Dec. 20, 1941. After the ship spotted the submarine, it tried to maneuver out of harm’s way, but the sub was too swift. Five of the sub’s six 5 1/2-inch shells hit the target, damaging several lifeboats, taking out the tanker’s radio and knocking three sailors overboard.

The radioman was able to send a distresss call before the radio was damaged, and a U.S. Navy patrol bomber arrived, sending the sub below the surface.

The captain and most of the crew abandoned ship and started searching for the overboard men.

When the bomber disappeared, the sub resurfaced and shot a torpedo at the tanker, drowning two of the 11 men still on board. The two lifeboats recovered the nine others.

In all, five men died in the attack.

The Emidio did not sink, but drifted north to Crescent City, where it garnered much attention from locals.

Since 2007, the lighthouse society has been working on the memorial site, refurbishing the Emidio’s hull remains and installing a new flag pole and Merchant Marine banner.

The event will also mark the release of a series of stamps honoring the Merchant Marines. Commemorative envelopes will be postmarked and released as a “First Day of Issue” and sold for $7. 

If there is bad weather, the event will be rescheduled for after the holidays.

The public is invited. For more information, contact Guy Towers at 707-464-8299.

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