Philip Corl was Captain of the SS Marine Electric when she went down in 15 - 18 ft. seas, 40 mph winds, about 30 miles east of Chincoteague, VA. Thirty-one of the 34 crew members died when they had to abandon ship into frigid, 39 degree, water. Most dying from hypothermia.
Capt Corl, had decades of seamanship under his belt and was the "relief master", the captain who took over when the regular captain was on vacation. He had put WWII service memories behind him and the sparse jobs of peacetime and moved west to deal cards at a friends casino. The casino job dried up and he felt lucky he had signed on with Marine Transport Lines a few months earlier. He had signed on as "relief master" only 2 days earlier.
He was a small man, less than 5' 3", 120 lb. Survivor, Eugene Kelly, in an oral history of the incident speculated that Capt. Corl was so small he probably just slipped out of his jacket when he entered the water. His body along with the 7 men in the engine room were never recovered.
His wife, Alice, originally planned to sail with her husband on this trip, but he sent her off the ship when it appeared the weather would be poor. Alice waited for many weeks in Somerset, hoping he would come home. He was the son of Philip Corl and Lucille Stevenson.
The SS Marine Electric was a 605 ft. coal freighter and was en-route from Norfolk to Somerset, MA. The tragedy tightened inspection standards, resulted in mandatory survival suits for winter North Atlantic runs, and helped create the now famous Coast Guard rescue swimmer program.
American Merchant Marine Veterans Oral History Project
Richmond Times Dispatch, Feb 24, 1983, p.: 3
U.S. Soc. Sec. Applications
Until the Sea Shall Free Them: Life, Death and Survival in the Merchant Marine, by Robert Frump
Contributor: Dawna Westbrook (47076696)
Capt Corl, had decades of seamanship under his belt and was the "relief master", the captain who took over when the regular captain was on vacation. He had put WWII service memories behind him and the sparse jobs of peacetime and moved west to deal cards at a friends casino. The casino job dried up and he felt lucky he had signed on with Marine Transport Lines a few months earlier. He had signed on as "relief master" only 2 days earlier.
He was a small man, less than 5' 3", 120 lb. Survivor, Eugene Kelly, in an oral history of the incident speculated that Capt. Corl was so small he probably just slipped out of his jacket when he entered the water. His body along with the 7 men in the engine room were never recovered.
His wife, Alice, originally planned to sail with her husband on this trip, but he sent her off the ship when it appeared the weather would be poor. Alice waited for many weeks in Somerset, hoping he would come home. He was the son of Philip Corl and Lucille Stevenson.
The SS Marine Electric was a 605 ft. coal freighter and was en-route from Norfolk to Somerset, MA. The tragedy tightened inspection standards, resulted in mandatory survival suits for winter North Atlantic runs, and helped create the now famous Coast Guard rescue swimmer program.
American Merchant Marine Veterans Oral History Project
Richmond Times Dispatch, Feb 24, 1983, p.: 3
U.S. Soc. Sec. Applications
Until the Sea Shall Free Them: Life, Death and Survival in the Merchant Marine, by Robert Frump
Contributor: Dawna Westbrook (47076696)
Philip Corl was Captain of the SS Marine Electric when she went down in 15 - 18 ft. seas, 40 mph winds, about 30 miles east of Chincoteague, VA. Thirty-one of the 34 crew members died when they had to abandon ship into frigid, 39 degree, water. Most dying from hypothermia.
Capt Corl, had decades of seamanship under his belt and was the "relief master", the captain who took over when the regular captain was on vacation. He had put WWII service memories behind him and the sparse jobs of peacetime and moved west to deal cards at a friends casino. The casino job dried up and he felt lucky he had signed on with Marine Transport Lines a few months earlier. He had signed on as "relief master" only 2 days earlier.
He was a small man, less than 5' 3", 120 lb. Survivor, Eugene Kelly, in an oral history of the incident speculated that Capt. Corl was so small he probably just slipped out of his jacket when he entered the water. His body along with the 7 men in the engine room were never recovered.
His wife, Alice, originally planned to sail with her husband on this trip, but he sent her off the ship when it appeared the weather would be poor. Alice waited for many weeks in Somerset, hoping he would come home. He was the son of Philip Corl and Lucille Stevenson.
The SS Marine Electric was a 605 ft. coal freighter and was en-route from Norfolk to Somerset, MA. The tragedy tightened inspection standards, resulted in mandatory survival suits for winter North Atlantic runs, and helped create the now famous Coast Guard rescue swimmer program.
American Merchant Marine Veterans Oral History Project
Richmond Times Dispatch, Feb 24, 1983, p.: 3
U.S. Soc. Sec. Applications
Until the Sea Shall Free Them: Life, Death and Survival in the Merchant Marine, by Robert Frump
Contributor: Dawna Westbrook (47076696)
Capt Corl, had decades of seamanship under his belt and was the "relief master", the captain who took over when the regular captain was on vacation. He had put WWII service memories behind him and the sparse jobs of peacetime and moved west to deal cards at a friends casino. The casino job dried up and he felt lucky he had signed on with Marine Transport Lines a few months earlier. He had signed on as "relief master" only 2 days earlier.
He was a small man, less than 5' 3", 120 lb. Survivor, Eugene Kelly, in an oral history of the incident speculated that Capt. Corl was so small he probably just slipped out of his jacket when he entered the water. His body along with the 7 men in the engine room were never recovered.
His wife, Alice, originally planned to sail with her husband on this trip, but he sent her off the ship when it appeared the weather would be poor. Alice waited for many weeks in Somerset, hoping he would come home. He was the son of Philip Corl and Lucille Stevenson.
The SS Marine Electric was a 605 ft. coal freighter and was en-route from Norfolk to Somerset, MA. The tragedy tightened inspection standards, resulted in mandatory survival suits for winter North Atlantic runs, and helped create the now famous Coast Guard rescue swimmer program.
American Merchant Marine Veterans Oral History Project
Richmond Times Dispatch, Feb 24, 1983, p.: 3
U.S. Soc. Sec. Applications
Until the Sea Shall Free Them: Life, Death and Survival in the Merchant Marine, by Robert Frump
Contributor: Dawna Westbrook (47076696)
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