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ICQ # 5218711

Chester Poling

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0:37 a.m., Jan. 10, 1977: At his station in the engine room, Philip Becker, the ship's engineer, hears the crack - more a grinding crunch - that shudders through the hull of the Chester A. Poling.

The lights flicker, then go out; the ship's twin diesels groan to a stop. All Becker hears is the fury of wind and sea outside. And then he realizes he's no longer standing perpendicular to the floor.

"We're split, my God, we're split,"

The ship had broken in two... and the stern, still under power, had jackknifed the ship, and then broken off. It was already drifting away.

A deteriorated hull, poorly distributed ballast, and murderous seas rarely found so near the shore have been blamed for the loss of the coastal tanker which broke in two and sank about six miles southeast of Cape Ann.

 One seaman drowned when he missed a helicopter rescue basket and fell into the sea without a lifejacket, the remaining six were rescued.

The bow and stern separated by about six miles.

The stern settled in at a depth of about 80'. The blizzard of 1978 moved the 200' long stern downhill to a depth of slightly over 100' at high tide. 

Poling's bow came to rest upside down in 190 feet of water 4 miles off Eastern Point.