Artifacts from a dramatic crash off of Barnegat Light and from the story of a history-making Coast Guard dog buried in that borough are among new acquisitions at the New Jersey Maritime Museum in Beach Haven.
William Steinman, a former New Jersey resident who now lives in New Hampshire, recently donated an original life jacket and photos he acquired while responding to the Stolt Dagali, a 583-foot Norwegian tanker carrying vegetable oil that sank 17 miles northeast of Barnegat Light after Israel luxury liner Shalom crashed into it, shearing the tanker in two, on Thanksgiving in 1946. Steinman captured the photos with a small Kodak camera and a pair of binoculars, he said.
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| Photo by Jack Reynolds The items are available for viewing on the second floor of the Beach Haven museum. |
“We’re very excited about this donation because we have had an exhibit on the Stolt Dagali, and this life jacket is a major addition to it,” said Jim Vogel, executive director of the museum. “It is something there will be no more of; it is extremely rare, and I doubt that we’ll ever come across a new one.
“The pictures are certainly one of a kind because they were taken as it occurred,” he added.
A seaman apprentice with the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Cape Strait for just three months at the time, Steinman recalls arriving on scene, searching for survivors and wreckage.
“There was a lot of fat or tallow floating that had congealed because of the cold water, with bits of wood and paper,” he remembered.
When he spotted the life jacket, he initially thought it belonged to a deceased crewmember floating in the water.
“It did make me think of the crew that did not make it, and I wondered who it was close to at the time,” he said.
Nineteen crew members died as a result of the crash. The tanker’s stern sank almost immediately, settling 15 miles east of Belmar in 130 feet of water with the bulk rising to within 65 feet of the surface.
After the crash, the bow remained afloat, providing a temporary haven for Capt. Kristian Bendiksen and 10 of his men. Steinman was part of the rescue crew that helped escort the bow section to Gravesend Bay in New York.
“I only had a small Kodak 127 camera that I had gotten as a birthday gift in October, just in case that special picture would happen,” Steinman recalled. “We had to stay a certain distance away from the bow, and circled it several times in an hour, doing this for eight hours and being relieved by another Coast Guard unit. So I used a pair of 7-50 power binoculars, put the camera against the lens and hoped it would work, and it did somewhat.”
A few days later, Steinman also acquired the life jacket he had picked up since “it had no evidence value,” he said. He kept it for 51 years before finally donating it to the Maritime Museum, after reading about its Stolt Dagali exhibit, which, in 2009, received the tanker’s stern auxiliary anchor after it was recovered in June 2009 by Captains Maureen and Stephen Langewin.
Steinmen has also donated an original news article of the crash, which his parents saved. He hopes to see his mementos in the fall, when he plans to visit his brother and sister-in-law in Barnegat Light.
The Maritime Museum also recently acquired the last 49 Sinbad stuffed animals in existence, which are now on display and for sale. Copies of the original 1946 news reel regarding the pooch are also now available for viewing and purchase.
Sinbad, a mixed-breed dog who served during World War II on the Coast Guard cutter Campbell for 11 years before retiring in September 1948, was an official member of the crew complete with all the necessary enlistment forms and other official paperwork and uniforms. He even had his own bunk.
The pup became an international celebrity after his biography, Sinbad of the Coast Guard, was published by Dodd, Mead and Co. of New York during the war.
The pup was well known for consuming beer in waterfront bars around the world, including Kubel’s on Seventh Street in Barnegat Light.
He earned the respect and affection of his shipmates during one famous battle, when the Campbell fought it out with the Nazi submarine U-606. The cutter was severely damaged during the fight, and the commanding officer ordered all but essential personnel off the ship. They transferred to a nearby destroyer, but Sinbad and a few others stayed aboard while the cutter was towed to safety.
Sinbad wore his extensive collection of service ribbons and awards around his collar. He earned each of the five ribbons he wore, just like his shipmates.
After passing away in December 1951, Sinbad was buried at the base of the flagpole of the now-decommissioned Barnegat Light station, which now houses borough hall on Seventh Street. His remains were later moved to the grounds of the current station.
— Kelley Anne Essinger
This article was published in The SandPaper.
This article was published in The SandPaper.
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