The Loss of the S.S. Corregidor

[EXO]

In compiling this retrospective into the form of a single document, I am trying to work out whether it is possible to make a conclusion of it all.

It’s not just that history demands it, but the families of the lost souls who did not survive the incident deserve one.

John Moffitt reminded us (back in May of 2009!) that "Most disasters are not caused by one event but by a chain of events. Break the chain and the disaster may not happen."

He might have been speaking to those who closed the book prematurely, trying to ascribe all blame to the Captain who went down with the ship. We have discovered that there was another undeclared factor that fateful night.

So, to John’s observation, I would like to add this:

Both the Captain and the Colonel were placed in the chain of events as filters to protect against disaster, and each of them failed or neglected, in their own way, to prevent the very disaster they were duty bound to prevent. I have likened the veil of secrecy which descended upon the incident to the "fog of war" - but that cannot be allowed to prevent us from examining the contributing factors to the incident. We may not get as close to the root cause as we'd like, but I believe that factors of national interest conspired behind the scenes to blame it on one man. That was wrong, and history needs to be corrected, and until it is, it will remain in every respect, a tragedy.

[snake]

Hi Paul, I don’t believe that the engines were stopped before the ship hit the mine, where did that idea come from?

Some bad news here I’m afraid.

NAMRIA, (National Mapping and Recourse Information Authority), issues Navigation Warnings and Notices To Mariners (NTM) each month along with other information. NTM in turn issues corrections to marine charts which I check monthly to see if any new wrecks are to be added.

Last month, a wreck symbol showing a minimum depth by sounding only of 33 meters, was to be inserted just off the Mariveles Peninsular which we’ll have to have a look at sometime. Below this one there are 19 wrecks and 2 obstructions that are to be deleted.

This can only mean that they’ve been salvaged and are no longer there, and one of them is the obstruction which marks the resting place of the SS Corregidor.

A couple of years ago, a Navigation Warning was issued informing that some wrecks in Manila Bay were to be salvaged, but there weren’t many and none listed off the Corregidor Island coast, and oddly, there have been no further Navigation Warnings issued since in regard to the salvaging of wrecks in the inner or outer bay.

One of the wrecks off the north coast of Corregidor that we side scanned in June 2018 is also on the list. Two others are on the north side of the North Channel and most of the others are in the main shipping corridor to Manila Harbour.

I’ll be checking NTM next month to see if there’s any more.

The Dutch company Boskalis is involved in some major reclamation projects in the bay, including the 1.5 Billion Euro reclamation and construction of the new Manila International Airport (MIA) at Bulacan, just north of Manila, as well as the creation of three islands off Pasay. Mega hopper dredgers will be used and access channels dredged to accommodate them, so I can understand why some of the wrecks need to be removed. A number of them though, including the Corregidor wrecks, are deep enough not to be a hazard to shipping, and are well away from any project areas, so I don’t know why they’ve been salvaged at this stage. I’ll keep checking NAMRIA for any further information.

The only way to determine if the Corregidor is gone is to go over the site with the depth sounder, but I’m not sure when we’ll be heading up that way again at this time.


www.dutchwatersector.com/news/biggest-land-reclamation-project-ever-for-boskalis

Some of the wrecks to be deleted.

[EXO]

Snake,

I have placed a comment on Facebook, in the hope of stirring up some interest in this topic again.

I have come upon a blog run by Aaron Andro Ching, a geodetic engineer by profession and a commissioned officer of the Philippine’s hydrographic office. He is the editor of various nautical publications, primary of which is the Philippine Coast Pilot. I tried to leave some comments on his blog, but the sign-in would force me to join another Google subscription trap, and I am all out of willingly cooperating with them any more. I don't mind giving Aaron a plug, though, he is at The GeoSpatialist and his article about SS Corregidor is at The Sinking and Finding of SS Corregidor .

Aaron's made some slight attribution errors, which are inconsequential, and do not detract from his core points, so I won't mention them here.  

He's borrowed a few of our images (not a problem) and he's hosted a few fresh ones to add to the mix, credit to False color bathymetry of SS Corregidor and vicinity (Source: NAMRIA-Hydrography Branch) , which I would like to share here, together with his text: 

The bathymetric data over the area obtained during hydrographic survey in 2011 indicated the presence of a wreck.

The dimensions of the wreck was measured using a bathymetric data processing software. Here are the results:



1. Length: the wreck has a length of 100 meters, which is near the 98.5 meter actual length of SS Corregidor.



2. Beam width: the wreck has a width of 13 to 15 meters, which is near the 12.5 meter actual beam width of SS Corregidor.






The wreck has a least depth of about 61 meters.



No wreck investigation was done since the purpose of the hydrographic survey is just to update the nautical charts covering Manila Bay. The identity of the wreck will only be known by sending divers or ROVs. However, the location of the wreck compared to the one indicated at the “mine plan” and the similarity of length and width values provided strong evidences that the wreck found during the 2011 hydrographic survey is the ill-fated SS Corregidor.



The site was was investigated by Mr. Neil "Snake" Krumbeck in 2016, according to the Corregidor ProBoards (read the forum posts here and here). He dived towards the wreck and also used sidescan sonar. His conclusion is that the obstruction marked on Chart No. 1501, SE of La Monja is indeed the wreck of SS Corregidor.

I note that he's got the depth as "least depth of about 61 metres".  Somewhere, I had picked it as being at 33 metres.  You were there, Snake, can you advise? 

[chadhill]

A quick response to snake's query about the engines being stopped-

That came from Mr. Fee's account, as related by A. V. H. Hartendorp on page 12 of this thread. Fee heard the engines stop, then start back up again, followed almost immediately by an explosion.

[EXO]

Sept 26, 2022 22:13:39 GMT 8 chadhill said:

A quick response to snake's query about the engines being stopped-

That came from Mr. Fee's account, as related by A. V. H. Hartendorp on page 12 of this thread. Fee heard the engines stop, then start back up again, followed almost immediately by an explosion.

I am not suggesting that this happened, but if a steam ship is travelling forward, and the captain decided it should NOT travel ahead at that same speed, would he order the bridge to telegraph all stop until the screws stopped turning, and then telegraph a 'full astern' so the screws would cease turning in one direction and then be geared to turn in reverse? From a passenger's point of view (specifically his point of hearing), might he then believe he heard the engine (ie the noise of the screws) stop for a few seconds, and then start again? The implication being that there was a change of instructions at the last minute (or at the last second). The passenger would not be able to tell, from the noise, that 'ahead' had become 'astern'. 

[EXO]

The benefit of running a Forum is that from time to time, I get tips. I respond, though have never managed to recruit a "Deep Throat" of the Watergate style. They appear and disappear without name, reason, motive or explanation. Their e-mail addresses go dead. But here's the yield that someone following the Saga of SS Corregidor considers should be added. – EXO

The Engadine

There was a bid for salvaging operations in "specific" locations in the Manila Bay area to help out clear shipping and fishing areas inside and just off the entrance of Manila Bay. It was awarded to a consortium. Nothing further was heard as the pandemic hit. There is no information whether the project was carried out or is yet to be carried out. The Notice to Mariners comes after a long period of silence.

(1) In the late 1990s a "private" boat or cutter made what looked to be a sonar scanning pass just south of Mariveles on a "straight" line passing between Corregidor and Monja Island. The same boat on return pass went by the north section of Corregidor, stopping just short of the ravine or cut (assumed to be James Ravine) and made its way back to Mariveles.

(2) Sometime in early to mid 2000s, another boat followed the same route but this time just like a straight course and back pass between Corregidor and Monja Island.

(3) There was an activity "around 2014/2015" in the area of interest just a couple of days after a typhoon. The activity involved three boats and what looked to be a barge. The activity lasted till the early evening as powerful lights were seen (a little bit more illuminated than normal fishing boats.)

If there was to be any salvaging in the area of interest where the SS Corregidor sank, it was or would be done:

(1) Under the guise of a "clearing operation."

(2) Under cover of a conspicuous operation as they could when retrieving 'artifacts' from the wreck.

(3) In the event of sections of the ship being taken out, the cutting would be done in daylight hours, with removal at night.

(4) Look for a time of serious enforcement against dynamite fishing.

The Great Game Continues.

(This last comment could mean anything, though I take it to refer to political and diplomatic conflicts that existed for most of the 19th and 20th century between the major empires in central and south Asia. Perhaps there is a new “Great Game” afoot in the South China Sea. You pays your money, you makes your own guesses. - EXO)

[snake]

The maximum depth at the site is 52 meters, and as all the superstructure of the wreck has collapsed, the minimum depth is about 48 meters.
The max depth here would have been greater when the ship sank but now most of the hull is buried in mud and silt. The Obstruction symbol on the chart shows that the site was swept by wire drag to a safe, navigable depth of 29 meters.
 
I don't think Mr Fee's account that the explosion occurred "almost immediately" after the engines restarted makes much difference. The Corregidor was capable of doing 21 knots, but I would guess that Calvo would have been doing about 10 to 12 knots through the safety channel. An overloaded ship of this size would take a considerable distance to stop due to its forward momentum, even with all three screws going full astern. If Fee's account is accurate, they wouldn't have been turning in reverse long enough to make any difference with the ships momentum carrying it through from the minefield to where it sank as in my chart drawing in the White Paper. I'm guessing the starboard shaft would have been knocked out immediately, and whether the other two were going ahead or astern, the ship would still have gone down in the same vicinity as it sank in about three minutes after hitting the mine.

I've been trying to find the Navigational Warning about the wreck salvage that I saw some time ago. but to no avail. I've been through all the NAMRIA Notices and Warnings for the past four years, although I know it wasn't that long ago, but can't find it. I usually take a screen shot of these things but for some reason this time I didn't. Most annoying! I did match the coordinates given in the Warning with the wrecks on my chart and marked them, so I know I wasn't "dreaming". I also remember that either "salvage" or "clearing" was  used as I was a bit concerned that the wrecks toward the Bay entrance may be next, but no further Warnings were issued. I'll go through everything again to be sure.  

[snake]

Can't find it, and nothing else has come up on NTM in the last two months. I guess we'll just have to wait until we, or someone we know, has the chance to go over the site and have a look. Very frustrating. 

[chaeyeonieearts]

hello! sorry for the large time gap from my guest board thread and this post, but here i am again!

reintroducing myself here: i am kathryna (or chaeyeon to some friends), and i am part of a project aiming to recreate manila as it appeared before 1941^{(see renacimiento manila's digital manila project)}. alongside this, i am doing side projects where i recreate the pre-war passenger fleet as much as possible to liven up the project.

this includes the s.s. CORREGIDOR, and here is my 3D model!



i also aim to recreate the events during its sinking and create a real-time animation of what happened (<though i have virtually no animation experience, only modelling).

i did create still renderings too, (but preliminary and inaccurate, as i read more into the timelines posted here in this forum).



i am working on a newer version, and hopefully more accurate one- and i would like help in verifying and clarifying things-! here is the WIP of the new viz:



thank you so much!!

[snake]

Well, I finally came across the wreck salvage info that I'd been looking for and it was not in Notices To Mariners at all. It came from the Philippine Daily Inquirer dated October 30 2018 and was sent to me by an expat living in Manila who was doing some research on the wrecks in the Bay.
He unfortunately passed away in 2021 and I had forgotten about his folder and the information therein that was in my computer.
More memory loss I'm afraid...

The two zeros after deg shouldn't be there.

The ten wrecks in it were included in the wrecks and obstructions to be deleted in the August 2022 issue of NTM.

Some disturbing news here. Last Tuesday night on our way up to Subic we had the chance to go over the site with the WAASP Multi Beam Sonar, which doesn't give good detail as it's just a bottom profiler, and the depth sounder. The sounder profile and the WAASP both showed a height above the sea floor of about two meters in places whereas before it was four to five and we always had a good profile when dropping the shot line.
Our Side Scan Sonar has been rented by another company and we won't get it back until later this month, but we'll need to scan the wreck to confirm any damage.
I'm pretty sure though that the salvagers have had a go at it, but if they have, at least the wreck hasn't been removed entirely. Even so, I think it tragic and the wreck should never have been disturbed at all.

I'm also amazed that all this salvage work around Manila Bay and Corregidor was never issued in NTM as the salvage barges would have been a hazard to shipping. Some wreck salvage near shore off Pasay was issued and all the other activities in the Bay, dredging, reclamation, bore hole drilling, etc etc.

I also find it perplexing that none of the families of the Visayan politicians, the hundreds of students, and many others who lost their lives in the sinking have apparently never shown any interest in finding the resting place of their relatives, and as such never tried to protect the site. Especially as this is a Catholic country and their religion means everything to them. 

The WAASP image, which isn't the best, but it shows that the wreck isn't as defined as it was.

It could be a while before we can side scan the site but we'll do so at the first opportunity.