King Kong — the rat — among survivors of German U-boat attack off Delaware

As the freighter Hvoslef sailed northward a short distance from the Delaware coast, the ship remained close to shore in an effort to avoid German submarines.

After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the American entry into World War II, the German high command dispatched packs of German submarines across the Atlantic. The U-boat commanders had orders to sink any vessel they encountered, and the steady stream of vessels steaming through the coastal waters of Delaware made this area an attractive hunting ground.

Those aboard the Hvoslef, however, remained calm. After all, they had King Kong aboard.

On Feb. 2, 1942, two months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the tanker W. L. Steed was torpedoed and exploded about 100 miles off the Delaware coast. Two days later, the freighter San Gil and the tanker Indian Arrow met similar fates.

On Feb. 28, the destroyer USS Jacob Jones carried over 100 American sailors to their death when the navy warship was hit by two German torpedoes, and it sank in less than an hour off the coast of England. Just over a week later, the Hvoslef was nearing Fenwick Island, and the German submarine U-94 was watching for unsuspecting prey. 

The Hvoslef carried a cargo of bananas which attracted a variety of vermin. About twice a week, the crew would organize evening “shows” in the galley, where trays of food were hung close to the ceiling.

The first performers to appear were acrobatic cockroaches, who crawled up the walls, then along the ceiling, before dropping down on the food tray. Next came the rats, who jumped from the floor to the benches and onto the table, where they pranced about on their hind legs in an effort to reach the food.

A crew member later recalled, “Jumping and otherwise performing their act with great skill and endurance.” One of the larger rats, with one eye missing and a lame leg was nicknamed “King Kong.” Unable to cavort with the rest of the rats, King Kong would wait patiently until some food scraps fell his way.

The vermin performances temporarily diverted the sailors’ attention as they sailed into dangerous waters off the Delaware coast.

As the ship approached Fenwick Island, the Hvoslef was spotted by the U-94. At 8 in the evening on March 10, the Germans fired several torpedoes at the Norwegian ship. One torpedo hit the freighter amidships, and a second struck aft near the crew’s cabins. Several of the sailors were able to scramble into the port lifeboat on the sinking ship with King Kong and the other vermin still aboard.

The sailors in the lifeboat watched in horror as the two sections of the Hvoslef plunged beneath the waves. It had taken only two minutes for the Hvoslef to sink. The stunned men in the lifeboat, however, wasted no time fishing their fellow crewmen out of the water.

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One of the crewmen struggled to keep his head above the water. Finally, he spotted a plank, but as he grabbed the timber, he was startled to see that two other survivors, King Kong and a fellow rat, had already climbed aboard.

The sailor pushed the plank under the water to dislodge the rodents, and he then used the plank to give himself enough buoyancy to keep floating until he was rescued by the sailors in the lifeboat.

There were now over a dozen men in the lifeboat that was several miles from the Delaware coast. The sailors knew Fenwick Island lay due west; and by taking turns at the oars, they began to row. Fourteen hours later, they splashed ashore on the Delaware beach.

As for King Kong, the last time he was spotted, he was riding the plank like a surfboard.

Principal sources

D/S Hvoslef, http://www.warsailors.com/singleships/hvoslef.html

uboat.net, U-94, http://www.uboat.net/boats/u94.htm

uboat.net, Hvoslef, Hvoslef (Norwegian Steam merchant) - Ships hit by German U-boats during WWII - uboat.net