This June 1944 photograph shows the torn hull of the American merchant ship SS Joel R. Poinsett after it broke in a storm.

Enemy action was not the only danger faced by merchant mariners. The Joel R. Poinsett split in two in a March 1944 storm. The fore part of the ship sank, but the after part remained afloat because the watertight bulkheads (left, inside hull) held. A lengthy search and difficult recovery by the salvage tug Foundation Franklin saved the rest of the ship, which was towed back to Halifax, Nova Scotia, where it became a floating depot.

George Metcalf Archival Collection
CWM 19720151-016