By Professor Jonathan L. Walton
“How carefully most men creep into nameless graves, while now and again one or two forget themselves into immortality.” —The Rev. Phillips Brooks
On Feb. 3, 1943, tragedy struck the SS Dorchester, an American troop transport ship traveling in a naval convoy in the North Atlantic. With the ship less than two hundred miles from its intended destination in Greenland, a German U-boat fired a torpedo into its side. Conditions could not have been worse for evacuation and rescue. The ship was originally built as a luxury liner with a maximum capacity of 400, then converted to military use early in 1942. Even though it had been equipped by the military with additional lifeboats and life jackets, the lifeboats proved too crowded and the life jackets too few for the approximately 900 officers, servicemen, and civilians aboard. For those who were able to evacuate the sinking ship, hypothermia awaited in the frigid ocean. Ultimately, only about a quarter of those aboard the vessel survived.... Read more about From the Professor's Desk: Fall Term 2017