On the evening of March 17, 1918, a pier in Baltimore, Maryland remained empty where a U.S. Navy Proteus class collier was scheduled to be moored. There had been no communication with her crew in nearly two weeks. Worry set in and the Navy began an extensive search, but it was as if the collier had just disappeared; no trace of her, her crew or cargo anywhere along her projected route. A month after the ship failed to return to Baltimore, the United States Navy officially announced: The USS CYCLOPS was presumed missing. But the same question crossed everyone’s mind: How could a ship with a length of 542 feet just disappear into thin air?
The story of the USS CYCLOPS began when she was commissioned on November 7, 1910. On the day she was christened, the ship failed to slide into the water after having the ceremonial champagne bottle smashed on her hull. Because of superstitious sea legends, the crew believed that the USS CYCLOPS was cursed. She was part of the merchant marine fleet and commanded by the eccentric George Worley. He was born in Germany as Johan Frederick Wichmann but Anglicized his name to George Worley after he immigrated to the United States.
The first few years of her life were without incident but when the United States entered World War I in 1914, the USS CYCLOPS was brought into commission as an active duty collier for the U.S. Navy, including her ship’s compliment. Capt. Worley thus became Lt. Commander Worley. The ship was known to be poorly built and Lt. Commander Worley was known for his brutish and tyrannical rule of his ship. Complaints from the crew brought him under investigation in 1917 due to his abusive behavior and suspected pro-German feelings. However, the charges lacked sufficient evidence and the U.S. Navy cleared Lt. Commander Worley of any wrong doing.
On February 16, 1918, the USS CYCLOPS pulled from port at Rio de Janiero with her destination being Baltimore Harbor. She was carrying a cargo of manganese (an essential element for manufacturing steel) and was said to be grossly overloaded with cargo. The American consul, Alfred Louis Moreau Gottschalk, unexpectedly decided to take passage on board the USS CYCLOPS to return to the United States in order to enter the military and support the war effort. She made one more scheduled stop in Babia, Brazil where she took on 72 Navy passengers from the cruiser, USS RALEIGH.
Though his behavior was normally questionable, Lt. Commander Worley was acting more erratic than usual. He relieved his executive officer of duty and confined him to quarters and then took on two assistants to which other crew members took note had German sounding last names.
On March 4th, The USS CYCLOPS made an unexpected stop at Windward Isles in the Barbados to take on more supplies and to regroup after having one of her two engines fail. Worley did not call upon the usual pomp and circumstance normally expected of a commanding officer but only called upon the U.S. consul Livingston for tea. Worley took on more coal, which Livingston determined was not necessary to make the trip back to Baltimore and found it suspicious that Worley would take on more coal, considering that it would have been less expensive to purchase it stateside. However, suspicions were not enough to step in.
While in port, Worley sent out a series of strange, unexplained radio messages as well as sending one back to the United States that went: “Arrived Barbados, West Indies 17303 for bunker coal. Arrive Baltimore Maryland, 12013. Notify Director Naval Auxiliaries Commander Train (Atl) 07004. USS CYCLOPS.” Thus, notifying the fleet that the ship was expected to return on March 13, 1918; 6 days later than original anticipated date. With the radio message sent, the USS CYCLOPS left port and headed south from Barbados just one day after arriving.
During that same day, a radio transmission was picked up by the British liner Vestris. It simply said: “Weather fair. All well.” This ominous message was the last anyone ever heard from the USS CYCLOPS.
When the ship failed to arrive within a reasonable time period after she was scheduled to do so without any word as to the reason behind the delay, the U.S. Navy sent a search out. After a month’s worth of extensively combing the route to which the USS CYCLOPS was projected to be on, no trace of her or the men on board were found. The search was called off and on April 14, 1918, the United States Navy revealed to the family members of the lost and the general public that the USS CYCLOPS was gone. President Woodrow Wilson said, “Only God and the sea know what happened to the great ship.
With the world weary from World War I, people began to demand answers and so a formal investigation was launched. As more details came to light, the mystery would continue to swell. The first logical answer was that the ship sank. An explanation could have been caused by a reaction from the manganese cargo that they carried had exploded the ship or that some sort of problem with the hull caused her to sink. The U.S. Navy noted that if either of these were the case, it would be only reasonable to believe that some sort of evidence would have been found.
The next theory given was that the USS CYCLOPS fell victim to the war. What if a submarine from the Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial German Navy) sunk her? What if she had hit a mine? These theories were dismissed after the war when German records were made available. Within the vicinity of where the USS CYCLOPS was thought to have been would have been too far for a German submarine to travel and there weren’t any mines placed in that area.
With rational theories dismissed, more sinister motivations behind the demise of the ship began to arise. The first was that the crew had declared mutiny and taken over the ship. Records showed that three passengers on board were men who were tried and convicted of the murder of a shipmate; one of these men had been given a death sentence. Also, the crew morale was low and not many liked (and even fewer trusted) Lt. Commander Worley. But why wouldn’t they have returned to the United States? Why weren’t any radio messages sent?
The second theory was that somehow the Germans had captured the USS CYCLOPS. Amongst these theories was that Gottschalk or Worley had delivered the ship to the Germans because of their pro-German feelings and essentially defected. However no evidence of this was ever found.
The last, and probably the most outlandish theory, was that the last working engine had failed and the ship had drifted towards the South Pole. This theory had been pretty much dismissed by investigators and historians over the years.
Whatever happened to the USS CYCLOPS or those on board may never be known. Like Amelia Earhart, the Mary Celeste, she disappeared into thin air, never to be heard from or seen again.
References:
Clancy, Paul. “Cyclops, Part 2: Secondhand stories – and a photo- sail in.(Local) – The Virginian-Pilot (Norfolk, VA) | HighBeam Research.” Research – Articles – Journals | Find research fast at HighBeam Research. N.p., 30 Jan. 2011. Web. 6 Apr. 2011. [http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-247955428.html].
Clancy, P “The Mystery Lingers. How Could It Not?.” The Virginian-Pilot [Norfolk] 31 Jan. 2011: n. pag. HamptonRoads.com. Web. 1 Apr. 2011.
