SHIPWRECK HISTORY

HISTORY OF SHIPWRECKS

DISAPPEARANCE OF THE FREIGHER POET

October 24, 1980, the US. freighter Poet with a cargo of yellow corn and a

crew of 34 suddenly disappeared without sending a distress signal. It was never found

nor was any of the crew. 7-1/2 hours after leaving Philadelphia the Poet leaving Cape Henlopen sent a message

to report it was making 15 knot toward Gibraltar and made November 9 it's ETA at

Port Said, Egypt. Later that day, Third Mate, Robert Gove called his wife by ship to shore

telephone and reported no problem and this was the last communication from the ship.

Two days later, October 26, Poet routinely should have made location report but

did not. An attempt to communicate was made by the ship owners was unsuccessful but

nor report was made to alert Coast Guard until November 3 when a fruitless 10 day search

was made covering 300,000 square miles.

There were two possible explanations, one that the Poet was hijacked by the underworld to trade it's cargo for heroin in Iran, or that it had a cargo of secret arms for

Egypt. An official decision was that a sudden strong storm had capsized the ship and

she went to the bottom before the crew could make contact . However, no debris was

found and a mystery remains.

Investigators say the delay in reporting her distress caused the loss of the crew and

fault the owners and Coast Guard for not moving fast enough launching a rescue. The

Merchant Marine & Fisheries Committee report holds the the 15,000 ton WW II Liberty

Ship sank in a storm by capsizing caused by continuous high seas. The ship owners are

Hawaiian Eugenia.

The Poet had radio transmitters and an automatic distress signal which should have

activated when it came in contact with water.

Abstract: Wednesday June 24, 1981, Salisbury Daily Times and Press and Sun Bulletin, Sunday, April 25, 1982.

The Monday January 12, 1981 Salisbury Daily Times reported from Bel Air,

Maryland, that a Memorial Service was held the past weekend for the skipper of the US

Poet, Captain LeRoy A. Warren , age 57, lost at sea. Warren went to sea at age 17 and

understood that a sea tragedy is a fact of their life.

Abstract : Salisbury Daily Times, Monday , January 12, 1981.