SS Irvine Enterprise 1934 "IE" Class Bulk Freighter (Sinkable)
AMERICAN IE CLASS BULK FREIGHTER "Irvine Enterprise"
LORE
Built in 1934 by Ashley & Co. for Sebastian & Co., the Irvine Enterprise was the first of many IE Class Freighters built from 1934 to 1935, with IE standing for Irvine Enterprise. The other IE Class ships included the SS Richmond Enterprise (Her sister ship), SS Japheth, SS Ham, SS Shem, SS Goldblum, as well as 11 others. The Irvine Enterprise was 158 FT (48.25 M) long, had a beam of 28 FT (8.75 M), and a height of 53 FT (16.25 M). The ship took her maiden voyage on October 15, 1934, from Nassau, Florida, to Liverpool, then back to Nassau. Her and the Richmond Enterprises career was mostly tame. There were no major incidents or accidents from her maiden voyage, up until March 15, 1938.
On that day, the Irvine Enterprise was captained by Sir Robert Othens of Jacksonville. Whilst leaving Port Fernandina for Bremerhaven, the Irvine Enterprise ran down the passenger ferry "Okaloosa" and sank her. Killing almost every passenger and crew member on board. Out of the 163 Passengers and 10 Crew, only 3 Crew and 17 Passengers survived the rapid capsizing and sinking. 38-year-old Captain Asa Dickson soon replaced Captain Othens. Also of Jacksonville, Asa had served as first officer on the Irvine Enterprises sister ship, the Richmond Enterprise, since her first voyage on December 4th. He was gonna be promoted to Captain on the Richmond Enterprise, but when Robert Othens was subsequently fired for his negligence, Asa was asked if he would like to fill in for Othens, to which he happily accepted. Therefore, Asa would become the new master of the Irvine Enterprise and Sebastian & Company's first African American Captain.
February 1942 proved not to be a good month for American shipping. A Sebastian & Company tanker, the SS Hickman, was torpedoed and sunk on February 18th. On February 21st, the SS Azalea City, a cargo ship owned by the Waterman SS Co. of Mobile, Alabama, vanished after leaving Bahia Blanca for the Port of Spain on February 12th. After WW2 was over, reports from German U-boat U432 reported sinking an unidentified American freighter on the 21st. It's believed that this ship was the Azalea City. The SS Norlavore of the North Atlantic & Gulf SS Co. also vanished after leaving Baltimore for Puerto la Cruz on February 22nd. It's presumed she was lost in heavy weather on the 24th. But most notably, on February 24th, 1942, the SS Irvine Enterprise left Jacksonville for Liverpool with a cargo of Wheat and Soybeans. Like the Azalea City and the Norlavore, she was never heard from again.
On the 24th, the Irvine Enterprise left Jacksonville, Florida, bound for Liverpool with a full crew of 18. Her voyage was smooth up until the 24th, when she encountered a tropical storm off the coast. At 12:02 AM on the 25th, Wireless operator Billy Garch sent a message reporting their position and that she was passing through the storm well with waves broadsiding her port side. That was the last message ever received from the Irvine Enterprise.
On February 28th, the date the ship was supposed to arrive in Liverpool, there was no sign of her, and on March 1st, she was listed as overdue. On March 3rd. Word came in that the ship hadn't been spoken to for over a week. At first, it was thought that the freighter just suffered a wireless malfunction, as with so many other missing ships, but now it was clear that the situation was more serious than originally thought. It was also discovered that the Irvine Enterprise passed through the worst of the storm, right after she was last heard from. Not half an hour later, it was reported to the coast guard that the ship was missing. A search lasting 10 days found no confirmed trace of the missing freighter. A body was sighted in the choppy waters around 1000 miles off the coast of Florida, wearing a white life jacket, but the cutter that had sighted it lost visual on it not long after. Floating wooden boards, a hatch, 2 crates, and the unidentified body were all that were found during the search. However, there was no way of identifying which ship this debris came from. The only identified piece of wreckage that came from the freighter was an empty metal oil drum, which washed ashore in Puerto Rico in 1945, stamped with the name Irivne Enterprise.
Several theories emerged as to what sent the Irvine Enterprise to the bottom. Racial segregation in the 1940s, almost immediately blamed Captain Asa Dickson. There were even false titles in newspapers that a sole survivor from the ship was found, that being 1st Officer, Charlie Sawburg. With Charlie reportedly criticizing Captain Dickson. Saying that he specifically said not to send an SOS. For unknown reasons, these reports were taken down almost instantly, though it's surfaced that the family of Charlie Sawburg threatened legal action as well as a possible hit on the reporter who wrote the article. As the Sawburg family had some ties with some pretty important people.
The other, more likely theories published by the USCG included undetected flooding, synchronously rolling, enemy action, which includes being torpedoed, mined, or shelled, or a sudden structural failure similar to what happened to Sebastian & Company's SS Tetelestai in 1925.
However, the most likely theory, as well as probably the most terrifying, emerged in the 2000s. A freak rogue wave.
The theory goes that on the night of February 25th, 1942, the Irvine Enterprise, which would've still been getting hit broadside by waves during the worst of the storm. If multiple waves combined to create one massive rogue wave, the ship either would've capsized or rolled to a point where it didn't recover. Causing her to sink in a matter of minutes.
However since the wreck hasn't been found and there isn't a clear place where to start looking, there is no clear answer. The Irvine Enterprise simply vanished and she would be the last Sebastian & Co. ship to be lost at sea, for over 40 years.
HOW TO MOVE
Use the starboard throttle lever on the ships bridge wing labeled "Telegraph"
PS. You don't have to play with infinite electricity for this ship to work however if you are in custom mode I do recommend it.
HOW TO SINK
There is a lockable button in the Captain & 1st Officer's cabin.
Or there is C4 right next to that lockable button for a "More Controlled" sink
MISC
If anyone is wondering, this ship is fictional however, some of the ships I mentioned, such as the Azalea as well as the Norlavore were real. You can read more about them here.
SS Azalea City [url=https://steamcommunity.com/linkfilter/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wrecksite.eu%2Fwreck.aspx%3F14015]https://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?14015[/url]
SS Norlavore [url=https://steamcommunity.com/linkfilter/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wrecksite.eu%2Fwreck.aspx%3F22404]https://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?22404[/url]
CREW OF SS "IRVINE ENTERPRISE" WHEN SUNK
Captain : Asa Dickson (Presumed Deceased)
1st Officer : Charles "Charlie" Sawburg (Presumed Deceased)
2nd Officer : Leland Elk (Presumed Deceased)
3rd Officer : Jim Crane (Presumed Deceased)
Radio Operator : Billy Garch (Presumed Deceased)
Cook : Paul McManas (Presumed Deceased)
A.B. : Samuel Quest (Presumed Deceased)
A.B. : Oswald Cape (Presumed Deceased)
O.S. : Sebastian Belt (Presumed Deceased)
O.S. John Atlwald (Presumed Deceased)
Boatswain : James Peterson (Presumed Deceased)
Carpenter : Andrew Stephson (Presumed Deceased)
Oiler : Joseph Stevenson (Presumed Deceased)
Wiper : Nathaniel Bradford (Presumed Deceased)
Stoker : Enis Parker (Presumed Deceased)
Stoker : Otis Arche (Presumed Deceased)
Engineer : Joseph Brown (Presumed Deceased)
Engineer : John Crawford (Presumed Deceased)
PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF YOU FIND ANY ISSUES WITH THE SHIP AND I WILL TRY TO FIX THEM AS SOON AS POSSIBLE
