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Heritage or Hazard?

The Oil Tanker Montebello and Its Potentially Dangerous Cargo

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International Handbook of Underwater Archaeology

Part of the book series: The Springer Series in Underwater Archaeology ((SSUA))

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Abstract

On December 23, 1941, just 16 days after the Imperial Japanese navy’s bombing of Pearl Harbor in Hawaii and the entry of the United States into World War II, Union Oil Company’s tanker Montebello departed California’s Port San Luis, bound north for Vancouver with a cargo of crude oil. At dawn off Estero Bay, the ship was going about eight knots when lookout Dick Quincy saw a submarine surface (Quincy, personal communication, 2001). He gave the alarm. Everyone on the bridge saw the wake of a torpedo as it streaked toward them from the Imperial Japanese submarine I-21 (Browning, 1966). Montebello could not evade the onrushing torpedo, which slammed into the hull near the bow of the hapless vessel. Fortunately no one was on the foredeck at this early hour because of heavy seas.

What lies at the bottom of the ocean and twitches? A nervous wreck

Ashley Brilliant

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© 2002 Springer Science+Business Media New York

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Hunter, J. (2002). Heritage or Hazard?. In: Ruppé, C.V., Barstad, J.F. (eds) International Handbook of Underwater Archaeology. The Springer Series in Underwater Archaeology. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-0535-8_43

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-0535-8_43

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4613-5120-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4615-0535-8

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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