When This U.S. Sub Ran Out Of Fuel, One Officer Came Up With A Wild Plan To Reach The Shore

In May 1921, an American submarine plowed through the waters off Hawaii, rushing to the aid of a missing vessel. But as the crew scanned the surface for signs of the USS Conestoga, they suddenly found that it was their own lives that were at risk. Out of fuel and stranded in the middle of the ocean, they contemplated a bleak fate – until one man made a crazy decision.

Thrilling escapades

Built shortly after the conclusion of World War One, the USS R-14 hadn’t seen combat when it sailed from Pearl Harbor on a search and rescue mission. But soon, it would bear witness to plenty of thrilling escapades – and bravery in a class of its own. With no help likely to come, the crew of the stricken submarine were forced to fend for themselves.

At the mercy of the Pacific

Like the ship that they were searching for, the crew of the R-14 had found themselves at the mercy of the Pacific Ocean. And to make matters worse, time wasn’t on their side. Would they make it out of their predicament alive? And would the missing Conestoga ever be seen again?

A madcap ploy

In the midst of this peril, one man stepped forward with an idea: Roy Trent Gallemore, an engineering officer with the United States Navy. Using just his ingenuity, he directed the crew in a madcap ploy to save their submarine – and live to fight another day. What happened next is the stuff of legend, and difficult to believe even 100 years down the line.

R-class submarines

According to the website War History Online, the U.S. Navy first began producing R-class submarines not long after the country’s entry into World War One. But even though some were completed before the end of the conflict, they never saw service overseas. Instead, they were rolled out to succeed the older O-class vessels and assigned to various peacetime duties.

The R-14

Equipped with torpedoes and a deck-mounted gun, the R-class submarines were certainly able to defend themselves. But it wasn’t until World War Two that they’d have a chance to prove themselves in battle. In the meantime, though, one particular vessel saw enough action to last a lifetime: the R-14.

Shakedown

According to the records, building work on the R-14 began in 1918 and the vessel was launched the following year. Following a test run near the shores of New England, the submarine sailed to New London in Connecticut ahead of joining the ranks of the Pacific Fleet. Finally, in May 1920 it left the East Coast and passed through the Panama Canal en route to Pearl Harbor in Hawaii.

Search and rescue missions

But though the R-14 was commissioned too late to join World War One, the vessel still had an important role to play. At Pearl Harbor, it helped U.S. Navy ships to hone their strategies for battling enemy submarines. And crucially, it also took part in a number of search and rescue missions.

The USS Conestoga

Some six months after the R-14 reached Pearl Harbor, another vessel set out towards the Hawaiian port. This time, it was the Conestoga, a 170-foot tugboat previously tasked with performing military operations on the East Coast. Since the end of 1920, though, it’d been stationed in the Pacific.

A twist of fate

On March 25, 1921, the Conestoga left Mare Island near San Francisco towing a barge loaded with coal. Bound for Tutuila in American Samoa, it was due to call in at Pearl Harbor to pick up additional fuel along the way. But unfortunately, fate had something different in store.

Missing

As the weeks ticked by with no sign of the Conestoga, the authorities began to realize that something had gone wrong. And so, they launched a large-scale search and rescue operation. The vessel, they believed, had been seen approaching Hawaii – but all their efforts to locate it were in vain. In fact, for almost a century, a solitary lifeboat found close to Mexico was the sole trace of the tugboat ever recovered.

The wreck of the Conestoga

Then, in 2009 a sonar study of the Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary, a large area of protected ocean west of California, detected something strange. Five years later, an underwater robot was dispatched to the site of the anomaly to take a closer look. And what they found would solve a mystery that had haunted a community for more than 90 years.

Never made it to Hawaii

In March 2016 the U.S. Navy and the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, made an official statement: the wreck of the Conestoga had finally been located. As it turned out, the rescue operation had been looking in the wrong place. In reality, the vessel had never made it anywhere near Hawaii, instead foundering in the ocean more than 2,000 miles away.

Seeking shelter

According to NOAA researchers, the Conestoga was probably confronted by dangerous weather conditions as it sailed through the Greater Farallon Islands. The crew may have been intending to seek refuge on one of the islands when the vessel sank, claiming the lives of all 56 men on board.

A huge operation

For the families of the Conestoga’s crew, the NOAA’s discovery brought closure at last. But back in 1921 they could only wait and hope as the Navy mounted an 11-day operation to track down the missing vessel. According to The Washington Post, the operation covered some 300,000 square miles and involved scores of ships and airplanes scanning the ocean around Hawaii.

27 men

Among the vessels assigned to the mission was the R-14, tasked with conducting a surface search for the missing ship. Headed by lieutenants Alexander Dean Douglas and Roy Trent Gallemore, a crew of 27 men boarded the submarine and headed out into the Pacific Ocean. But, like that of the Conestoga, the journey wouldn’t go to plan.

Out of luck

Some 100 miles off the coast of Hawaii, the R-14 ran out of fuel. Typically, this mightn’t have been a major issue, as the crew could just contact another vessel for assistance. But that day, the men were really down on their luck: their radio stopped working at the same time.

Stranded

Stranded in the ocean, the crew of the R-14 were in a desperate situation. Apparently, they didn’t have enough battery left to use the electric motor to get back to shore. And according to War History Online, their rations were set to run out in less than a week.

Human error

But how did such a situation occur in the first place? After all, surely the crew knew how much fuel would be needed to complete their mission? Though the truth about what really happened has likely been lost to time, there’s been some speculation online. One commenter, for example, suggested that the men were relatively inexperienced and simply got their calculations wrong.

Little hope of making it home

Others, meanwhile, have suggested that one of the superior officers was at fault, and that it would’ve been their responsibility to carry an adequate supply of fuel. But whatever it was that had led the R-14 to this point, the truth of the matter was inescapable: they were drifting at sea with little hope of making it home.

A curious plan

Then, Gallemore put forward a curious proposal. As an engineering officer, he was used to devising creative solutions to problems that the U.S. military faced. But this time, his intellect and resolve was really put to the test. To get back to shore, he suggested, the crew of the R-14 should resort to the old-fashioned technique of wind power.

Makeshift sail

There was, though, one glaring issue: the R-14 didn’t have any sails. Undaunted, Gallemore ordered the crew to construct a boom out of bed frames, lashed together and tied to the crane at the top of the submarine. Next, they joined up eight hammocks and hung them from their homemade mast.

Underway once more

Amazingly, the plan worked. According to the R-14’s logbook, the submarine began moving as soon as the wind caught the makeshift sail – albeit at a speed of just 1.2 miles per hour. Not only that, but the crew also found that they were able to use the vessel’s rudder to steer again. Slowly, they began navigating towards the Hawaiian city of Hilo.

Going faster

Buoyed by their success, the men gathered materials to create a secondary sail. This time, they joined together half a dozen blankets and attached them to the R-14’s radio mast. With this in place, the submarine was now traveling at almost 1.8 miles an hour. Faster, certainly – yet still unlikely to reach shore with any great haste.

A third sail

But the crew of the R-14 weren’t giving up once they’d gotten that far. Locating another eight blankets, they began constructing a third sail. Tying the remaining bunk bed frames together to create a further boom, they hung this alongside the existing set-up, increasing their speed by an extra 0.58 mph.

Home at last

After sailing along in this manner for a while, reports claim, Gallemore managed to begin charging the sub’s ailing battery. And eventually, following more than 60 hours being propelled by the wind, the R-14 turned on the power and glided into Hilo Harbor. Amazingly, not a single member of its 29-man crew was harmed.

A commendation

As his crew recovered from their brush with death, Douglas was commended for their quick thinking. Sadly, though, the men whom the R-14 had been searching for weren’t so lucky. One by one, the search vessels returned home empty-handed, as the wreck of the Conestoga lay on the seabed far away.

New London Submarine School

The R-14 went on to have many more adventures – though it never again went under sail. According to the Naval History & Heritage Command website, the submarine left the Pacific late in 1930, traveling back through the Panama Canal towards Connecticut. And for the rest of the 1930s, it served as a practice vessel at the New London Submarine School.

Training the country's troops

In early 1941, with the shadow of World War Two creeping ever closer to America, the submarine relocated south to Key West in Florida. Then, that December, the United States officially entered the conflict that was raging across the globe. And even though the R-14 didn’t see any fighting first-hand, it played a vital role in helping to train up the nation’s troops.

Scrapped

Eventually, in April 1945 the R-14 embarked on its final journey, traveling north towards Philadelphia in Pennsylvania. A month later it was decommissioned, out of service at last after a long and colorful career. The following year, the vessel was scrapped, meaning that unfortunately no trace of it remains today.

A heroic tale

Seventy years later, the wreck of the Conestoga was found, shining a spotlight once more on the remarkable events of May 1921. But with such a strong focus on this infamous maritime mystery, the heroic tale of Douglas, Gallemore and their men is often overlooked. Their impressive feat remains a unique achievement, though, and certainly a story worth telling.

Steven Callahan

Of course, the events that unfolded on the R-14 aren’t the only example of ingenuity at sea that’s saved lives over the years. Back in early 1982, for example, 29-year-old Steven Callahan was sailing solo across the Atlantic Ocean when his boat was struck by an unknown object. Left with a gash in its hull, the vessel was doomed.

Alone in the middle of the ocean

Thankfully, though, Callahan was resourceful: after all, it him who’d constructed the Napoleon Solo from scratch. And so, he loaded what he could into the boat’s life-raft, diving down into the water-filled cabin in order to retrieve essential supplies. Soon, he was alone in the ocean, some 800 miles from dry land.

A solar still

Normally, one of the biggest issues for shipwrecked sailors is the lack of anything to drink – but Callahan had a clever solution. Over the course of several days, he was able to rig up a solar still, capable of producing around 16 ounces of potable water each day. Thanks to this, he managed to survive for more than 70 days until he was finally rescued by passing fishermen.

Tami Oldham

But those who encounter disaster at sea can’t always wait for rescue to come. Just over 60 years after the R-14 limped into Hilo Harbor powered by battery and sail, the Hawaiian port witnessed another miraculous return. This time, it was sailor Tami Oldham on board what remained of the yacht Hazaña – and she had an incredible tale to tell.

Hurricane Raymond

In September 1983 Oldham and her fiancé Richard Sharp left Tahiti on board the Hazaña, bound for San Diego in California. Both experienced sailors, they’d been asked by the yacht’s owners to deliver it safely across the Pacific Ocean. But less than three weeks into the journey, Hurricane Raymond reared its head.

In the path of the storm

Though the couple attempted to avoid the oncoming storm, the path of tempest itself also altered, leaving them directly in its course. As Sharp strapped himself into a harness, at his request Oldham took shelter below deck – only to be rendered unconscious when the yacht turned upside down. Hours later, she came round to find herself alone on board the severely damaged vessel.

A grave situation

Assessing the situation, Oldham saw that the storm had torn the masts from the vessel and thrown the sails overboard. But that wasn’t all. The radio, which she might have used to call for help, was broken, and the navigation equipment was down. With little time to grieve for her missing fiancé, the 23-year-old embarked on an astonishing survival mission.

Under sail

Just like the crew of the R-14, Oldham fashioned a homemade sail to power her stranded boat. But, she soon realized, the stricken yacht would never make it all the way to San Diego. Instead, she plotted a new course to Hawaii using just a watch and a manual sextant. And more than a month later, she finally arrived in Hilo Harbor.

The sea can prove a cruel mistress

Of course, the annals of maritime history are littered with the tragic deaths of people who weren’t as resourceful – or as lucky – as these survivors and went down with their ships to meet a watery grave. Yet a shipwreck isn't always the end of the story — in fact, in early 2021, a long-sunken ship off the coast of Michigan actually rose from beneath the waves to "sail" once again.

Experienced vessel

The ship in question was known as the City of Green Bay, though it was by no means a vessel without experience. For two years, the merchant schooner had battled the mighty waves of the Atlantic before being called to duty on the Great Lakes. The crew didn't think they had any reason to worry.

Hefty cargo

Alongside the schooner Havana, the City of Green Bay set out from Escanaba, Michigan, in late September 1887 with 675 tons of iron ore as its cargo. The ships were headed for the port of Chicago, some 300 miles south — and it was a destination they'd never reach.

Encountering the storm

On the evening of October 1, a violent storm blew in over Lake Michigan, sending both the City of Green Bay and the Havana far off course. As powerful gales and towering waves rocked the ore-loaded ships, Captain P.W. Costello feared he and his crew aboard the Green Bay wouldn't make it through the night.

S.O.S.

The following morning, as the storm continued to rage, locals of the town of South Haven spotted a distress signal just off the coast. As the City of Green Bay drifted rapidly southward, a life-saving team was dispatched in attempt to rescue the ship and its crew.

Split in two

But it was too late. Before help could arrive, the City of Green Bay ran aground on a sandbar, nearly tearing the ship apart. Even as the life-saving team managed to reach the crumbling wreckage, the might of the waves, combined with the Green Bay's massive weight, proved to be too much to overcome. Moments later, the ship split completely in two.

Lone survivor

As two of the City of Green Bay's masts collapsed, three crewmen were swept into the surging waters; they were never seen again. Desperately, the life-saving team fought to rescue the remaining three crew members — in the end, only one survived.

New home

By the time the storm finally passed, the remnants of the City of Green Bay found a new home beneath the waves, settling in Deerlick Creek just off the shores of South Haven. For years, the wreckage served as a reminder of the tragic events of that day, though it's since become a feature of significance for the people of western Michigan.

Point of interest

The wreck of the City of Green Bay is now a well-known point of interest, especially among locals with a passion for the area's history. Though the waters of Lake Michigan contain a number of similar shipwrecks, the Green Bay owes its popularity to its accessibility.

Easy access

"Many people have flocked to the beach because it was so easy to see the wreck in about five feet of water," shared Valerie van Heest, director of the Michigan Shipwreck Research Association (MSRA). "Its bones had remained lodged in a sand bar just north of the Deerlick Creek outlet, which is located three miles south of the South Haven channel."

The case of the disappearing shipwreck

But in early 2021, visitors who frequented the site of the wreck arrived at the shores of South Haven and were shocked by what they found. After 134 years in Deerlick Creek, the City of Green Bay was gone!

Sailing once again?

No one could explain how this 100-plus-year fixture had just suddenly vanished from its place beneath the waves. Had it been destroyed? Had someone moved it? Had the ship risen from its watery grave to sail once more? The possibilities seemed endless.

An unusual sight

But that May, one South Haven resident discovered the answer. As she gazed out the window from her property overlooking Lake Michigan, the woman spotted a large shape in the water some 50 feet out from the shore. Curious, she headed down to the water to investigate.

Startling discovery

As she reached the shoreline, she could just barely make out the mysterious object — it was a ship. Being that the wreck hadn't been there before, the woman hurried to the nearby Michigan Maritime Museum to report her discovery.

Reporting her findings

"She told us she'd lived on the property for 40 years and they hadn't seen anything [like that before]," said Ashley Deming, director of education and administration for the Michigan Maritime Museum. "We have people report potential shipwrecks that they have found all the time, but in this particular instance, it was in an area we didn't know about." But was this the missing wreck of the City of Green Bay?

Expert investigation

The museum immediately contacted van Heest and her team at the MSRA to find out. Because she'd surveyed the wreck of the Green Bay 15 years prior, van Heest claimed she'd know the ship if she saw it — and as soon as they arrived at the site, the truth became clear.

Lost & found

It was the City of Green Bay after all! But that begged one enormous question: how did the shipwreck manage to travel a half-mile from its 134-year resting place? Well, according to van Heest, the same conditions that sunk it in the first place likely brought the ship to its new home.

Mother Nature strikes again

"Mother nature had her way with this ship again," said van Heest. "Erosion, combined with a big storm, somehow lifted this ship from where it was embedded for over a hundred years, and moved it south." Yet this had been no small shifting of sand.

Extraordinary conditions

In 2020, the water levels in Lake Michigan had been higher than in previous years, resulting in significant erosion along the shorelines that helped rouse the City of Green Bay from its 134-year slumber. But according to van Heest, there's a good chance the ship isn't done moving just yet.

Not done moving

"The remains now don't seem so embedded in the bottom. I would not be surprised to hear that after another big storm, it's no longer here," van Heest revealed. "We'll keep an eye on this. If it moves again, we'll go out and try to find its next resting place."

On to the next mystery

Unfortunately, because the City of Green Bay has now settled on a strip of private beach, it's no longer accessible to curious onlookers. Still, most locals are just happy that this unusual mystery has finally been solved.

Thrilling escapades

Built shortly after the conclusion of World War One, the USS R-14 hadn’t seen combat when it sailed from Pearl Harbor on a search and rescue mission. But soon, it would bear witness to plenty of thrilling escapades – and bravery in a class of its own. With no help likely to come, the crew of the stricken submarine were forced to fend for themselves.

At the mercy of the Pacific

Like the ship that they were searching for, the crew of the R-14 had found themselves at the mercy of the Pacific Ocean. And to make matters worse, time wasn’t on their side. Would they make it out of their predicament alive? And would the missing Conestoga ever be seen again?

A madcap ploy

In the midst of this peril, one man stepped forward with an idea: Roy Trent Gallemore, an engineering officer with the United States Navy. Using just his ingenuity, he directed the crew in a madcap ploy to save their submarine – and live to fight another day. What happened next is the stuff of legend, and difficult to believe even 100 years down the line.

R-class submarines

According to the website War History Online, the U.S. Navy first began producing R-class submarines not long after the country’s entry into World War One. But even though some were completed before the end of the conflict, they never saw service overseas. Instead, they were rolled out to succeed the older O-class vessels and assigned to various peacetime duties.

The R-14

Equipped with torpedoes and a deck-mounted gun, the R-class submarines were certainly able to defend themselves. But it wasn’t until World War Two that they’d have a chance to prove themselves in battle. In the meantime, though, one particular vessel saw enough action to last a lifetime: the R-14.

Shakedown

According to the records, building work on the R-14 began in 1918 and the vessel was launched the following year. Following a test run near the shores of New England, the submarine sailed to New London in Connecticut ahead of joining the ranks of the Pacific Fleet. Finally, in May 1920 it left the East Coast and passed through the Panama Canal en route to Pearl Harbor in Hawaii.

Search and rescue missions

But though the R-14 was commissioned too late to join World War One, the vessel still had an important role to play. At Pearl Harbor, it helped U.S. Navy ships to hone their strategies for battling enemy submarines. And crucially, it also took part in a number of search and rescue missions.

The USS Conestoga

Some six months after the R-14 reached Pearl Harbor, another vessel set out towards the Hawaiian port. This time, it was the Conestoga, a 170-foot tugboat previously tasked with performing military operations on the East Coast. Since the end of 1920, though, it’d been stationed in the Pacific.

A twist of fate

On March 25, 1921, the Conestoga left Mare Island near San Francisco towing a barge loaded with coal. Bound for Tutuila in American Samoa, it was due to call in at Pearl Harbor to pick up additional fuel along the way. But unfortunately, fate had something different in store.

Missing

As the weeks ticked by with no sign of the Conestoga, the authorities began to realize that something had gone wrong. And so, they launched a large-scale search and rescue operation. The vessel, they believed, had been seen approaching Hawaii – but all their efforts to locate it were in vain. In fact, for almost a century, a solitary lifeboat found close to Mexico was the sole trace of the tugboat ever recovered.

The wreck of the Conestoga

Then, in 2009 a sonar study of the Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary, a large area of protected ocean west of California, detected something strange. Five years later, an underwater robot was dispatched to the site of the anomaly to take a closer look. And what they found would solve a mystery that had haunted a community for more than 90 years.

Never made it to Hawaii

In March 2016 the U.S. Navy and the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, made an official statement: the wreck of the Conestoga had finally been located. As it turned out, the rescue operation had been looking in the wrong place. In reality, the vessel had never made it anywhere near Hawaii, instead foundering in the ocean more than 2,000 miles away.

Seeking shelter

According to NOAA researchers, the Conestoga was probably confronted by dangerous weather conditions as it sailed through the Greater Farallon Islands. The crew may have been intending to seek refuge on one of the islands when the vessel sank, claiming the lives of all 56 men on board.

A huge operation

For the families of the Conestoga’s crew, the NOAA’s discovery brought closure at last. But back in 1921 they could only wait and hope as the Navy mounted an 11-day operation to track down the missing vessel. According to The Washington Post, the operation covered some 300,000 square miles and involved scores of ships and airplanes scanning the ocean around Hawaii.

27 men

Among the vessels assigned to the mission was the R-14, tasked with conducting a surface search for the missing ship. Headed by lieutenants Alexander Dean Douglas and Roy Trent Gallemore, a crew of 27 men boarded the submarine and headed out into the Pacific Ocean. But, like that of the Conestoga, the journey wouldn’t go to plan.

Out of luck

Some 100 miles off the coast of Hawaii, the R-14 ran out of fuel. Typically, this mightn’t have been a major issue, as the crew could just contact another vessel for assistance. But that day, the men were really down on their luck: their radio stopped working at the same time.

Stranded

Stranded in the ocean, the crew of the R-14 were in a desperate situation. Apparently, they didn’t have enough battery left to use the electric motor to get back to shore. And according to War History Online, their rations were set to run out in less than a week.

Human error

But how did such a situation occur in the first place? After all, surely the crew knew how much fuel would be needed to complete their mission? Though the truth about what really happened has likely been lost to time, there’s been some speculation online. One commenter, for example, suggested that the men were relatively inexperienced and simply got their calculations wrong.

Little hope of making it home

Others, meanwhile, have suggested that one of the superior officers was at fault, and that it would’ve been their responsibility to carry an adequate supply of fuel. But whatever it was that had led the R-14 to this point, the truth of the matter was inescapable: they were drifting at sea with little hope of making it home.

A curious plan

Then, Gallemore put forward a curious proposal. As an engineering officer, he was used to devising creative solutions to problems that the U.S. military faced. But this time, his intellect and resolve was really put to the test. To get back to shore, he suggested, the crew of the R-14 should resort to the old-fashioned technique of wind power.

Makeshift sail

There was, though, one glaring issue: the R-14 didn’t have any sails. Undaunted, Gallemore ordered the crew to construct a boom out of bed frames, lashed together and tied to the crane at the top of the submarine. Next, they joined up eight hammocks and hung them from their homemade mast.

Underway once more

Amazingly, the plan worked. According to the R-14’s logbook, the submarine began moving as soon as the wind caught the makeshift sail – albeit at a speed of just 1.2 miles per hour. Not only that, but the crew also found that they were able to use the vessel’s rudder to steer again. Slowly, they began navigating towards the Hawaiian city of Hilo.

Going faster

Buoyed by their success, the men gathered materials to create a secondary sail. This time, they joined together half a dozen blankets and attached them to the R-14’s radio mast. With this in place, the submarine was now traveling at almost 1.8 miles an hour. Faster, certainly – yet still unlikely to reach shore with any great haste.

A third sail

But the crew of the R-14 weren’t giving up once they’d gotten that far. Locating another eight blankets, they began constructing a third sail. Tying the remaining bunk bed frames together to create a further boom, they hung this alongside the existing set-up, increasing their speed by an extra 0.58 mph.

Home at last

After sailing along in this manner for a while, reports claim, Gallemore managed to begin charging the sub’s ailing battery. And eventually, following more than 60 hours being propelled by the wind, the R-14 turned on the power and glided into Hilo Harbor. Amazingly, not a single member of its 29-man crew was harmed.

A commendation

As his crew recovered from their brush with death, Douglas was commended for their quick thinking. Sadly, though, the men whom the R-14 had been searching for weren’t so lucky. One by one, the search vessels returned home empty-handed, as the wreck of the Conestoga lay on the seabed far away.

Scrapped

The R-14 had many more adventures. But in April of 1945, it embarked on its final journey to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. A month later it was decommissioned, out of service at last after a long and colorful career. The following year, the vessel was scrapped, so, unfortunately, no trace of it remains today. But the same can't be said for the wreckage of the Conestoga.

A heroic tale

Seventy years later, the wreck of the Conestoga was found, shining a spotlight once more on the remarkable events of May 1921. But with such a strong focus on this infamous maritime mystery, the heroic tale of Douglas, Gallemore and their men is often overlooked. Their impressive feat remains a unique achievement, though, and certainly a story worth telling.