![\"USS](\"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/USS-Conestoga.jpg\")
<\/a><\/center><\/p>\n95-years ago, the USS Conestoga, a fairly large sea-going tugboat sank off the coast of California with all 56 hands aboard. Wednesday, at the Navy Memorial in Washington, DC, the Navy and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced that the boat had finally been discovered. The tug was bound for Pearl Harbor, Hawai’i, towing a barge of coal in route to it’s new assignment to Tutuila, American Samoa, when it sank. From the Washington Post<\/a>;<\/p>\n It cleared the Golden Gate at 3:25 p.m. [on Good Friday, March 25, 1921] and steamed into the Gulf of the Farallones in heavy seas. The Conestoga was a rugged oceangoing tug that had once hauled coal barges for a Pennsylvania railroad.<\/p>\n But 17 years after its launch in Baltimore, it had undergone hard use and had a reputation as a \u201cwet boat,\u201d one that took on water easily.<\/p>\n At 4 p.m. that day, as the San Francisco light ship recorded big waves and gale-force winds, the Conestoga passed Point Bonita and was not heard from again.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n A few months later, the Navy conducted a search, but they were looking for the boat 2000 miles away in Hawai’i, so it wasn’t detected until 2009. The whole narrative of NOAA’s discovery is at the link to the Post. The ceremony at the Navy Memorial was attended by relatives of the lost sailors.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is so overwhelming for all of us,\u201d Diane Gollnitz, 73, of Lutherville, Md. \u2014 the granddaughter of the Conestoga\u2019s skipper, Lt. Ernest Larkin Jones \u2014 said Wednesday.<\/p>\n \u201cIt connects the past of 95 years ago, and all the stories we were told, with the future,\u201d she said. \u201cMy grandchildren are here.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Thanks to Chief Tango for the link.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"