SS Hewitt
 |
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| Career | |
|---|---|
| Name: | SS Hewitt |
| Owner: | Union Sulfur Co |
| Fate: | Unknown |
| General characteristics | |
| Tonnage: | 5,398 GRT |
| Length: | 420 feet (128 m) |
| Beam: | 60 feet (18 m) |
| Depth: | 38 feet (12 m) |
| Propulsion: | Coal fired boilers, steam reciprocating engine, single screw |
| Speed: | 12 knots |
| Crew: | 42 |
The S.S. Hewitt was a steel hulled bulk freighter built for the J. S. Emery Steamship Co. of Boston, Massachusetts, as the Pacific. (She had one sister ship named Atlantic. She was sold to the Berwind White Coal Co. and became a collier.)
Hewitt was delivered in September 1914 by the Fore River Shipbuilding Co. of Quincy, Massachusetts. She was a working ship with few frills. She was purchased by the Union Sulfur Co. in 1915. After a refit, she was renamed Hewitt and assigned in the U.S. registry with number 212560 and home port of New York City. Exactly what modifications, if any, Union Sulfur Co. made are unknown, but she probably remained mostly as she was built.
Hewitt plied the route along the U.S. coast. During World War I she delivered sulfur to ammunition and chemical industries. Apparently, no war-related incidents were reported. After the war, she remained with Union Sulfur Co.
Under command of Capt. Hans Jakob Hansen, she left fully loaded from Sabine, Texas on 20 January 1921. She was bound for Portland, Maine, with a stop in Boston. She made her regular radio call on 25 January, and reported nothing unusual. She was last seen 250 miles (402 km) north of Jupiter Inlet, Florida. From that time to this, she remains missing. No further radio signals from her were received. A huge search along her route found nothing.
Union Sulfur Co. was absorbed by Texas Gulf Sulfur Co. in 1924, and details of the Union Sulfur Company's ships are difficult to find.
