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{{Short description|Ship that went missing in 1921}}
{|{{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image
|Ship image=SS Hewitt.jpg
|Ship caption=
}}
{{Infobox ship career
|Hide header=
|Ship name=*''Pacific'' (1914–15)
*''Hewitt'' (1915–21)
|Ship owner=*J S Emery Steamship Co. (1914–15)
*[[Union Sulphur Company]] (1915–21)
|Ship operator=
|Ship registry= {{flagicon|USA|1912}} [[New York City]], [[United States]]
|Ship route=
|Ship ordered=
|Ship builder=Fore River Shipbuilding Co
|Ship original cost=
|Ship yard number=
|Ship way number=
|Ship laid down=
|Ship launched= 4 August 1914
|Ship completed= September 1914
|Ship christened=
|Ship acquired=
|Ship maiden voyage=
|Ship in service=
|Ship out of service= January 1921
|Ship identification=*United States Official Number 212560
*Code Letters LDPG
*{{ICS|Lima}}{{ICS|Delta}}{{ICS|Papa}}{{ICS|Golf}}
|Ship fate=Missing since 26 January 1921
|Ship notes=
}}
{{Infobox ship characteristics
|Hide header=
|Header caption=
|Ship class=
|Ship tonnage={{GRT|5,399}}, {{NRT|3,395}} 
|Ship displacement=
|Ship length={{convert|420|ft|0|abbr=on}}
|Ship beam={{convert|60|ft|0|abbr=on}}
|Ship height=
|Ship draught=
|Ship draft=
|Ship depth={{convert|38|ft|0|abbr=on}}
|Ship decks=
|Ship deck clearance=
|Ship ramps=
|Ship ice class=
|Ship sail plan=
|Ship power=Triple expansion steam engine, 2,000 ihp
|Ship propulsion=Single screw propeller
|Ship speed={{convert|12|kn|km/h}}
|Ship capacity=
|Ship crew=42
|Ship notes=
}}
|}
The '''SS ''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''.)<ref name="Southern" /> She was sold to the [[Union Sulphur Company]] in 1915 and in 1921 she and her entire crew disappeared without a trace off the southeast coast of the United States.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Ghost Ship of 1921 – Paranormal Enlightenment |url=https://www.paranormalenlightenment.com/ghost-ship-1921/ |access-date=2022-11-09 |website=www.paranormalenlightenment.com}}</ref>

==Description==
The ship was {{convert|387|ft|7|in|m|2}} long, with a beam of {{convert|54|ft|3|in|m|2}} and a depth of {{convert|27|ft|7|in|m|2}}. She was propelled by a [[triple expansion steam engine]] which had cylinders of {{convert|25|in|cm}}, {{convert|41|in|cm}} and {{convert|68|in|cm}} diameter by {{convert|48|in|cm}} stroke. The engine was rated at 2,000 [[indicated horsepower|ihp]]. Steam was produced by three boilers, {{convert|13|ft|9|in|m|2}} diameter by {{convert|11|ft|11|in|m|2}} length, working at a pressure of 190 lb/in<sup>2</sup>.<ref name=Johnson>{{cite journal |url=http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015021113686;view=1up;seq=232;size=125 |journal=Johnson's Steam Vessels of the Atlantic, Gulf and Pacific Coasts |publisher=Eads Johnson M.E. Inc. |location=New York City |year=1920 |title=Union Sulphur Co |page=144 }}</ref> The engine drove a single screw propeller, it could propel the ship at {{convert|12|kn|km/h}}.<ref name="Southern" /> She was assessed at {{GRT|5,399}}, {{NRT|3,395}}.<ref name=Johnson/>

==History==
{{refimprove section|date=September 2015}}
''Pacific'' was built by the Fore River Shipbuilding Co. of [[Quincy, Massachusetts]], for the J. S. Emery Steamship Co. Her port of registry was [[Boston, Massachusetts]].<ref name=ABS1914>{{cite journal |url=http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.c2633302;view=1up;seq=566 |title=The Record |journal=Record of American and Foreign Shipping |publisher=American Bureau of Shipping ("American Lloyd's") |location=New York City |page=594 |year=1914 }}</ref> She was delivered in September 1914.<ref name=ABS1917/> ''Pacific'' was purchased by the [[Union Sulphur Company]] in 1915. After a refit she was renamed ''Hewitt''.<ref name="Southern">{{cite journal |date=June 1921 |author1-last=Southern |author1-first=David A. |editor1-last=Clark |editor1-first=Grenville |title=The Mystery Ship: Tragedy of the S.S. Hewitt and Other Ill-Fated Vessels |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fJnlAAAAMAAJ&q=SS+Hewitt+1921&pg=PA323 |journal=National Service |location=New York |publisher=Military Training Publishing Corporation |volume=9 |issue=6 |pages=323–327 |access-date=18 September 2015}}</ref> The American Official Number 212560 was allocated. Her port of registry was changed to New York City.<ref name=Johnson/> She was later allocated the [[Code Letters]] LDPG.<ref name=ABS1917>{{cite journal |url=http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=nyp.33433019094329;view=1up;seq=368 |title=The Record |journal=Record of American and Foreign Shipping |publisher=American Bureau of Shipping ("American Lloyd's") |location=New York City |page=362 |year=1917 }}</ref> Exactly what modifications, if any, Union Sulphur Co. made are unknown, but she probably remained mostly as she was built. The ship was described as "one of the largest bulk cargo carriers constructed in the United States."<ref name="Southern" />

''Hewitt'' plied the route along the American east coast. During [[World War I]] she delivered [[sulfur]] to ammunition and chemical industries. Beginning on 9 August 1917, when the Navy requisitioned the ship in [[Newport News, Virginia]] and, continuing until the end of the war, she shipped war materials to various French Atlantic ports. During this time, she became the first U.S. merchant marine vessel fitted with a six-inch gun, designed for defense against German [[U-boat]]s.<ref name="Southern" /> Apparently, no war-related incidents were reported. After the war, she remained with Union Sulphur Co., returning to the company in [[Norfolk, Virginia]] on 26 February 1919.<ref name="Southern" />

In October 1920, the vessel was taken to [[Hoboken, New Jersey]] for an overhaul that lasted 45 days at a cost of $100,000. Following the overhaul, she was inspected and certified by the United States Steamboat Inspectors in Portland.<ref name="Southern" />

Under command of Capt. Hans Jakob Hansen, she left fully loaded from [[Sabine Pass, Port Arthur, Texas]] on 20 January 1921. She was bound for [[Portland, Maine]] with a stop in [[Boston, Massachusetts]].<ref>{{cite journal |date=19 February 1921  |editor1-last=Marvin |editor1-first=Winthrop L. |title=Mystery of the Deering and the Hewitt Added to Grim List |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kOs_AQAAMAAJ&q=%22Union+Sulphur%22+%22Hewitt%22&pg=RA10-PA11 |journal=The Marine Journal |location=New York |publisher=The Marine Journal Company |volume=43 |issue=20 |page=11 |access-date=17 September 2015}}</ref> She made her regular radio calls on 24 January and 25 January,<ref name="Southern" /> and reported nothing unusual. She was last seen {{convert|250|nmi|km}} north of [[Jupiter Inlet, Florida]]. From that time to this, she remains missing. No further radio signals from her were received.<ref>''[[Lawrence Journal-World]]''. [https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2199&dat=19210216&id=YeZiAAAAIBAJ&sjid=BnkNAAAAIBAJ&pg=2782,6263124&hl=en "Steamer Hewitt Lost"]. February 16, 1921, p. 2. Retrieved on September 18, 2015.</ref> After the ''Hewitt'' failed to arrive in Boston on its expected due date of 29 January, Union Sulphur sent the ship's wireless call (K I L) through Atlantic coastal stations, and notified the [[United States Navy]].<ref name="Southern" /> A huge search along her route found nothing.

Initial hypotheses about the ship's disappearance were varied. Initially, Coast Guard officials in Atlantic City reported hearing an explosion and seeing a flash approximately {{convert|20|mile|km}} offshore on the night of 3 February, and connected this event with the ''Hewitt''.<ref>''[[Sunday Morning Star|Star-News]]'' (Wilmington, N.C.). [https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2293&dat=19210206&id=IuVfAAAAIBAJ&sjid=FgMGAAAAIBAJ&pg=3724,3829858&hl=en "Atlantic City Flash Lost Tanker - Belief"]. February 6, 1921, p. 1. Retrieved on September 18, 2015.</ref> No further evidence linking this explosion to the ''Hewitt'', however, was ever found. A British insurance company suggested that the ''Hewitt'' may have sunk in a collision with the ''[[Carroll A. Deering]]'', another ship that vanished around the same time, but examinations of the ''Deering'' after it came ashore (without a crew) did not show damage consistent with a collision.<ref name="SPTimes" /> Others speculated about piracy, perhaps connected with "Bolshevik raiders" in the aftermath of the [[First Red Scare|Red Scare]], although authorities discounted these suggestions.<ref name="SPTimes">''[[St. Petersburg Times]]''. [https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=888&dat=19210622&id=P5AmAAAAIBAJ&sjid=9EwDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6811,5212678&hl=en "Search World to Find Crew of 'Spook' Ship"]. June 22, 1921, pp. 1, 3. Retrieved on September 18, 2015.</ref> These concerns were fueled further because of the subsequent disappearance of several other vessels in nearby waters during 1921.<ref>''[[Evening Independent]]'' (St. Petersburg, Fla.). [https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=950&dat=19210623&id=J7dPAAAAIBAJ&sjid=wVMDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4749,5704887&hl=en "More Missing Ships Reported: Three Vessels Bound to and from Newport Believed Pirates' Prey"]. June 23, 1921, p. 10. Retrieved on September 18, 2015.</ref>

In the aftermath, families of the victims filed suit against Union Sulphur Co., seeking more than $100,000 in damages.<ref name="Lewiston">''[[Lewiston Daily Sun]]''. [https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1928&dat=19241223&id=HqwgAAAAIBAJ&sjid=amkFAAAAIBAJ&pg=4127,6040823&hl=en "Two Portland Families Get Awards of $2,500"]. December 23, 1924, p. 1. Retrieved on September 18, 2015.</ref><ref>{{cite journal |date=7 January 1922 |title=Union Sulphur Co. Suit |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jncdAQAAMAAJ&q=%22Hewitt%22+%22Union+Sulphur%22+%22crew%22&pg=PA1072 |journal=Commercial & Financial Chronicle |location=New York |publisher=William B. Dana Company |volume=114 |issue=1 |page=1072| access-date=18 September 2015}}</ref> In a representative case, two families in Portland received settlements of $2,500 each; the court deemed that the crew members were presumed drowned off Florida.<ref name="Lewiston" />

The [[Union Sulphur Company]] owned many ships. It eventually transitioned to oil and gas production and, through a series of transactions, became part of British multinational energy company [[BP]].

==See also==
*[[List of people who disappeared mysteriously at sea]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=-6dIAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA369 New Freighters for the Panama Canal Trade; September 1914 article detailing design, technical detail with plans.]

{{1921 shipwrecks}}

{{coord missing|Atlantic Ocean}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hewitt, SS}}
[[Category:1914 ships]]
[[Category:1920s missing person cases]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in 1921]]
[[Category:Merchant ships of the United States]]
[[Category:Missing ships]]
[[Category:People lost at sea]]
[[Category:Ships built in Quincy, Massachusetts]]
[[Category:Shipwrecks in the Atlantic Ocean]]
[[Category:Steamships of the United States]]
[[Category:World War I merchant ships of the United States]]

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