Possumblog

Not in the clamor of the crowded street, not in the shouts and plaudits of the throng, but in ourselves, are triumph and defeat.--Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

REDIRECT ALERT! (Scroll down past this mess if you're trying to read an archived post. Thanks. No, really, thanks.)

Due to my inability to control my temper and complacently accept continued silliness with not-quite-as-reliable-as-it-ought-to-be Blogger/Blogspot, your beloved Possumblog will now waddle across the Information Dirt Road and park its prehensile tail at http://possumblog.mu.nu.

This site will remain in place as a backup in case Munuvia gets hit by a bus or something, but I don't think they have as much trouble with this as some places do. ::cough::blogspot::cough:: So click here and adjust your links. I apologize for the inconvenience, but it's one of those things.

Thursday, July 11, 2002

Navy Says Boat Wreckage Likely Kennedy's PT-109

[...] Mark Wertheimer of the Naval Historical Center said his team compared original photographs against 10 hours of video footage obtained by a team led by U.S. oceanographer Robert Ballard, famed for discovering the sunken ocean liner Titanic.

"It's very likely JFK's PT-109," Wertheimer said in an interview. "All the evidence says it is. Based on Navy records, there were no other PT boats in that specific area at that time, and it's the only PT known to be lost in the Blackett Straight." [...]

More than a half century after the collision, only fragments of the wooden structure were discovered. The torpedo and the torpedo tube were found lodged in between underwater sand dunes, five miles offshore between the islands of Gizo and Kolombangara.

Wertheimer said the two pieces were covered in green and yellow marine growth. The torpedo looked broken, while a part of the torpedo tube appeared to be missing, he said. [...]

When this story first broke, I was a bit sceptical that they could tell for certain that it was Kennedy's boat, mainly because there were no details from Ballard about why he suspected this was 109. However, the quote above from Mr. Wertheimer about their reasoning and their methods makes it sound like much more of a sure thing. And a really cool find. PT boat crews did dangerous work in a dangerous place, and no matter what you may think of the Kennedy family politically or personally, Jack was a good skipper.

Go Navy!

posted by Terry at 8:54:00 AM

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