Albert Galatin

   Date Sunk: February 10, 1957
          Cause: Foundered
      Location: Cape Ann, off Loblolly Cove, ½ mile northeast of Thatcher
                       Island.
 Coordinates:  Latitude, 42^o - 38' - 52"N    Longitude,70^o - 34' - 11"W
          Loran:

   At 8:30 Sunday morning, after loading fuel oil for delivery to Newington, New Hampshire, the coastal tanker Chelsea left Boston. Visibility was good, but a 35-mph northwesterly wind was whipping up seas off shore. Captain Keith Beale hoped to avoid the rough water by hugging the shorline, taking advantage of the protection it offered. Around 11:30 Beale turned command over to his Chief Mate, and went below. About 1 hour later Chelsea ground to a halt. The Chief had attempted a shortcut, popular with the Gloucester fishermen, between Straitsmouth Island and the Dry Salvages. He cut in to close to the submerged section of the Sandy Bay Breakwater, on the outgoing tide, and the tanker came to ground. The force of the impact opened a gash in her bow.
    Chelsea was hard aground and the crew's attempts to free her were in vain. At last a Coast Guard 36-foot motor lifeboat came to remove all but skipper Beale.
   The Coast Guard already had their hands full when Chelsea happened onto the breakwater. Late Saturday evening, the tanker Franco Lisi grounded on Little Misery Island off Boston. Although the vessel freed itself shortly after noon, Sunday, no cutter was available to render immediate assistance to the Chelsea.     About 6 hours after running aground, the Coast Guard cutter Evergreen was standing by the helpless tanker. Pounding seas had opened the gash in her bow to near amidship, a length of 80 feet. In the hours before Evergreen arrived it was decided to attempt to patch the hole while the ship was still aground. Her crew was returned but before work could commence and just as the Coast Guard motor lifeboat was attempting to ferry a towline to the Evergreen, the rising tide floated Chelsea off the breakwater.
   Water was now pouring into the tanker through the gash in her hull. Immediately, the motor lifeboat removed two of Chelsea's crew as strong winds pushed the tanker in a Southerly direction. When roughly off Loblolly Cove, Chelsea began to settle fast. With little time for rescue remaining, the Coast Guard lifeboat edged in close to the tanker. Captain Beale and the remaining crew jumped for their lives, Chelsea, literally, sinking from beneath their feet. A crewman on the lifeboat quickly took an axe to the towline, to prevent his own vessel from being dragged under.
   Chelsea settled into 60 feet of water.
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