Hunter R. Crist
Rank: Chief Engineer, U.S. Merchant Marine
Ship: SS Gulfland
Entered service from: New Jersey
Died:
Biography
The tanker SS Gulfland, Gulf Oil Corporation
Chief Engineer Hunter R. Crist was born in New York. According to the 1930 Census he was born in 1875. He ran away from home at age 14 and first went to sea in 1895. Hunter Crist made the sea his life’s work, and served as Chief Engineer on tankers for the Gulf Oil Corporation starting around 1918. Around 1915 he married Helen Slack Williams. The Crist family made its home at 209 South Davis Avenue in Audubon NJ, and included his stepdaughter Jean Williams, and sons Vernon and Forrest Crist. Vernon Crist was killed in an automobile accident in 1939.
At the outbreak of hostilities Hunter Crist was still working, despite his advanced age. He was killed when his ship, the tanker Gulfland, collided at night with another Gulf tanker, the Gulfbelle, near Hobe Sound FL on October 21, 1943. Both ships caught fire, and between the two ships 87 men were lost. The Gulfland sank, a total loss; only 4 of her crew of 38 survived, and the Gulfbelle was severely damaged.
Hunter Crist was survived by his wife, stepdaughter Jean, a school nurse in the Audubon school system, and son Forrest, then serving with the United States Navy. His death was reported in the Camden Courier-Post on October 26, 1943.
Audubon Engineer Killed in Sea Crash
Camden Courier-Post —
Audubon Engineer Killed in Sea Crash
Comdr. Hunter B. Crist Among 88 to Lose Lives Off Florida Coast
An Audubon man, veteran of 48 years at sea, was lost in the crash of two oil tankers off the Florida coast Saturday, it was revealed yesterday. Eighty-seven other men perished.
The family of Commander Hunter B. Crist, 62, chief engineer of a Gulf Oil Corp. craft, who had served 25 years in the employ of that firm, was notified he was missing. They have lived in Audubon for 30 years and their home is at 209 South Davis avenue.
Commander Crist recently had been awarded his commander’s rank by the Maritime Commission and was to pick up his papers at a southern port of call, but the opportunity to get them had not availed itself.
Commander Crist is survived by his widow, Helen, a son, Forrest, and a stepdaughter, Miss Gene Williams. Another son, Vernon, was killed in an automobile accident four years ago.
Forrest is in the Navy and was reported missing last May. The shock to his father at the time made him a near invalid for six weeks. Forrest later was reported safe and recently spent a six-day leave at home. He has since returned to sea aboard a destroyer.
Mrs. Crist and Miss Williams are active in the Camden County Navy Mothers Club, of which Mrs. Crist is an officer. Miss Williams is a school nurse in Audubon.
Commander Crist passed most of his time in Port Arthur, Tex., and according to his family, his chief interest besides the sea was Father Flanagan’s Boys’ Town at Omaha. He ran away from his home on a New York farm at 14 and went to sea.
Mrs. Crist, who has a heart condition, suffered an attack yesterday when she was informed of her husband’s loss and was confined to bed.
Palm Beach, Fla., Oct. 25 (UP) — Twenty-four survivors of the “hell on earth” collision of two blacked-out tankers off the Florida coast in which 88 men were killed last week returned to their homes today. Among the survivors were nine Navy gunners and 15 merchantmen. Four others remained in an Army hospital here suffering from burns and injuries. Meantime, the tanker, which was loaded with a cargo of high octane gasoline, was a burning funeral pyre for an estimated 30 men whose bodies were not recovered.
The Ships
The Gulfland was laid down at the New York Shipbuilding Corporation yard in Camden NJ on August 2, 1917. She was launched March 28, 1918.
The Gulfbelle was built at the Sun Shipbuilding yard at Chester PA some time before 1936.