Nicholas Hetz

Rank: Utility, United States Merchant Marine

Ship: SS India Arrow

Entered service from: New Jersey

Died: February 4, 1942

Nicholas Hetz was the fourth of six children born to John and Catherine Hetz, who emigrated from Russian Poland in 1908. Born in 1877, John Hetz was a tanner and worked in Camden’s then flourishing leather industry. The Hetz family’s first stop was in Delaware, where daughter Mary was born in 1908 and son Michael in 1910. By 1914 the family was in New Jersey, where son John was born, and Nicholas came along in 1918. Stephen Hetz was born in 1921 and Agnes was born in 1923. At the time of the 1930 census, the family was living at 690 Ferry Avenue, Michael was working as a clerk in a store, and Mary was employed in a cigar factory. John Hetz later worked for the Camden City highway department.

Nicholas Hetz had served on two or three ships before joining the India Arrow crew just one week before the sinking. His brothers John, of Baltimore, and Michael of Camden also served as members of tanker crews.

On February 4, 1942, the SS India Arrow was torpedoed by the German submarine U-103, approximately 35 miles off the New Jersey coast. The ship sank in five minutes. Of the crew of 38, only 12 survived. Nicholas Hetz, 23, was among the 26 men listed as missing and believed lost.

Nicholas Hetz was survived by his parents, brothers Michael and John, sisters Mary and Agnes, uncles Felix Hetz of Camden and Nicholas Hetz of Wilmington, Delaware, and aunts Mrs. Mary Butnik of Baltimore, Maryland, and Mrs. Anna Starobrenski of Camden. His father passed away on December 2, 1948; Mrs. Hetz had predeceased him.

Camden Sailor Among 26 Lost Aboard Tanker

Survivors Picked Up by 2 Fishermen and Taken to Atlantic City

Flaming Ocean Traps Crew After Attack

Atlantic City, Feb. 6— After more than 24 hours in a lifeboat, 12 survivors of the India Arrow, 8327 ton oil tanker that was torpedoed by an Axis submarine and sank 35 miles off the coast, were rescued and brought here today.

Twenty-six other members of the crew, including Nicholas Hetz, 23, of 690 Ferry Avenue, are reported missing and believed to have been lost when the ship sank within 5 minutes after the U-boat fired its lethal charge into the engine room.

So quickly did the India Arrow list and ship water that the radio operator had time only to flash one “SOS” before the dynamo went dead and the stern settled for the final plunge, as oil scattered by the explosion spread over the water and ignited, turning the scene into a veritable inferno.

Captain Carl S. Johnson, 48, of New Port, Staten Island, told Coast Guards on his arrival here the submarine fired 5 shells into the tanker after the torpedo struck. He said, however, that the lifeboat in which the 12 men escaped was not molested.

Ship Listed Quickly

The India Arrow, owned by the Socony-Vacuum Company, was struck on the starboard side and quickly listed. Captain Johnson said that he was on the bridge at the time and gave the order to abandon ship. The crew sought the lifeboats, but only one was successfully launched.

The tanker, northward bound, was the 17th ship to go down since the beginning of the war. Thus far the U-boats have claimed more than 400 lives.

The men in the lifeboats were sighted by Frank D. Marshall, of 501 Carson Avenue, who operates a produce stand in Stratford in the Summer, and John Shorn of 2219 Fairmount Avenue, who were on a cod-fishing trip in Marshall’s boat, the Gitana. Marshall took the survivors aboard and brought them to the Coast Guard station where, through the activities of Alexander Bolduc, chairman of the disaster committee, they were supplied with dry clothing.

The men in the lifeboat which Johnson commanded rigged a sail but they neither saw rescue craft nor were seen until just after dawn this morning — 24 hours after the striking — when Marshall’s boat was sighted 20 miles south-southwest of Atlantic City light.

Johnson said that the lifeboat was well-supplied with water and biscuits, and the survivors had not been alarmed at anytime over the possibility of not being found.

Philadelphia Man Lost

The Socony-Vacuum Company tonight listed the following members of the crew as missing:

The list of survivors follows:

Ready to Resume Jobs

The 12 survivors, after receiving care at the Coast Guard station, returned to New York. Without exception, the men declared they were ready to return to sea on tankers as soon as new berths could be found for them.

“On Wednesday night we were struck by a torpedo at 7 o’clock off the Jersey coast,” said the captain. “I was on the bridge at the time. We launched a lifeboat and abandoned ship. The ship was struck on the starboard quarter and went down in five minutes. The torpedo hit in the No. 10 tank. I went off in the No. 1 lifeboat, and No. 2 may have been launched. There were four lifeboats on the ship, two of which did not get off.”

“Some men got out of the fire and the engine room. There were 12 men in my boat, including myself. I never saw anymore of the No. 2 lifeboat.”

Sub Shelled Ship

“The submarine shelled the ship, but gave us a chance to get off. I did not see the submarine. There was no moon and it was a dark night. There were 38 men in our crew.”

“We were covered in oil. It was the first mate’s watch when the torpedo struck. He went down to take charge of a lifeboat.”

“I think the engine room was flooded right away. Some of the men possibly could not get up the hatch.”

“The ship caught on fire before she went down. We sailed for shore, and 12 miles off Ocean City at 5:00 AM a fisherman brought us to the Coast Guard station at 8:55 this morning.”

“When we were in the lifeboat the sea was heavy and we had to fight the water and bail it out. On February 5th we set off flares but they were not noticed. A heavy fog hung across the ocean when we were rescued.”

Ship Sent Out SOS

“We transferred to the fishing boat. We had water and biscuits in the lifeboats. We got off an SOS before abandoning ship. Edward Shear was the radio operator. He is from Niagara Falls.”

“The ship went down stern first. I do not know if any of the crew was left on board. We could not see No. 2 lifeboat after the launching.”

“The ship caught fire immediately after the torpedo struck her from the starboard side. Oil spread out over the water and caught on fire for three or four hundred yards around when the ship sank. Fortunately we were clear of the fire on the water. I do not think No. 2 lifeboat got out at all. I saw four of the crew swimming in the water and then picked them up.”

“I have three children, two girls and a boy. One girl’s name is Josephine and she is 9. Charlotte is 4. The boy, Carl, is 8. My wife’s name is Charlotte.”

In Navy In Last War

“I have been with the Socony-Vacuum Oil Company since 1928. In the last war I was a lieutenant in the Navy and served overseas with the naval transport service.”

“I have been a master of the Socony tankers for the last eight years and on the India Arrow for three weeks.”

“As soon as I get another ship I am going right out to sea again. I have been at sea for 34 years. I lost a ship in a hurricane south of Cuba in 1917. She was the Admiral Clark. I was second mate. Six of us got away on a life raft and after sitting on it for seven days and nights were finally picked up by a Swedish sailing ship. We lost 26 men.”

“In 1926 I was second mate on another ship and rescued 23 men on a U.S. dredger that sank in New York harbor.”

Saw U-Boat Surface

Kusy, one of the survivors, gave a graphic description.

“I was at the wheel when I first saw the outline or shadow of the submarine as the conning tower surfaced. Almost immediately the torpedo struck and I was knocked off my feet. I made my way to lifeboat No. 2 that had 20 men in it, but was not able to board it. I eluded the grasp of one of the mates and jumped overboard. Another fellow followed me. I barely left the ship when it heeled over to port and trapped all the men in that lifeboat.”

“I saw the bridge fall on the boat as the ship listed and took the men with it. I grabbed a floating hatch cover and was out of the way of the tanker when it sank. I saw my buddies go down.”

Montgomery declared the fog lifted for a short time while they were floating and they were able to see lights on the shore. He had been in the water 45 minutes before being picked up by the lifeboat.

Clung to Hatch Cover

Baker declared: “I was in my cabin when the torpedo hit. It knocked me out of my chair. I waded through oil and bilge water, knee deep. The ship already was sinking. I jumped overboard, right after Kusy and by that time the gunwales were within four feet of the water. I came up 300 feet from the ship and found a floating hatch cover to which I clung until Captain Johnson and the lifeboat found me.”

Shear, the radio operator, recounted his attempts to get a call for help on the air.

“I was reading when I felt the blow of the torpedo,” he said. “I dashed to the radio room and sent out a message ‘SOS-KDHP-Torpedo.’ KDHP were my call letters and that was all I could get on the air. The captain yelled the position of the ship to me, but I could not hear him and I tried to radio the last known position, but I guess the radio was dead.”

“By that time the ship was sinking astern and water hit the dynamo. The lights went out and I tried to use the emergency radio set but that would not work, either. I rushed to the deck and met Captain Johnson, who threw the ship’s papers to me. I dashed to lifeboat No. 1 where the Captain was trying to free one of the davits and I tossed the papers into the boat. Water was pouring into the lifeboat by that time due to the list of the ship. I jumped overboard and was picked up.”

Rescue Described

Marshall, who is 60 years old, and has two daughters, Helen, 25, and Maud, 22, said he has been fishing out of Atlantic City for five years. He served an enlistment in the Navy from 1910 to 1914.

“About 6:20 a.m. today while Jack Shore and I were fishing we saw what we thought was a flare through the fog,” he said. “We ported our helm for the position of the flash and 20 minutes later we found the lifeboat. Some of the men were barefooted, but when we took them on our boat, it was necessary to cut the shoes from two of them.”

“Three times this year I have had unusual experiences in fishing,” Marshall continued. “The first time I was at sea when the Naval Patrol called for my papers and I found I left them ashore. I had to return for them. The second time, it began to snow and drove me to shore. But on this trip, although I didn’t get any fish, I picked up the most valuable cargo my little boat has ever carried.”

Shore said when they managed to get the survivors aboard the Gitana, they gave them hot coffee and whiskey, but the sailors refused to eat, preferring to wait until they landed. They smoked five packs of cigarettes on the way to shore, he said.

Captain Johnson, Shore said, would not permit them to assist him until each of his men was given care.

The India Arrow’s home port was New York. She was 458 feet long with a beam of 63 feet and was built in 1921 at Quincy, Mass.

Nicholas Hetz, 23, of 690 Ferry Avenue, one of the missing crew members of the India Arrow, torpedoed tanker, was on the ship for only a week, his parents said last night.

His father John Hetz, and his mother, Catherine, said he had served on two or three other ships and joined the India Arrow crew last week. He has two sisters, Agnes, 17, and Mrs. Mary Maloney, of 34 Dayton Avenue. Two brothers, John, of Baltimore, and Michael of Camden also are members of tanker crews.

Mrs. Maloney said he told her in his last letter he was aboard the India Arrow and asked her to address his mail to 26 Broadway, New York City.