AH-WR-0001

Benwood

Steam Freighter · Norway · Lost 1942 · The Florida Keys

A Norwegian freighter, blacked out against U-boats, met a tanker in the dark off Key Largo in 1942. Her broken bow now rests in shallow, sunlit water.

Become Captain of Record See Shipwreck on Map

Artistic recreation based on recorded historical documents. See the documented evidence.

Historically Reconstructed. Drawn from partial documentation of this vessel together with her known class and configuration. See the documented evidence.

The Vessel and Her Loss

The Benwood was a working tramp freighter for thirty-two years, passing through six owners and two flags before the war found her. In April 1942 the Atlantic coast was an active U-boat theatre, and merchant vessels ran without lights. That precaution is what killed her: on a dark night off Key Largo she and the tanker Robert C. Tuttle came together, neither having seen or answered the other. She was carrying phosphate rock from Tampa to Norfolk. Her crew attempted to beach her before abandoning ship. She settled in shallow water on the reef line, where she remains — among the most frequently visited wrecks anywhere, and an indirect casualty of a war she never fought.

Timeline

27 November 1909
Launched at Stockton-on-Tees
Built by Craig, Taylor & Co. Ltd.
1 January 1910
Completed and entered service
1923
Sold to Norwegian owners
Acquired by Skjelbreds Rederi A/S of Kristiansand.
9 April 1942
Collision off Key Largo and loss
Struck by the tanker Robert C. Tuttle while both ran darkened under blackout orders.

Vessel

Built: 1910
Builder: Craig, Taylor & Co. Ltd.
Yard: Stockton-on-Tees, England
Material: Steel
Length: 345 ft
Beam: 51.2 ft
Tonnage: Not established
Propulsion: Triple-expansion steam, single screw, 342 nhp
Owners: Joseph Hoult & Co. (1909–14); Steam Transport Co. (1914–15); Adam Steamship Co. (1915–18); London-American Maritime Trading Co. (1918–23); Skjelbreds Rederi A/S (1923–40); Kr. Knudsen (1940–42)

Loss

Date: April 9, 1942
Cause: Collision
Location: Between French Reef and Dixie Shoals, off Key Largo
Water: Atlantic Ocean
Voyage: Tampa, Florida → Norfolk, Virginia
Cargo: Phosphate rock
Aboard: Not established
Lives lost: No fatalities are reported in the sources reviewed, but the absence of casualties is not explicitly confirmed.
Master: Torbjørn Skjelbred

The Wreck Today

Depth: 25–45 ft
Condition: Broken and collapsed, bow crushed by the collision
Orientation: Not established
Discovered: Not established
Protection: Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary

Position

Coordinates: 25.053° N 80.334° W
Accuracy: Approximate position
Nearest: Key Largo, Florida
Region: The Florida Keys

Published coordinates are consistent across NOAA and secondary sources but describe the general site rather than a surveyed position within the debris field.