AH-WR-0594

SS Tarpon

Steamship · United States · Lost 1937 · The Gulf of Mexico

A veteran Gulf coast packet, overloaded with freight, that foundered off Panama City with the loss of her captain and 17 others after 1,700 voyages.

Become Captain of Record See Shipwreck on Map

Artistic recreation based on recorded historical documents.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

Interpretive Reconstruction, drawn to convey the vessel's era, type and general form. See the documented evidence.

The Vessel and Her Loss

Built in 1887 as the iron-hulled steamer Naugatuck and later lengthened and renamed Tarpon, this twin-screw steamship ran weekly freight and passenger routes along the northern Gulf coast for more than three decades under Captain Willis Barrow. On August 30, 1937, she left Mobile heavily overloaded, with less than five inches of freeboard. Caught in a gale early on September 1, she took on water; the crew jettisoned cargo and the mate tried to beach her, but she foundered about eight miles off Panama City, Florida, drowning 18 of the 31 aboard, including Captain Barrow. The wreck is now a Florida Underwater Archaeological Preserve.

Vessel

Built: 1887
Builder: Pusey and Jones
Yard: Wilmington, Delaware
Material: Iron
Length: 160 ft
Beam: 26 ft
Tonnage: Not established
Propulsion: Steam, twin screw
Owners: Pensacola, St. Andrews and Gulf Steamship Company

Loss

Date: September 1, 1937
Cause: Storm
Location: About 7.8 nautical miles off Panama City, Florida
Water: Gulf of Mexico
Voyage: Mobile, Alabama → Panama City, Florida, on her regular Gulf coast run
Cargo: More than 200 tons of general cargo, 200 barrels of oil, and 15 tons of fresh water
Aboard: 31
Lives lost: 18
Master: Captain Willis Green Barrow

The Wreck Today

Depth: 95 ft
Condition: Deteriorating; storms in the 1970s damaged the amidships and stern, and the bow has since collapsed.
Orientation: Not established
Discovered: Not established
Protection: National Register of Historic Places; Florida Underwater Archaeological Preserve