W.E. Hutton
Tanker · United States · Lost 1942 · The Outer Banks
A heating-oil tanker torpedoed twice off Cape Lookout in 1942, its identity confused with a neighboring wreck for decades until NOAA sonar surveys sorted them out.
Become Captain of RecordSee Shipwreck on Map
The Vessel and Her Loss
Built in 1920 as Portola Plumas and later renamed W.E. Hutton under Pure Oil Steamship Company ownership, the tanker was torpedoed twice by U-124 on March 18-19, 1942, while carrying heating oil off Cape Lookout. Thirteen of 36 aboard were killed. For decades, local wreck identifications confused this site with the nearby Ario, until NOAA multibeam surveys and archival research clarified the two locations, and a 2014 oil sheen from the wreck prompted a federal remediation response.
Vessel
- 1920
- Hull No. 219831
- Bethlehem-Fairfield Shipbuilding Corporation
- Alameda, California
- Steel
- 435 ft
- 56 ft
- 7076
- Triple expansion steam, single screw
- Pure Oil Steamship Company, Nederland, Texas
Loss
- March 19, 1942
- Enemy action
- About 20 miles southeast of Cape Lookout, North Carolina
- Atlantic Ocean
- Smith's Bluff, Texas → Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania
- 65,000 barrels of #2 heating oil
- 36
- 13
- Carl Alexander Flaathen
The Wreck Today
- 125 ft
- Broken and scattered; identity confused for decades with the nearby Ario wreck until NOAA multibeam surveys clarified the site in the 2010s.
- Not established
- Not established
- Not established
Position
- 34.144° N 76.652° W
- Surveyed position
- Cape Lookout, North Carolina
Evidence
Overall confidence: Documented (85/100)
NOAA Monitor National Marine Sanctuary
Build, loss details, site identification history, coordinates.
NOAA Office of Response and Restoration
2014 oil sheen investigation and wreck depth confirmation.
