The "ATLAS" was built in 1916 in Philadelphia. She was 430 feet long and was given a fitting name. April 9th, 1942 was not going to be a good night for the ill-fated monolith. The Captain had been given three sets of routing instructions since the voyage started, and as he paced the decks in great consternation, the U-boat activity had been intense around the Diamond shoals. The Atlas was unarmed and her only defense was the cover of night. She was carrying 83,000 barrels of gasoline and headed for Houston, TX. Without warning, a torpedo struck the No. 6 tank on the starboard side midship. The Captain and crew remained calm, they frequently held abandon ship drills. She was abandoned by the entire crew of thirty-four in three lifeboats in eight minutes after the attack. After a second torpedo was fired from the U-552, the fuel exploded and turned the sea into a cauldron. One of the lifeboats was overtaken by the blaze and the eleven men jumped overboard to escape the flames...nine returned.

My trips to this world-class wreck have been few, mostly in the Mate capacity. I have never really had the opportunity to fully explore her. I did get to dive her with my SQ II dive partner John-Boy. I took these pictures which in no way do this magnificent wreck any justice. She can usually be found to have large sand tiger sharks littering her decks in the bow of the ship. Like I said, I haven't really had the opportunity to  dive her much. She lies in 115' of water with various reliefs. The bow does have a rather large section of deck still intact, which you can find teeth littering in knooks and cranny's.

Photos taken by Diverlars!

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