The tanker broke in two off Le Havre, France and was wrecked with the loss of eight of her 39 crew. The bow section capsized and sank,[15] but the stern section was taken in tow by the tug Languedoc (France).[16]
While en route from Algeciras, Spain to Ras Tanura in the Persian Gulf on ballast, the crew was working to resolve a malfunction in the inert gas system; the tanker suddenly suffered a chain of four or five explosions over a few seconds, the hull rapidly broke in two and sank 100 nautical miles (190 km) off Nouadhibou, Mauritania. 36 people out of 43 aboard perished (34 Spanish and 2 British).[17]
The cargo ship ran aground off Öland, Sweden. She was on a voyage from Oskarshamn, Sweden to Port Sudan. Refloated on 1 April but deemed beyond repair and subsequently scrapped.[24]
The tanker exploded and sank off the coast of Senegal with the loss of six of her 38 crew. Mycene was the sister ship of María Alejandra, lost in a similar incident less than one month before (see 11 March).[26]
The patrol boat was strafed by Cuban Air ForceMikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 aircraft and sunk 40 nautical miles (74 km) south of Ragged Island, Bahamas. Four Bahamian Marines killed and three crewmen wounded. Surviving crewmen and eight captured Cuban fisherman sailed to Ragged Island on a confiscated Cuban fishing boat, Ferrocem 165.[35][36][37]
The U.S. cargo ship was last heard from on 24 October after it departed from Cape Henlopen, Delaware with a crew of 33 and a shipment of corn, scheduled to arrive on 9 November in Port Said in Egypt. Poet encountered a storm in the North Atlantic east of Delaware Bay on 25 October and was reported missing on 3 November.[46] An air search was made by the U.S. Coast Guard over a 296,000 square miles (770,000 km2) area until 17 November and "No trace of the vessel, crewmen, or debris was ever found."[47]
During an attempt on Lake Tahoe on the border between California and Nevada to break the world water speed record, the jet-powered hydroplane probably was traveling at close to the world-record speed of 318.60 miles per hour (512.74 km/h) when it disintegrated, killing its pilot, Lee Taylor, throwing debris 50 feet (15 m) into the air, and leaving a 200-foot (61 m) trail of wreckage.[50][51]
The 114-gross register ton, 74.5-foot (22.7 m) fishing trawler disappeared during a voyage from Seattle, Washington, to Kodiak, Alaska. She was last seen in a gale with 30–35-foot (9.1–10.7 m) seas and 80-knot (150 km/h; 92 mph) winds in the Gulf of Alaska 30 nautical miles (56 km; 35 mi) off Cape Spencer on the south-central coast of Alaska. All four people aboard – members of the same family – were lost. Wreckage from Commander was found on the coast of Alaska 27 miles (43 km) south of Yakutat.[25]
