Ten things you may not know about the James Eagan Layne


1) Most people spell the name incorrectly, including the Trinity House, who have mis spelled the poor chap's name on the red can buoy that marks it. The above is right.



2) 2,700 Liberty ships were constructed during World War Two - "built by the mile - chopped off by the yard."

3) The bloke responsible for the JEL's sinking was Kapitan Leutnant Ernst Cordes, commander of U-boat 1195. He himself met his end when he was sunk off the Isle of Wight.

4) James Eagan Layne was a second engineer in the US merchant marine. He died aged 39 when the tanker Esso Baton Rouge was torpedoed off the east coast of the States in 1942.

5) Officially the JEL was part of the Liberty Fleet but the ships were nicknamed the Ugly Ducklings or Expendables.

6) Liberties were 441 ft long with a 56ft beam. They displaced 14,275 tons and carried 9,000 tons of cargo at a stately 11 knots.

7) They were built in such a hurry that most had no lifeboats, radios, essential gyro compasses or emergency generators.

8) The JEL was put together with 43 miles of welding.

9) The first Liberty ship took 255 days to build, the tenth took just 154 days. The record was four days and 15 hours!

10) Of the 2,700 Liberties built only 195 were lost.