A 50th anniversary memorial service was held at the Seafarer Center in Port Arthur for those lost, as well as those who survived, the SS Texaco-Oklahoma tragedy of March 27, 1971. The ship, which left Port Arthur carrying 220,000 barrels of fuel oil, was split in two after being hit by a massive wave during a winter storm off of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. Only 13 of the 44 crewmen aboard survived. One of them, Clyde “Mike” Bandy, addressed the crowd, recounting the 36 hours he and others endured, fighting to to keep the stern afloat before abandoning ship, rather the half that remained of it, then fighting to endure sub-freezing temperatures, crashing waves and quickly onsetting hypothermia before being rescued by a Liberian tanker.
The 33 crewmen that were in the stern grew close, he recalls, especially in the final hour before abandoning the sinking ship, as they gathered together on deck. “I think it’s appropriate to remember that their last thoughts were of you,” Bandy said, his voice cracking as he motioned out to the crowd assembled for the event. “The only thing everyone wanted was to make it home,” he said.
Thursday, Coast Guard Auxiliary member James King rang a large bell 31 times after the name of each crew member who did not make it home was read - the majority were from Port Arthur. And the loss lives on in the hearts of their relatives, as well as those who survived. Chief Mate Harry Cannnell’s daughter Nancy, who could not attend the ceremony, sent two bourquets of flowers and a note which Doreen Badeaux read aloud. In it, she wrote of “the unspoken connection among the families. I was 19 when I lost my dad, and even 50 years later, I become 19 again on this day.”
kbrent@beaumontenterprise.com
