On April 10, 1942, during World War II, the Gulfamerica, a merchant marine vessel on her maiden voyage from Port Arthur, Texas, to New York with 90,000 barrels of fuel oil, was attacked just off Jacksonville Beach by the German U-boat U-123. One of the first merchant vessels fitted with weapons, she carried seven naval armed guards in addition to a crew of 41 men. U-123 first struck the Gulfamerica on her starboard side with a torpedo, then maneuvered between the vessel and the shore and shelled the tanker with its deck gun in full view of spectators on the Jacksonville Beach boardwalk. Captain Oscar Anderson ordered the ship abandoned, but confusion during the loading of lifeboats led to the deaths of 19 men by drowning or shellfire. The Gulfamerica and its cargo of oil burned for several days before sinking. Today the wreck sits in 60 feet of water, 4 1/2 miles from the Jacksonville Beach coastline. In response to the sinking, Florida Governor Spessard Holland declared a blackout of coastal areas to prevent the silhouetting of passing ships.
