The Women Merchant Mariners, Dolores Martinez

We tend to forget the Merchant Marines who served during World War II. We also forget that Hawaii, and the seas around it, were under attack for the duration of the war.

On December 19, 1941 the unarmed Hog Islander, SS Prusa was about 150 miles south of the Big Island. (Hog Islanders was a Merchant Marine slang for ships built in the Philadelphia Hog Island ship yard. These ships were cargo and transport ships. They were originally built by the government for service in the first World War. Ironically, no Hog Islanders saw action in World War I, but many ships were active in World War II, and were sunk in that conflict.)

Eight of the 34 crew of the Prusa were killed when the ship was torpedoed by the Japanese. Among the dead was Dolores Martinez, a Fireman/Watertender. On December 27, 1941, fourteen survivors were rescued from a lifeboat by the Coast Guard cutter Tiger . A second lifeboat group with eleven survivors on board reached safety after a 2,700 mile voyage, and was rescued by a Fijian ship. (A ninth crewman died of exposure.)

(To read the ship's log for the Tiger during the December 7, 1941 attack, go to: http://www.uscg.mil/history/docs/PH_Tiger_Action_Report.asp and http://www.usmm.org/women.html )

Women of World War II Hawaii