In 1943, Captain Thomas J. Potter Jr., age 30, brought an open lifeboat with 26 men aboard safely across 2,300 miles of South Atlantic after German torpedoes sank his vessel, the Roger B. Taney, a Liberty ship belonging to Waterman Steamship Lines of Mobile, Ala. All of Potter’s men survived. Bligh lost one, stoned to death by natives on the island of Tofua in Tonga.
For his efforts, Bligh got a book, a movie and immortality. Potter’s feat is kept alive by his own chronicles, now in the possession of his youngest son, Greg Potter, and a friend, John B. Terrell of Mobile.
Cape Town to Bahia
On Feb. 7, 1943, the Taney was on its way from Cape Town, South Africa, to Bahia, Brazil, to pick up a cargo of bauxite for delivery to Mobile.
About 10:20 p.m., a torpedo struck her amidships, killing three men in the engine room. The Taney’s Navy Armed Guard fired back, forcing the sub to dive. It resurfaced later and finished the kill.
The survivors boarded two lifeboats. Potter's boat carried 26 men. The other carried 28. They lost contact during the first night.
Objective: Trinidade Island
Potter knew their position was 880 miles south of St. Helena Island and more than 2,000 miles from the South American coast. Navigating by the stars, he hoped to make land on Brazil's Trinidade Island, a small dot in the Atlantic about 800 miles west of Rio de Janeiro.
The crew cut the boat's canvas cover in half. One half provided shelter from sun and rain. They collected rain water in the other half. Their emergency stock included pemmican, crackers and milk tablets.
New Goal: Cape Frio
They missed Trinidade Island. When Potter realized this, he set his goal as Cape Frio, west of Rio.
On March 16, after 37 days at sea, the survivors caught sight of a dragonfly and a butterfly and knew they were approaching land.
Spearing a Dolphin
A 20-pound dolphin fish came swimming alongside the lifeboat. Sam LoPresti, a member of the Navy Armed Guard, pierced it with a spear he had fashioned from a boat hook and a knife. The men ate dolphin cooked over fuel-soaked rags in a bucket, according to Greg.
Lights of Rio
On March 19, shortly after dawn, the men saw a light reflected from the sky. Potter took it to be the glow of Rio. On March 20, a few hours after sunrise, they saw the outline of a mountain. Potter issued extra crackers, milk tablets and water every three hours to strengthen his men. When the breeze died, the shoreline was still 25 miles away.
On the morning of March 21, Potter organized 20 crewmen into five shifts to row the boat ashore.
SS Bage to the Rescue
An hour before sundown, they were about a half-mile from shore when they sighted the Lloyd Brasileiro steamer SS Bage. A signal flare brought the vessel alongside. The 42-day ordeal ended at Santos, a port just down the coast from Rio.
Most of the men -- emaciated, clothes rotting from their bodies -- were taken to a Brazilian hospital. Potter had lost 35 of his 150 pounds.
The Taney's other lifeboat had drifted for 22 days before the British merchant vessel Penrith Castle rescued all hands.
