USCGC White Alder (WLM-541) - Mile 195.3 - Mississippi River
N 30° 11.985 W 091° 10.219
15R E 676128 N 3342334
The US Coast Guard Cutter White Adler sank at mile 195.3 LMR (Lower Mississippi River) on December 7, 1968. This sign mounted on a light pole on the levee is all that is left. Coordinates taken from Shoulder of road at marker location.
Waymark Code: WM60TQ
Location: Louisiana, United States
Date Posted: 03/13/2009
Views: 7
All that is left of the Memorial to 17 Coast Guardsmen who lost their lives is this sign and the pole mounted on the Mississippi River Levee, just north of the small town of White Castle, LA. The light/memorial has been removed and placed at the Coast Guard Station in New Orleans. The Levee in this location is private land, and was posted as such. The closest I could get was the shoulder of the road. Sign mounted about half way up levee.
The White Adler was laid in 1942 and commissioned in 1943 by the US Navy. It was commissioned by the Coast Guard on 19 Sept 1947.The White Adler was 133 ft (41 m) in length and had a beam width of 30 ft (9.1 m). Power by twin diesels. Built by Niagara Shipbuilding Corp.
It's main purpose was to tend navigation aids (bouys, etc..) and was stationed in New Orleans. Average number of crew was 21 (1 Warrant and 20 crew).
The specifics of the ship wreck were as follows, from information I found at
Wikipedia:At approximately 18:29 CST on 7 December 1968, the "downbound" White Alder collided with the "upbound" M/V Helena, a 455-foot (139 m) Taiwanese freighter in the Mississippi River at mile 195.3 above Head of Passes near White Castle, Louisiana and sank in 75 feet (23 m) of water. Three of the crew of 20 were rescued, while the other 17 perished. Divers recovered the bodies of three of the dead but river sediment buried the cutter so quickly that continued recovery and salvage operations proved impractical. The Coast Guard decided to leave the remaining 14 crewmen entombed in the sunken cutter, which remains buried in the bottom of the Mississippi River.