SS Benwood SS Benwood The "Benwood" is a shipwreck off the coast of Key Largo, Florida. The Norwegian merchant freighter "Benwood" (360'x51') was under the command of Captain Torbjørn Skjelbred on the night of April 9, 1942. She was on a routine voyage from Tampa Bay, Florida to Norfolk, Virginia carrying a load of phosphate rock. That same evening, the "Robert C. Tuttle"(544'x70') was traveling to Atreco, Texas, under the command of Captain Martin Johansen. Rumors of German U-boats in the area forced the two ships to travel completely blacked out, each keeping the Florida coastal lights three miles abeam("Benwood")and one and
Benwood mine disaster Benwood mine disaster The Benwood Mine Disaster was a coal mine explosion that occurred on Monday, April 28, 1924, at the Benwood Mine of the former Wheeling Steel Corporation steel mill located in the city of Benwood in Marshall County, West Virginia. The explosion claimed the lives of 119 coal miners. There were no survivors. It is the third worst coal mining disaster in the state of West Virginia after the Monongah Mine disaster of December 6, 1907 that claimed the lives of 361 miners and the Eccles Mine Disaster of April 28, 1914 that claimed the lives of 183