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
State of the World (song) Guide" commented that "heartfelt pleas for racial unity and cloudy musings on the 'State of the World' don't obscure the pulsating beat of other songs" from the album. Jonathan Van Meter from "Spin" was critical of the song, saying that "State of the World", "Rhythm Nation" and "The Knowledge" formed "a Spike Lee-esque trilogy made even less convincing by a tiresome house music back-beat and that unfortunate, outdated beat on every fourth count". AllMusic's editor Alex Henderson called the song "disturbing". In the US the song was released as a radio-only single, and was therefore ineligible to chart on the