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 committee of eight Marshall County, West Virginia residents known as the Benwood Mine Disaster Memorial Committee was formed in August 2011. Fundraising for the memorial began in 2012. Construction took place between 2013 - 2014. The memorial was formally dedicated on September 27, 2014. A smaller memorial for the five (5) victims of the May 18, 1942 Hitchman Coal & Coke Mine Disaster (this coal mine was also located in Benwood) is also on site and was dedicated on the same day. Since the dedication, a donor stone listing major donors, several bollards lining the driveway turnaround and two benches