The Recovery

There were no survivors from whom the story of the disaster might have been learned, and we can only attempt a reconstruction of the final moments of Texas Tower Number Four. All evidence indicates that the men on the Tower had been thrown into the sea without warning and with no preparation for the collapse. Even if there had been time to use lifeboats and other survival gear, however, it is unlikely that any man could have survived the overwhelming gale which was then blowing.

Wreckage later picked up in the vicinity "clearly indicates there was no time for an organized attempt to abandon the Tower," according to Task Group Bravo Commander Rear Admiral Allen M. Shinn.

Five craft soon reached the scene: the Wasp, the destroyer F.T. Berry, the destroyer Norris, the destroyer LLoyd Thomas, and the destroyer McCaffery. Helicopter and S2F search of the area had to be postponed because of wretched weather and visibility conditions.

At 8:10 that night, the McCaffery, based at Newport, R.I., was ordered to the scene of the disaster by the Commander of Task Force Bravo. At 10:17, Salvatore A. Esposito, 3rd Class Sonarman of Schenectady, N.Y., heard definite metallic tapping sounds on his sonar receiver. At the suggestion of Lt. Commander Kenneth G. Hyland. USN, of Lynbrook, N.J., it was decided that communication using well-known rhythms should be attempted.

The beat of the well-known saying "Shave and a haircut-two bits" was used. This phrase was tapped out and repeated from both the McCaffrey sonar group and the personnel of the Texas Tower at 10: 30 that night, two and a half-hours after the Texas Tower had collapsed.

Immediately afterwards, in adverse sea conditions, the McCaffrey put over a boat from which Lt. J. G. Bevearage Cash, USN. of Georgia, made a shallow water dive that determined the jagged edges of the tower were then within 20 feet of the surface. In the luminous glow from the structure below, he was able to estimate that the mass of the tower was still lying parallel and nearby.

The McCaffrey was then under the command of Lt. Commander Robert D. Fisher, USN, of Fort Worth, Texas. The information in the above three paragraphs was sent to the USS Wasp on January 17 by flashlight.

Because of this hope for survival, civilian divers were taken out to the Wasp; among them James Cahill of the Northeast Divers of Beverly, Mass. In all, four men descended into the sea to look for signs of life on the sunken radar tower. These efforts resulted in definite proof that no one was still alive within the structure when the diving was carried out. Divers who opened the structure found no bodies but plenty of debris.

The only direct evidence of the loss of the 28 men was found that Monday when the McCaffrey pulled the body of Air Force Master Sergeant Troy F. Williams, 32, of Salt Lake City, Florida, from the water, after his remains had been spotted by helicopters from the Wasp. They also noticed another body floating, but it sank before they could recover it.

Sixteen miles from the tower searchers found one small boat heavily smashed and a capsized 35-foot motor whaleboat. A floating mattress, some loose debris, and the heavy smell of diesel oil and gasoline were all that remained to indicate that a $21,000,000 Air Force installation had once stood out in the stormy Atlantic off the New Jersey coast.