A Matagorda County state historical landmark recognizes and protects a ship sunk by a German U-boat off Matagorda Peninsula in the early months of World War II.
The landmark is in the Gulf of Mexico, 7.7 miles off Matagorda Peninsula, where the 4,351-ton Mexican general cargo merchant ship, SS Oaxaca was sunk by a single torpedo from the German submarine U-171 in the early-morning hours of July 26, 1942.
The Texas Historical Commission (THC) approved Oaxaca's landmark designation in February 2010.
A hearing in Austin affirmed THC's decision to accept the landmark's nomination was attended by Craig Hlavinka, representing Matagorda County Historical Commission (MCHC).
Unlike Matagorda County's numerous other state historical landmarks, the Oaxaca doesn’t have the customary Texas Historical Commission metal marker or any other marker for that matter, Hlavinka said at the time.
The landmark designation was sought under the Texas Antiquities Code to protect the sunken ship that lies in two pieces under 65 feet of water, added Hlavinka, chairman of the MCHC archeology and marine committee.
"It protects the site" that is within Matagorda County boundaries, he said.
"It's really a big coral reef. People can dive to it, but not alter anything."
It has proven to be a popular dive site in recent years.
In the state archeological landmark nomination, it was noted that the Oaxaca was the only vessel sunk by an enemy submarine off the Texas coast.
"As such, it is a significant reminder of that period in our past when our coast was considered vulnerable to enemy attack and special precautions were taken all along the coast to prevent such attack," the nomination reads.
A German U-Boat website notes the first spread of two torpedoes missed the Oaxaca - en route from New Orleans to Tampico via Veracruz - but a second spread, also of two eels (German U-Boat slang for torpedoes), was successful when one hit the port side near the fore-part of the ship.
The Oaxaca was a freighter that had previously been a German-owned ship, but when World War II broke out, the Mexican government took possession of the ship and changed the name.
The Oaxaca was a 6,000-ton freighter that normally carried dry cargo. The captain of the Oaxaca was Francisco Rodríguez Reybell.
On July 26, 1942, the Oaxaca left the port of Corpus Christi with a load of rubber, caustic soda and other miscellaneous cargo.
The crew of the Oaxaca thought wrongly that by keeping close to shore they would be safe from any U-boat attack.
That night, the U-171 sighted the Oaxaca sailing up the Gulf Coast 11 miles from Port O’Connor.
The U-171 fired two torpedoes, one of which hit the Oaxaca and detonated with a loud explosion.
The Oaxaca broke in half and sank within three or four minutes of being hit.
Six of the crew of 45 died. The survivors came ashore on Matagorda Island.
After the Oaxaca, the 251-foot-long, 1,213-ton U-171 also sank the U.S. tanker R.M. Parker Jr. about 29 miles south of Isles Dernieres, La. on Aug. 13, 1942, and the Mexican tanker Amatlan Sept. 4, 1942, off the northern Mexico Gulf Coast.
The Parker was struck by two torpedoes and the U-171 then surfaced and fired five rounds from its deck gun at the wreck.
The Parker’s whole crew of 44 survived.
The Amatlan evaded three spreads of two torpedoes each, before it was hit by a torpedo fired from the U-171’s stern tube.
There were 10 dead and 24 survivors.
Commissioned in July 1941, the U-171 was sunk at 1 p.m. Oct. 9, 1942, in a British air force-laid minefield in the Bay of Biscay near Lorient, France - 22 men died, 30 survived.
Captain Günther Pfeffer (1914–1966), was one of the lucky ones.
Ironically, the area around the suinken U-171 also is a dive site today.
