Other Times
100 Years Ago – 1918: The steamship Atlantic Sun, owned by the Sun Company, of Marcus Hook, was torpedoed and sunk by a German submarine Monday, March 18, off the English coast. Acting Captain Miller and the crew were saved, but the entire cargo of lubricating oil, consigned to an English port, was lost. This is the second vessel lost by the Sun Company by torpedoes within the last 30days, the Santa Maria having been sunk off the Irish coast Feb. 25. Strangely enough, this was the date of sailing form the Philadelphia port of the Atlantic Sun.
75 Years Ago – 1943: Three more of those speedy Sun tankers will “hit the river” tomorrow afternoon at the triple-launching ceremonies to be featured by the award of the U.S. Maritime “M” Pennant and merit badges to Sun management and Sun workers. When the yard first received notice that the Maritime award was to be made, it was planned to have a double launching, hulls being about ready in the central and north yards. The word got around, and the shipbuilders in the south yard were determined that they, too, would get a hull ready in time to make it a triple launching.
50 Years Ago – 1968: The Springhaven Auxiliary to Riddle Memorial Hospital and the Woman’s Bridge of Springhaven will hold its annual “April Showers” bridge tournament on March 29 in the Log Cabin on Baltimore Pike. Charles J. Soloman, president of the World Bridge Federation, also a past president of the American Contract Bridge League, teacher and columnist, will direct the game.
25 Years Ago – 1993: A man accused of drunk driving lost control of his pickup on Route 322 Saturday, causing a three-vehicle collision that injured four people. The 41-year-old West Chester man was heading westbound on 322 near Route 452 at about 4:20 p.m. when he struck the rear of station wagon traveling in the same direction, Upper Chichester Police Chief William Robinson said. The man registered a 0.18 percent blood-alcohol level on a breath test. On the side mirror of his company truck was a red ribbon distributed by Mothers Against Drunk Driving to promote sobriety during the holidays.
10 Years Ago – 2008: A drug sting landed a Philadelphia man and two male juveniles in custody, and earned police some resounding applause from onlookers. In the man’s car, which was parked in the Wawa lot in the 900 block of MacDade Boulevard, police found two males, ages 14 and 16, as well as nine more bags of suspected cocaine, 12 white Xanax bars and a cell phone. Several patrons at both Wawa and nearby O’Hagan’s watched as the drug bust unfolded. When the suspects were led to the police vehicles, the patrons started clapping.