 = SS El Sol = 
 
 SS El Sol was a cargo ship built in 1910 for the Morgan Line , a subsidiary of the Southern Pacific Company . During World War I , she was known as <unk> El Sol in service with the United States Army and as USS El Sol ( <unk> @-@ <unk> ) in service with the United States Navy . At the end of war , she reverted to her original name of SS El Sol . 
 SS El Sol was one of four sister ships that carried cargo and a limited number of passengers for the Morgan Line . She was acquired by the U.S. Army after the United States entered World War I in April 1917 , and converted to carry horses and mules to France . In August 1918 , the ship was transferred to the U.S. Navy and continued transporting animals through the end of the war . 
 El Sol returned to the Morgan Line in 1919 and sailed with them until March 1927 , when she sank in New York Harbor after colliding with Sac City of the American Diamond Line . A portion of the ship 's cargo was salvaged but the ship was scrapped later in the year . 
 
 = = Early career = = 
 
 SS El Sol was a cargo and passenger steamship launched on 11 May 1910 by the Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co. of Newport News , Virginia ( yard no . 130 ) , and delivered to the Atlantic division of the Morgan Line on 20 August 1910 . She was the first of four sister ships ; the other three being El Mundo , El Oriente , and El <unk> . El Sol was 6 @,@ 008 gross register tons ( <unk> ) , was 430 feet 1 inch ( 131 @.@ 09 m ) long by 53 feet 1 inch ( 16 @.@ 18 m ) abeam , and made 16 knots ( 30 km / h ) . The vessel sailed for the Morgan Line , the brand name of the Southern Pacific <unk> Company ( a subsidiary of the Southern Pacific Railroad ) , which employed her to carry cargo and a limited number of passengers between New York ; New Orleans , the eastern terminus of the Southern Pacific line ; and Galveston , Texas . 
 
 = = World War I = = 
 
 After the United States declared war on Germany in April 1917 , El Sol was <unk> by the United States Shipping Board ( <unk> ) on behalf of the United States Army , who designated her as an animal transport ship . Although there is no information about the specific conversion of El Sol , for other ships this typically meant that any second- or third @-@ class passenger accommodations had to be ripped out and replaced with ramps and <unk> for the horses and mules carried . 
 Sources do not reveal all of El Sol 's movements , but it is known that she departed on her second trip to France from Newport News on 10 February 1918 . <unk> 650 animals , El Sol headed to New York to join in a convoy with fellow Army transport <unk> , and U.S. Navy troop transports Covington , <unk> , <unk> , George Washington , President Grant , and Susquehanna . The convoy was escorted by Huntington when it departed from New York on 18 February , and arrived at Saint @-@ Nazaire on 4 March . Ten animals on board El Sol died or were destroyed during the crossing . 
 The next recorded activity of El Sol was on 3 August , when she was transferred from the Army to the U.S. Navy and commissioned the same day with Lieutenant Commander G. Anderson , <unk> , in command . El Sol was assigned to the Naval Overseas Transportation Service ( NOTS ) and continued to carry animals and supplies for the U.S. Army . 
 By August , each animal transport ship had a transport veterinarian and a permanent <unk> detachment to care for the animals while on board the ship . El Sol had also been joined by two of her sister ships , El Oriente and El <unk> in animal transport duty . She next departed Newport News on 23 August 1918 with 520 horses and mules on board . Upon arrival at Saint @-@ Nazaire on 19 September , El Sol delivered her complete load of animals ; none had died during the passage . After returning to the U.S. , El Sol departed again on 30 October with another 620 animals on board . <unk> in <unk> on 13 November — two days after the Armistice — she again delivered her full load of animals . 
 El Sol made two more <unk> for the NOTS over the next five months . While returning to the United States from her last NOTS sailing in late March 1919 , El Sol responded to distress calls from Scranton , a Navy troop transport which had a damaged rudder and was disabled . El Sol came to the aid of the stricken ship , which was 900 nautical miles ( 1 @,@ 700 km ) east of New York , to attempt to take her under tow . During the day on 28 March , Scranton attempted to run a <unk> to El Sol by sending a launch in the rolling seas , but it capsized , killing three men . Ultimately , El Sol stood by Scranton for over 40 hours until minesweeper Penguin arrived and took Scranton under tow . 
 At the conclusion of her last NOTS voyage on 3 April , El Sol was converted to a troop transport and assigned to the Navy 's Cruiser and Transport Force on 15 April . El Sol returned 2 @,@ <unk> healthy and wounded American servicemen from France in two <unk> . <unk> on 18 September , El Sol was returned to the Morgan Line soon after . 
 
 = = Postwar civilian service = = 
 
 El Sol resumed cargo service with the Morgan Line , where she had 8 years of uneventful operation . On 11 March 1927 , however , El Sol was inbound to New York with a $ 1 @,@ 000 @,@ 000 cargo of pig iron , copper , and <unk> of cotton . When a heavy fog settled over New York Harbor , Captain Charles H. Knowles ordered his ship to anchor until the fog cleared . As El Sol was being <unk> into position at about 07 : 45 , the American Diamond Line ship Sac City hit a glancing blow to El Sol , bounced off and then struck El Sol a second time , <unk> through El Sol 's plating . Sac City 's bow had some slight damage , but El Sol sank quickly in about 60 feet ( 18 m ) of water about a half @-@ mile ( 800 m ) south of the Statue of Liberty . Out of El Sol 's crew of 45 men , 44 were rescued ; the ship 's carpenter , who could not swim , was last seen clutching the ship 's rail as it went below the surface . 
 El Sol settled on the bottom at a 45 ° angle with only the tops of her masts protruding above the surface ; the Morgan Line house flag — a blue house flag with a red M inside a white star — still <unk> in the breeze . Even though the sunken vessel was not considered a hazard to navigation , in another fog two days later a <unk> Island <unk> nearly hit El Sol 's wreck . 
 In a hearings before the United States <unk> <unk> Service , Captain Knowles of El Sol and the captain of Sac City were both cleared of wrongdoing in the collision , and the blame was laid on the heavy fog . On 31 July , The New York Times reported on the cargo salvage operations still underway on the wreck of El Sol . In three months of continuous operations , the salvage company reported that about 35 % of the sunken ship 's cargo had been recovered . The <unk> of El Sol was scrapped later in 1927 . 
 
 