The blog of In My Footsteps Podcast host and author Christopher Setterlund. It contains a buffet of topics. The wackiness of daily life with Initial Impressions 2.0. There is a link to the weekly In My Footsteps Podcast. Poetry collections, life topics, some history, and more. There is something for everyone here much like with the podcast.
How big a star was Eddie Murphy in the 1980s? Did Pepsi really own a fleet of naval vessels? What are some forgotten 1970s sodas?
Episode 238 looks to answer these questions with as little April Fools as possible.
We take a look at the meteoric rise to fame of Eddie Murphy in the 1980s. From an unknown to the biggest star in Hollywood in a few short years. It is the stuff of fairy tales. Saving SNL, hit comedy albums, hit songs, and a resume of hit movies most couldn't imagine.
In a story that sounds like an April Fool's joke we go back to the 1980s and the brief time that Pepsi owned a fleet of Soviet naval vessels. How in the world did this happen and what was the end result of the story?
Not all sodas can be Coke or Pepsi. A new Top 5 looks at the forgotten sodas of the 1970s. Brief hits, swings and misses, and ones that faded away are all here.
There is a brand new This Week In History and Time Capsule with the story of the largest tip ever left for a server. It was even made into a Hollywood movie.
You can support my work by becoming a member on Patreon.
In the courtyard of a beautiful but unassuming church on the East End of Commercial Street in Provincetown, there stands a wooden cross. For a church, this is hardly a surprise. That is, until one approaches the cross and finds two plaques, one on either side.
On the side of the cross facing the church is a square plaque that reads: ‘In Memory of the Officers and Crew of the Submarine S-4. Sunk Off Wood End. Dec. 17, 1927.’ On the side facing Commercial Street is a much larger rectangular plaque. Here one finds the names of all of the men lost. There are forty of them. This is the story of the USS S-4, a deeply tragic and also mostly forgotten disaster.
Despite seeming like a 20th-century invention, the history of the submarine dates back to the late 1500s. It was in 1578 that English mathematician William Bourne first conceived the idea of an undersea vessel. It would, however, take more than forty years to put that idea into action. Dutch inventor Cornelis Drebbel is credited with the physical invention of the submarine. He was able to dive underneath England’s River Thames in 1620.
Over the ensuing three centuries, the submarine as a military vessel would grow and evolve. American colonist David Bushnell created a submarine affectionately known as the ‘Turtle’ in 1775. With hand-cranked propellers, it was meant to be used as a weapon against the British during the Revolutionary War. It was a failure.
In 1800, American inventor Robert Fulton designed his Nautilus submarine. It was seen as more modern, coming equipped with adjustable dive planes and a dual-propulsion system. The H.L. Hunley, a Confederate sub, sank the USS Housatonic during the American Civil War in 1864. It wasn’t until World War I that the submarine became a more common piece of equipment, particularly by the Germans with their U-boats.
The 1920s submarines were far advanced than those of the preceding century. Though not without their own operational difficulties, the U.S. Navy’s S-Class vessels represented the first properly functioning designs. S-4 was a diesel-electric submarine commissioned in 1919. The 231-foot-long steel behemoth was one of fifty-one such ‘Sugar’ boats built between 1918 and 1925. Eight years passed with little fanfare or issue with the S-4. That all changed on the afternoon of December 17, 1927.
The USS S-4(Public Domain)
On December 15th, the S-4 had been refitted at the Portsmouth, New Hampshire Navy Yard. After that, it headed for Cape Cod, captained by R.K. Jones. The S-4 was to be engaged in standard speed and maneuverability trials off the tip of Provincetown near Wood End Lighthouse. During the early afternoon of December 17th, while the S-4, with forty men aboard, was performing submerged runs. Up on the surface, a different sort of patrol was happening.
The 1920s were smack dab in the middle of the Prohibition Era in the United States. Provincetown, with its mass of challenging dunes at Race Point, was a haven for illegal alcohol smuggling. The Coast Guard had dispatched a 740-ton destroyer, USCGC Paulding (CG-17), captained by Lieutenant Commander John S. Baylis, to conduct rum patrols around the tip of Cape Cod.
Baylis had just investigated one schooner off Wood End and was headed back into Provincetown Harbor. In the days before radar and sonar, it was incredibly difficult for a ship to know the position of a submarine. What happened next was catastrophic.
The Paulding in 1918(Public Domain)
At about 3:37pm, while the S-4 was surfacing from a submerged run, the Paulding, which was steaming nearby, struck the sub at a speed of 18 knots. Accounts describe the telescope of the S-4 surfacing near the Paulding’s bow, less than seventy-five yards away. Ensign P. Miller, the man on watch for the Paulding, thought it was a fish stick, the marker fishermen use for their nets.
The destroyer collided with the submarine’s hull, punching holes that quickly flooded compartments. The S-4 rolled over and sank bow first within minutes to the bottom, roughly 130 feet down, less than a mile off Wood End.
The Paulding stopped and launched a lifeboat, but there were no men to be found. They all had gone down in the submarine. The ship next dropped a buoy to mark where the S-4 had gone down. To save itself from also sinking, the Coast Guard vessel had to run itself aground at Long Point with a gaping wound.
Immediately, the Coast Guard and Navy dispatched vessels, divers, and salvage specialists. Captain Adolphus Andrews, commander of the Submarine Base in New London, Connecticut, was ordered to send all available vessels to the site. Word reached President Calvin Coolidge, who expressed regret and intense anxiety over the disaster.
Divers reached the hull and established that many of the crew had moved into dry compartments. It was only a slight hope, since sealed compartments could mean survivors if rescuers could keep them supplied with air and prevent flooding.
Communication was established with men trapped in the forward torpedo room by divers and the surface commanders. The men inside replied with a series of taps on the hull, demonstrating that at least six were known to be alive there in the hours after the sinking. Time was of the essence as some of the naval officers gave the crew roughly three days to survive under the water. It was seen as a 1000-1 shot, but it was enough of a chance for the rescuers.
Unfortunately, winter storms, rough seas, strong currents, and the limited depth technology of the era repeatedly hampered rescue operations. Teams attempted to rig air hoses and pumps to the submarine and to use divers to keep lines attached and to feed air into compartments. The weather and wreckage complexity repeatedly forced pauses in the operation. Over several days, rescuers worked frantically; the men in the torpedo room continued to send taps and other signals for some period.
Ultimately, after days of fits and starts in deteriorating conditions, those survivors succumbed before divers could effectively extract them. In the end, all forty on board died. Those aboard the S-4 included officers, enlisted men, a Naval officer, and a civilian. It was noted afterward that the thirty-two men found in the engine room had likely died within hours of the collision due to either drowning or asphyxiation, thanks to carbon dioxide.
The story of the horrific collision and the loss of all on board the S-4 was nationwide news. It stunned locals who could see the buoys that had been left on the surface above the location of the doomed vessel by the submarine tender Wandank. In the end, those buoys would be used for the salvage mission.
Secretary of the Navy Curtis D. Wilbur (2nd from left) during salvage work of S-4 in March 1928. Captain Ernest King and Lieutenant Henry Hartley in charge of the salvage operation, are first and second from right, while Rear Admiral Philip Andrews (left) looks on.(Public Domain)
Despite the massive loss of life on the S-4, the vessel was not a total loss. An experienced salvage force was sent to Cape Cod. This included Captain Ernest J. King, Commander Edward Ellsberg, other senior Navy and Coast Guard officers, and local crews from Provincetown.
Over the winter and into early 1928, divers and salvage crews worked to attach lifting pontoons and cables. After months of difficult work, a successful raising and tow to the Boston Navy Yard occurred in March 1928. S-4 was later repaired and returned to service as a test and training vessel before final decommissioning in the 1930s.
The S-4 being towed to Boston Navy Yard.(Public Domain)
In the end, though it was an accident, there was blame to be placed. Lieutenant Walter J. MacGregor, commanding officer in the Naval Militia, placed the blame on Prohibition. He said in an interview in the immediate aftermath that the vessels out searching for rum runners go where they please, while the submarines stick to very specific routes. The crew of the Paulding was not blamed for the accident. It was however used as a battle cry for those looking for the repeal of Prohibition. This ended up happening in December 1933.
One of the most important legacies of the S-4 tragedy was pressure to improve submarine escape and rescue capability. The limits of the 1920s response, weather-vulnerable diving operations, no standardized submarine rescue chamber, and primitive escape equipment for individual submariners became painfully obvious. The loss of S-4, which came after an earlier disaster involving the S-51 submarine in 1925, pushed submarine professionals and the Navy bureaucracy to accelerate research into reliable rescue tools.
Two major innovations that came soon after the S-4 disaster were first the creation of the Momsen ‘lung.’ These were individual escape breathing devices. The other innovation was the McCann Submarine Rescue Chamber. This was a chamber that could be lowered to a distressed submarine in up to 850 feet of water. The chamber later proved its worth in the 1939 rescue of 33 men from USS Squalus, the first large-scale successful deep submarine rescue.
Beyond equipment, the S-4 tragedy contributed to procedural and cultural changes: improved training, standardized rescue ships and teams, new communications/telephone buoys and mating procedures, better watertight doors and bulkhead designs, and even hazard pay reforms for submariners, all measures aimed at reducing the chance that a similar accident would end in total loss.
Cape Cod paid homage to those lost on the S-4. On the tenth anniversary of the disaster, December 17, 1937, services were held at the Church of St. Mary of the Harbor. After the services, the pastor, Reverend Robert Wood Nicholson, dedicated a timber cross adorned with a pair of plaques commemorating those lives lost. It was fitting that the cross was fashioned from wood salvaged from another shipwreck off Cape Cod.
It has been nearly a century since forty men lost their lives in a horrific but seemingly unavoidable accident off Provincetown. The wooden cross, standing in the courtyard of the Church of St. Mary of the Harbor, is the only reminder of the tragedy that happened just offshore.
Cape Cod, especially the Atlantic Ocean side from Eastham to Provincetown, has a legacy of being a haven for shipwrecks. Sadly, many of those wrecks, and the people who went down on them, become lost to time. Such is the same fate of the forty men lost on the submarine S-4. If one is taking a stroll down Commercial Street, stop into the courtyard and pay respects to those lives lost in Provincetown’s forgotten maritime disaster.
The roughly seventy-five miles of coastline from Boston leading to the New Hampshire border is known as the North Shore. This area is famous for its historic fishing villages and connections to the dawning of America. Many of the twenty-two towns which make up the North Shore have immense cultural significance. Names such as Ipswich, Gloucester, Essex, and Salem have meaning to people who don’t even live in this area. This trip along the North Shore was a chance to experience these sites for myself and it ended up being even better than I had hoped.
The journey began by leaving Route 1 for Route 129 and heading east into Swampscott. This town is one of the most affluent in the state with one of the very first millionaires, Ebenezer Philips, making his fortune here. Philips learned the process of drying fish from the local Naumkeag Indians which led to greater shelf life for the fish. First settled as a part of neighboring Lynn in 1629, Swampscott has an amazing view of the Boston skyline(left) sitting twelve miles to the south across Nahant Bay and Broad Sound. Beaches such as Preston Beach have great views of the many rock islands off of the coast of the North Shore. These rocks give this area its own identity.
An historic spot to visit is the Elihu Thomson House. Built in 1889 this home is now the Swampscott Town Hall but it was originally built for the noted inventor and industrialist Thomson who cofounded General Electric with Thomas Edison.
Marblehead neighbors Swampscott and has some spectacular one of a kind areas to visit. Chief among these is Chandler Hovey Park which is home to the incredible Marblehead Light(right), built in 1832. Why is it so amazing? It is the only lighthouse in New England with a skeletal structure as opposed to the classic cylindrical tower that is common. The next light like Marblehead Light is at Coney Island. The lighthouse stands tall on a cliff overlooking Marblehead Harbor, its green light visible for seven nautical miles.
For the daring types you may attempt to scale down one of the rock faces into a sort of gulley that runs down to the edge of the water. I did undertake this challenge and it was an incredible sight seeing Marblehead Light from down inside the rocks. The constant crash of the waves on the rocky shore made it well worth any risk. There are many benches and sheltered areas where one can simply sit and watch the boats entering the harbor, or just listen to the waves crashing on the rocks.
Marblehead, along with Beverly, has lay claim to being the birthplace of the United States Navy. While both towns may have their own opinions there is no doubting the importance of Marblehead Harbor. Beginning with the sailing of the Hannah in September, 1775, General George Washington gave orders for the first American vessels to engage the British during the American Revolution. They were sailed and commanded by men of Marblehead and were the forerunners of the United States Navy. Thus began the claim by the people of Marblehead that their town saw the birth of the Navy.
Abbot Hall, which is now Marblehead Town Hall as well, is filled with historic artifacts from the area. Located inside the brick 19th Century building sits, among other things, the original Spirit of ’76 painting by Archiblad MacNeal Willard, the deed to Marblehead signed by the Nanapashemet Indians in 1684, and a painting of Marbleheaders rowing George Washington across the Delaware River.
A few miles north of Marblehead lies Beverly, the other claimant to the birth of the American Navy. Originally a part of Salem, and named for a town in Yorkshire, England, Beverly can lay claim to a very important moment in American history. Beverly is the birthplace of the American Industrial Revolution which began with the construction of the first cotton mill in 1787 or 1788. To this day however, Beverly maintains that the first American vessel to engage the British in the Revolution, the Hannah, was built in, and first sailed from, Beverly. They have so much faith in this that the Hannah is prominently featured on the police department’s patch.
Another historic spot which is a little off the beaten path is Hospital Point Lighthouse(right). Hard to find because it sits along side a private residence, this lighthouse takes its name from a smallpox hospital built on the spot in 1801. A watch house was built on the grounds all the way back in 1711. The lighthouse looks out over Salem Sound and is clearly visible from the fence surrounding it. However, it is on private land and thus cannot be seen any closer except on occasions when there are open houses.
The northern most town visited on this trip was Rockport. Located just past Gloucester, at the tip of Cape Ann, this area is a well known artist colony. Rockport was a ‘dry town,’ meaning no alcohol was to be sold within its borders, until 2005. This law goes back to the story of Hannah Jumper. She led a revolt of 200 mothers, wives, and daughters in 1856 to destroy all of the liquor in town. The reason for this was the fact that although fishing was a tremendous industry for Rockport, the Northeast’s weather only permitted it for nine months out of the year. The other three months were spent by the men spending much of their hard-earned money on booze. Ms. Jumper’s rebellion against the ‘demon rum’ led to Rockport being ‘dry’ for 149 years.
One particularly beautiful area of is Bearskin Neck. A small corner of Rockport, Bearskin Neck is a collection of former fishing and lobster shacks that have been gradually transformed into shops and art galleries. The most famous location of the Bearskin Neck is a dark red fishing shack on Bradley Wharf known as Motif #1(left). It is America’s most painted building and got its name from art teacher Lester Hornby who proclaimed ‘What, Motif #1 again!’ when student after student chose the venerable shack as a subject for sketches.
These are only the tip of the iceberg as far as amazing areas located along the North Shore. It is not a place that can be appreciated fully during a day trip, take it piece by piece. The amazing, rocky coastline and many lighthouses keep the rich, fishing tradition alive in any visitor’s mind. There is so much to see, make it a point to visit the North Shore the first chance you get. Have fun and happy traveling!
Directions: Chandler Hovey Park/Marblehead Light: From Rt. 1 heading north, turn right at Essex St. Continue onto Lincoln Ave. through the rotary. Turn right at Ballard St. Turn left onto Rt. 107, right onto Washington Street. Left onto Rt. 1-A, right at Ocean St., left at Metropolitan Park St., continue onto Humphrey St., continue onto Atlantic Ave. Turn right on Ocean Ave., left onto Harbor Ave., continue onto Ocean Ave., left at Follett St.
Preston Beach, Swampscott: From Rt. 1 heading north, turn right at Essex St. Continue onto Lincoln Ave. through the rotary. Turn right at Ballard St. Turn left onto Rt. 107, right onto Washington Street. Left onto Rt. 1-A, right at Ocean St., left at Metropolitan Park St., continue onto Humphrey St., continue onto Atlantic Ave. Drive 1 mile, beach is on right just before ‘Entering Marblehead’ sign.
Hospital Point Lighthouse: Take Rt. 128 off of I-95. Take Exit 18, turn right onto Rt. 22. Turn left at Corning St. Continue onto Bayview Ave. Hospital Point Light is on the left at the end.
Bearskin Neck, Rockport: Take Rt. 128 off of I-95. Stay on Rt. 128 through two rotaries and turn left onto Rt. 127. Rt. 127 becomes Broadway, turn left at Mt. Pleasant Street. Bearskin Neck is on the right.
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has an amazing view of the Boston skyline(left) sitting twelve miles to the south across Nahant Bay and Broad Sound. Beaches such as Preston Beach have great views of the many rock islands off of the coast of the North Shore. These rocks give this area its own identity. 
neighbors Swampscott and has some spectacular one of a kind areas to visit. Chief among these is Chandler Hovey Park which is home to the incredible Marblehead Light(right), built in 1832. Why is it so amazing? It is the only lighthouse in New England with a skeletal structure as opposed to the classic cylindrical tower that is common. The next light like Marblehead Light is at Coney Island. The lighthouse stands tall on a cliff overlooking Marblehead Harbor, its green light visible for seven nautical miles. 
gave orders for the first American vessels to engage the British during the American Revolution. They were sailed and commanded by men of Marblehead and were the forerunners of the United States Navy. Thus began the claim by the people of Marblehead that their town saw the birth of the Navy.
. Originally a part of Salem, and named for a town in Yorkshire, England, Beverly can lay claim to a very important moment in American history. Beverly is the birthplace of the American Industrial Revolution which began with the construction of the first cotton mill in 1787 or 1788. To this day however, Beverly maintains that the first American vessel to engage the British in the Revolution, the Hannah, was built in, and first sailed from, Beverly. They have so much faith in this that the Hannah is prominently featured on the police department’s patch. 