The cache is not at the given coordinates, but is within 600 feet.

The initial location is good for parking.  Access is best by foot or bike.

The following is a true story:

On April 6, 1942, my father, age 28, was sailing as the 2^nd Officer on a US-registered merchant freighter (aka "Vessel #1", photo #1 below) off the east coast of India in the Bay of Bengal, enroute from Colombo, Ceylon to Calcutta.  At 0630, 2 Japanese carrier-based bombers approached and attacked the ship.   My father and the rest of the crew abandoned the heavily damaged and burning ship at 1120 and made the 25 miles to shore in 4 towed lifeboats.  They landed at Vizagapatam, India (now Vishakhapatnam) at 1930.  The ship finally sank the next day at 17° 11' N, 83° 20' E.

For the next month, he made his way cross-country to Bombay.  Then, on May 3, 1942, he boarded another US-registered merchant freighter (aka "Vessel #2", photo #2), intending to return to the States to resume his employment with Isthmian Lines.

On April 25, 1942, the German U-boat U-xxx (aka "Vessel #3", photo #3), sailed from her base in Lorient, Occupied France, headed for patrol duties in the Caribbean.

On June 27, 1942, "Vessel #2", with my father aboard, was torpedoed by U-xxx ("Vessel #3"), about 250 miles east of Trinidad.  Within 10 minutes, 10 crewmembers (including one being repatriated from Vessel #1) were dead and the ship was on the bottom at 10° 55' N, 57° 40' W.  My father managed to pilot one of the lifeboats westward for 4 days and land at Maqueripe Bay near Port of Spain, Trinidad.  He was then able to return to the USA without further incident.

After sailing on various other merchant ships (without incident) for the next year, my father decided it was time to join the US Navy and fight back.   Due to his maritime experience, he was immediately commissioned as a Lieutenant (sg) on June 28, 1943, a year and a day after sinking #2.

Six weeks before he received his commission, on May 16, 1943, US Navy aircraft and the destroyers Jouettand Moffett of the US Navy sighted U-xxx off the coast near Recife, Brazil.  After considerable shelling and aerial bombing which rendered her dead in the water, the crew of U-xxx scuttled her the next day at 11° 0' S, 35° 43' W.  When she finally went down, she had been responsible for sinking 13 Allied ships totaling 90,000 tons.

In February 1946, my father, now 32, was discharged with the rank of Lieutenant Commander, having participated in the invasions of Kwajalien, Saipan, Guam, Leyte and Okinawa.  He returned to the Merchant Marine until 1951 and remained in the maritime field until he retired in 1970 having held an Unlimited Master's license for 27 years.

Of major importance to me is that had my father not survived both those sinkings in 1942, I would not have been born (and you would not be working on this cache).

In 2000, because of this story, I was fortunate to be offered a VIP tour of the still-standing German sub pens at Lorient, France and stood in the very same slip that once moored U-xxx (photo #4).

In 2009, I was on a plane seated next to a woman from Trinidad.  I related the story of my father's landing at Maqueripe Bay.  After a stunned silence, she revealed that she had been born 2 miles from that very beach.

See photos below.

To get the cache final coordinates, obtain the following info:

for Vessel "#1":  # letters in the name of the ship (ignore "SS")   A = ___

for Vessel "#2":  # letters in the name of the ship (ignore "SS")   B = ___

for Vessel "#3":  sum of the 3 digits in the name of the U-boat    C = ___

Final coordinates of the cache (ddd  mm.mmm) are:

LAT: 40   01 . (A-9)  (B-0)  (C-10)

     40   01 .  ___    ___    ___

LONG: -105   14 . (C-7)  (B-7)   (A-6)

      -105   14 .  ___    ___    ___

Note:  Various reference sources might give slightly different coordinates for the vessel sinkings, but you should be able to figure it out.

Final is a mini magnetic mine.  No pen.

Watch for muggles.   Parking available at given coords.