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Obituary

He spoke up for Coast Guardsmen lost on ship

John Chassereau, who led efforts memorializing 23 crewmen who died on the Coast Guard cutter Blackthorn, dies at age 80.

By CRAIG BASSE
Published November 30, 2005

ST. PETERSBURG - John Chassereau, who almost single-handedly kept alive memories of the sinking of the cutter Blackthorn, the Coast Guard's worst peacetime disaster, died Tuesday (Nov. 29, 2005) at St. Anthony's Hospital.

He was 80 and had battled cancer for about 15 years.

For a quarter of a century, the retired Coast Guard chief petty officer organized an annual memorial service where family members, dignitaries and volunteers gathered to honor the lost crew.

He helped raise money to create the Blackthorn Memorial Park on the north end of the Sunshine Skyway bridge, and he was there Jan. 28, the anniversary of the tragedy.

On the night of Jan. 28, 1980, the Blackthorn left a Tampa shipyard and headed for the Gulf of Mexico. About 2 miles west of the Skyway, the 180-foot ship collided with the SS Capricorn, an oil tanker three times the Blackthorn's size that was bound for Weedon Island.

The Capricorn was only slightly damaged, and none of the ship's crew members was injured. But of the 50 crew members aboard the Blackthorn, 23 died when the ship went down.

In the aftermath of the sinking, "Everyone just wanted to point fingers and forget it happened," said Mr. Chassereau's son, John Jr., also a retired Coast Guard chief petty officer and new leader of the Memorial Committee. "People said the Coast Guard was at fault and wanted to forget the mistake.

"But he said: "No,"' his son recalled. "The guys who died, it wasn't their fault," his father said. They needed to be remembered.

John Lee Chassereau was born in Walterboro, S.C., and came here in 1963 from Elizabeth City, N.C. He was a Vietnam veteran and a National Gold Lifetime member of the St. Petersburg Chapter of the Coast Guard Chief Petty Officers Association and the Fleet Reserve Association. A Mason, he was a life member of Hammerton Lodge 332, Tampa Consistory, Egypt Shrine Temple, and an Elk.

Survivors include his wife of 43 years, Winifred T. "Winnie"; two sons, John Lee Jr. and Ray, both of St. Petersburg; five grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.

Friends may call from 4 to 7 p.m. Thursday at Anderson-McQueen Funeral & Cremation Centers-NE St. Petersburg, 2201 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. St. A funeral will be at 11 a.m. Friday at Liberty Baptist Church, 9401 Fourth St. N, where he was a member. Burial will be at Sunnyside Cemetery.

The family suggests memorial contributions to the American Cancer Society, 4801 86th Ave. N, Pinellas Park, FL 33782.

--Information from Times files was used in this obituary.

[Last modified November 30, 2005, 04:57:40]