The oil freighter R.P. Resor, owned by the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey, was launched in 1935 from Kearney, New Jersey, and the waters off New Jersey are her final resting place. <P>In February 1942, the ship set off from Baytown, Texas, with a cargo of nearly 79,000 barrels of fuel oil.  She was headed for Fall River, Massachusetts.  Following wartime procedure, she sailed unescorted on a zigzag course with all lights off.  The seaman on watch spotted two running lights in the distance and assumed they belonged to a local fishing boat.  The Resor changed course to clear the boat, and a few minutes later torpedoes struck.  The enemy submarine had tricked the tanker into turning broadside, providing an easy target! <P>Fire spread quickly across the sea, and flames spread hundreds of feet into the air.  The departing submarine could now easily be seen as she motored off in search of another Allied victim.  Many sailors made it to life boats, but they were never found.  Three hundred pounds of tar covered the body of one of the only two survivors. <P>The Resor drifted and burned for two days before sinking--within five miles of the New Jersey shore.