by Annie Daylon
Photo attribution: Jochim, Mark. SS Caribou. Flickr
Research for my historical trilogy The Kerrigan Chronicles (set mainly on the island of Newfoundland) has led me to the story of the S S Caribou, a passenger ferry that operated between North Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada, and Port aux Basques, Newfoundland from the late 1920’s to 1942.
Recently, in a 1929 magazine, I came across a travel ad for that very same SS Caribou, “the splendid new steamer” which had recently started its crossings of the Cabot Strait. This ad was published in The Premier, Newfoundland’s Only Monthly Magazine. This “monthly” magazine, despite the Subscription Form included in its first issue (see below), was published once, only once, in March of 1929 and it never surfaced again. I have a copy of it, a gift from my father, one that he came across at a garage sale in Newfoundland.
Despite the high hopes expressed in the travel ad, the S S Caribou met an untimely and tragic fate, its service ending abruptly in 1942. On October 14 of that year, a U-Boat torpedoed the S S Caribou. It sank, killing two hundred thirty-eight passengers. There were one hundred one survivors.
Some of the victims on the Caribou were military who on their way to the naval base at Argentia. In fact, I first learned about the explosion from my father, Andrew Lannon (1922-2019) who worked in Argentia for thirty-five years. One of the passengers who died in that attack was a friend of Dad’s, a military friend who had gone home to the U.S. on leave for his own father’s funeral. He was on his way back to Argentia when the attack occurred.
(Approximate site of sinking of Caribou marked by Red X in Cabot Strait on west of map below.)
Information about the sinking of the Caribou may come as a surprise to many who think of WWII as something that happened far away. However, the North American coastline was constantly under threat by enemy submarines, to the extent that U-Boats were watching people as they strolled along shore.
Whether or not I refer to it in my historical fiction, the history of the Caribou is evidence of the sacrifice of the Greatest Generation. And I thank them all for their service.
Goodreads Giveaway for The Kerrigan Chronicles, Book II: Of Sea and Sand ends on Thursday, May 27th, 2021. To enter, click HERE.
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