Today, 30 April, marks the 80th anniversary of the sinking of the only troopship carrying Canadian Army troops to be lost during the Second World War, resulting in the loss of 207 lives.
I recognized the ship name as a few months earlier, in September 1940, the S.S, Nerissa had brought 16 boys and 18 girls to Halifax, N.S. on their way to British Columbia as part of the CORB scheme to evacuate children from Britain.
As mentioned in the OGS eWeekly Update, today also sees the publication of the second edition of “S.S. Nerissa, the Final Crossing”, by William Dziadyk, a retired naval officer. Revised, “This second edition is the result of feedback from readers, and additional research and analysis related to:
- Nerissa’s many wartime sailings prior to and including her final crossing of the North Atlantic;
- Personnel and other records;
- Public relations dilemmas in both Canada and the UK; and
- Inclusion of additional humanizing details to a tragic story.
New material also includes contextual details of the overall Battle of the Atlantic war efforts, and Bletchley Park’s advances in decrypting German naval Enigma encoded messages … during the few weeks before and after the sinking of the S.S. Nerissa.”
Available at www.amazon.ca/dp/B08X3Q84BK
The sinking of the NERISSA also claimed the life of RCMP Cst Charles J. Johnstone, one of seven members of No. 1 Provost Company on the ship and the only one to perish. The Provost Company, consisting of Mounted Police, was responsible for various policing duties with the Canadian Army. Cst Johnstone was the first of eight members of the Company to die while carrying out their duties during the war.