Military service
Burial/memorial information
On 14 March 1943, the Empress of Canada sailed from Durban, South Africa, to Takoradi, Ghana, with 499 Italian prisoners of war and Greek and Polish refugees, making a total of 1,346. At around 1 a.m. on the 14th, she was torpedoed by the Italian submarine Leonardo da Vinci around 400 miles (640 km) south and off Cape Palmas in the extreme south of Liberia, West Africa, position 35°58'W. The attack caused the death of 340 passengers and prisoners of war, 90 women, 44 crew members and 8 gunners. The survivors were rescued by the British destroyer HMS Boreas (H77) and the British corvettes HMS Petunia (K79) and HMS Crocus (K49). They were landed in Freetown, Sierra Leona.
In the Books of Remembrance
Commemorated on:
Page 225 of the Merchant Navy Book of Remembrance.
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