Military service
Burial/memorial information
On 10 January 1942 Byron D. Benson was returning from Port Arthur, Texas, to Bayonne, France, when around 7:30 pm in foggy weather she rammed Canadian coastal freighter Continent four miles (6,5 km) south of Scotland Lightship, off New Jersey coast. The Continent, a 466 GRT vessel, quickly filled with water and sank, leaving her entire fourteen men crew in icy waters, except one, William Laing. The tanker stood by for two hours and was able to rescue all but one of the crew men before landing them at Staten Island. The ship received only slight damage and could continue her operations.
In the Books of Remembrance
Commemorated on:
Page 169 of the Merchant Navy Book of Remembrance.
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