Canadian Virtual War Memorial
Donald Edgar Davis
In memory of:
Fireman Donald Edgar Davis
January 22, 1942
North Atlantic
Military Service
23
Merchant Navy
Canadian Merchant Navy
S.S. Gandia (Antwerp, Belgium) (124461)
Additional Information
Son of Elizabeth Alice Davis, of Portland, Oregon, USA. Brother of John Henry Davis who also lost his life with this ship.
On 22 January 1942, in heavy weather and with the ship rolling violently, at around 5:20 pm, the ship suffered a violent jolt followed by a huge explosion on the port side, as she was hit by a torpedo. The torpedo was fired by the German submarine U-135, commanded by the. The Gandia immediately began to list and sink by the stern 420 miles (675 km) east of Cape Race, Newfoundland, position 45°00'N/41°00'W. Captain Potie gave the order to abandon ship and the crew began lowering the lifeboats. Bad weather considerably hampered this action and the lifeboats were violently knocked against the ship's sides. Lifeboats number 1 and 3, located on the side of the ship exposed to the weather, broke up and threw their occupants and provisions into the sea. The portable radio in lifeboat 1 was also lost. This, together with the fact that the main mast fell onto the radio room as the vessel sank, meant that no distress call could be sent. The Gandia sank within ten minutes, going down vertically by the stern. After 14 days at sea, seven survivors of the 18 sailors on board lifeboat 2 were rescued on 5 February by the American destroyer USS Bernadou (DD-153) and landed in Reykjavik, Iceland. After 26 days of despair, 28 sailors from lifeboat 4 were rescued by the Portuguese trawler Joao Corte Real, position 46°30'N/46°56'W, and brought to Oporto, Portugal on 26 February, the others having died. The attack killed 42 crew members and 23 others perished at sea while awaiting rescue. The date of Davis' death is therefore approximate.
Commemorated on Page 123 of the Merchant Navy Book of Remembrance. Request a copy of this page. Download high resolution copy of this page.
Burial Information
HALIFAX MEMORIAL
Nova Scotia, Canada
Panel 21.
The HALIFAX MEMORIAL in Nova Scotia's capital, erected in Point Pleasant Park, is one of the few tangible reminders of the men who died at sea. Twenty-four ships were lost by the Royal Canadian Navy in the Second World War and nearly 2,000 members of the RCN lost their lives. This Memorial was erected by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and was unveiled in November 1967 with naval ceremony by H.P. MacKeen, Lieutenant-Governor of Nova Scotia, in the presence of R. Teillet, then Minister of Veterans Affairs. The monument is a great granite Cross of Sacrifice over 12 metres high, clearly visible to all ships approaching Halifax. The cross is mounted on a large podium bearing 23 bronze panels upon which are inscribed the names of over 3,000 Canadian men and women who were buried at sea. The dedicatory inscription, in French and English, reads as follows:
1918-1945
IN THE HONOUR OF
THE MEN AND WOMEN
OF THE NAVY
ARMY AND MERCHANT NAVY
OF CANADA
WHOSE NAMES
ARE INSCRIBED HERE
THEIR GRAVES ARE UNKNOWN
BUT THEIR MEMORY
SHALL ENDURE.
On June 19, 2003, the Government of Canada designated September 3rd of each year as a day to acknowledge the contribution of Merchant Navy Veterans.
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