Canadian Virtual War Memorial
John Hector
In memory of:
Chief Engineer John Hector
May 20, 1941
North Atlantic
Military Service
43
Merchant Navy
Canadian Merchant Navy
S.S. Rothermere (St. John's, Newfoundland) (172631)
Military Cross (MC), the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.
Additional Information
Son of Captain Richard Hector and Jessie Leslie Duguld of Rathven, Banffshire, Scotland. Husband of Mary Paterson Morrison of Clydebank, Dunbartonshire.
John served in the British Army during the First World War. On 18 August 1917, he was awarded the Military Cross (MC) for gallantry in action while serving with the Gordon Highlanders. He was also awarded the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.
On 20 May 1941, she was sailing with convoy HX-126 which had dispersed when at 17:29, the Rothermere was torpedoed by U-98 south-east of Cape Farewell, Greenland. The Rothermere sank after receiving her Coup de grace at 17:56, position 57°48'N/41°36'W. Her captain and 21 crew members lost their lives. The remaining 29 sailors, four gunners and one passenger were recovered by the Icelandic ship SS Bruarfoss and landed in Reykjavik, Iceland.
Commemorated on Page 268 of the Merchant Navy Book of Remembrance. Request a copy of this page. Download high resolution copy of this page.
Burial Information
TOWER HILL MEMORIAL
London, United Kingdom
Panel 88.
THE TOWER HILL MEMORIAL stands on the South side of the garden of Trinity Square, a hundred yards East of Mark Lane Station, and just within the boundaries of the Metropolitan Borough of Stepney and the Liberty of the Tower. It is at the hub of maritime England. Behind it are Trinity House and the offices of the Port of London Authority, and the Thames stretches before it; the wide space of Great Tower Hill, leading down from it to the river, is the traditional forum of merchant seamen and their fellow workers. Lloyd's is on the North, the Custom House and Billingsgate Market are near it on the West, and beyond the Tower, Eastwards, is the long line of the Docks the greatest dock system in the world.
Digital Collection
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