Canadian Virtual War Memorial
Joseph Cottreau
In memory of:
Watchman Joseph Cottreau
May 20, 1942
West Indies
Military Service
37
Merchant Navy
Canadian Merchant Navy
S.S. Torondoc (Fort William, Ontario) (149431)
Additional Information
September 2, 1904
Wedgeport, Nova Scotia
His full name is Joseph Étienne Cottreau.
Son of Xavier Arthur Cottreau and Ada Hélène Doucet, of Tusket Wedge, Yarmouth, Nova Scotia.
On 21 May 1942, at 7:53 am, the Torondoc was sailing without escort when she was hit by a torpedo launched from U-69. She quickly sank 60 miles (97 km) northwest of Martinique, position 14°45'N/62°15'W. The captain and his 21 crew members, in lifeboats, were never seen again after they were abandoned by the Germans who had surfaced to interrogate them.
Commemorated on Page 117 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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