Canadian Virtual War Memorial
Joseph Henry Donovan
In memory of:
Able Seaman Joseph Henry Donovan
February 23, 1941
Military Service
35
Merchant Navy
Canadian Merchant Navy
S.S. Sirikishna (Leith, Scotland) (164367)
Additional Information
April 13, 1905
Québec, Quebec
Son of Patrick Donovan and Edith Facey, of Québec, Québec.
He joined the Royal Navy at the age of 15 as a ship's boy and served on HMS Impregnagle from July 15, 1920, then on several ships from the age of 16. He was promoted to Ordinary Seaman on October 12, 1921, and to Ordinary Seaman on April 23, 1925. He was discharged from the navy on January 1, 1929.
On February 24, 1941, at 2:20 a.m., the 46-ship convoy OB-288 was dispersed west of Rockall, a rocky massif between Ireland and Iceland, by the attack of U-96. The Sirikishna is torpedoed on the port side. At 8:36 a.m. she received a coup de grace and sank rapidly, broken in two, position 58°00'N/21°00'W. She was the flagship of the convoy. The captain, the commodore, 5 naval personnel, the 34 crew members and the two gunners lost their lives.
Commemorated on Page 127 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 18.
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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