Canadian Virtual War Memorial
Albert Osborne Smith
In memory of:
Boatswain Albert Osborne Smith
January 19, 1942
Offshore, North Carolina
Military Service
45
Merchant Navy
Canadian Merchant Navy
RMS Lady Hawkins (Halifax, Nova Scotia (155047)
Additional Information
October 17, 1896
LaHave, Nova Scotia
Son of Charles Moore Smith and Anastasia S. Publicover of La Have, Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. Brother of Private Everett Russell Smith, regimental number 469093, 21st Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force, then 2nd Canadian Entrenching Battalion, who fought and survived combat in France and Belgium in the First World War, and Private William M. Smith, conscripted into the United States Army on 26 April 1942, regimental number 5051. He did not fight in the Second World War because of his age.
The Lady Hawkins was torpedoed on 19 January 1942 at 7:43 am by U-66 and sank east of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, USA, position 35°N/72°30'W. The attack caused the death of 251 people and left 71 survivors. The master, 86 crew members, one gunner and 163 passengers (including four DBS) were lost. The chief officer, 20 crew members and 50 passengers were picked up after five days by the Coamo and landed at San Juan, Puerto Rico on 28 January.
Commemorated on Page 229 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 20.
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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