Canadian Virtual War Memorial
Robie Onley Symonds
In memory of:
Seaman Robie Onley Symonds
September 15, 1941
North Atlantic
Military Service
20
Merchant Navy
Canadian Merchant Navy
S.S. Empire Eland (London, England) (168044)
Additional Information
May 2, 1921
Clark’s Harbour, Nova Scotia
Son of Frank Onley Symonds and Laura Mildred Atkinson Ross Duncan from Clark’s Harbour, Shelburne, Nova Scotia.
On 15 September 1941, the Empire Eland sailed with convoy ON-14 from Liverpool, England, to Mobile, Alabama, then on to Tampa, Florida. Away from the ships due to bad weather, she was torpedoed at 11:48 pm by U-94, as she zigzagged 570 miles (917 km) east-south-east of Cape Farewell, Greenland. At 11:57, a first coup de grâce missed the ship, but she sank by the stern around 40 minutes after being hit again at 00:30 on the 16th, in position 54°09'N/29°55'W. The captain, 31 crew members and 5 gunners lost their lives. The attack left no survivors.
Commemorated on Page 237 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 19.
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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