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In memory of:

Master Benjamin Taverner

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Merchant Navy emblem

Military service

Age: 61
Rank: Master
Force: Merchant Navy
Unit/Regiment: Canadian Merchant Navy
Division: S.S. Caribou (St. John's, Newfoundland) (151660)
Birth: November 5, 1880 Trinity
Death: October 14, 1942 Cabot Strait

Burial/memorial information

Grave reference: Panel 22.
Additional information
Son of James Taverner and Rachel Guy Hiscock from Channel, Newfoundland. Husband of Mildred Amelia Babstock from Channel. Father of Stanley and Harold Taverner, who also perished in the sinking of the S.S. Caribou, Benjamin Gordon, William Codner, Colin Bruce Sr, Lilian Isobelle, Anne Irene and Arthur Squarry Taverner.

On 14 October, 1942, at 3:21 a.m., the ferry Caribou was hit by a torpedo launched by U-69 25 miles (40 km) from Port aux Basques, Newfoundland. She sank in the Cabot Strait in 1,600 feet (488 m) of water with 136 people (crew, passengers and military) in position 47°19'N/59°29'W. The 101 survivors were recovered by the escort ship HMCS Grand-Mère (J258) and landed in North Sydney, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. This sinking would be Canada's worst maritime tragedy in terms of human lives during the Second World War.

In the Books of Remembrance

Commemorated on:

Page 237 of the Merchant Navy Book of Remembrance.
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PORT AUX BASQUES (ST. JAMES) CEMETERY Newfoundland, Canada

For more information, visit Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

 

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