Canadian Virtual War Memorial
Jack Henry Visser
In memory of:
Boatswain Jack Henry Visser
March 16, 1941
North Atlantic
Military Service
42
Merchant Navy
Canadian Merchant Navy
S.S. J.B. White (Canada)
British War Medal, Victory Medal
Additional Information
June 30, 1898
Southwark, England
Son of Jacob Wilhelm Visser and Henrietta Foulger of Braughing, Hertfordshire, England. Husband of Lilian Ethel Casselman from Lambeth, England, daughter of Gustave Casselman, a First World War veteran, regimental number 208069, Royal Artillery, Company WO 329, British Army. Jack was the father of Jack Visser.
Jacob served in the Royal Navy from 8 October 1913 to 15 October 1919, regimental number J27721, and fought in the First World War, including the Battle of Jutland in May 1916 and the naval blockade of Germany.
On 1 March 1941, the J.B. White left Halifax, Nova Scotia, with convoy HX-112, which was attacked on the 16th by a pack of German U-boats. Four ships were sunk, another damaged, while the J.B. White was torpedoed by U-99, which gave her the coup de grâce west-southwest of the Faroe Islands, position 60°57'N/12°27'W. Two sailors lost their lives. The captain and 37 crew members were rescued by the British destroyer HMS Walker (D27), which landed them in Liverpool, England.
Commemorated on Page 244 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.
Digital Collection
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