Canadian Virtual War Memorial
Carl Cecil Wilson
In memory of:
Able Seaman Carl Cecil Wilson
December 6, 1917
Halifax, Nova Scotia
Military Service
VR/1561
17
Navy
Royal Naval Canadian Volunteer Reserve
H.M.C.S. Niobe
Additional Information
Son of Arthur Rupert and Lucy Mary Wilson, of Nanaimo, British Columbia.
Commemorated on Page 351 of the First World War Book of Remembrance. Request a copy of this page. Download high resolution copy of this page.
Burial Information
HALIFAX MEMORIAL
Nova Scotia, Canada
Panel 1.
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.
Information courtesy of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
Digital Collection
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Details
Newspaper Clipping – Newspaper clipping from the Daily Colonist of December 18, 1917. Image taken from web address of http://archive.org/stream/dailycolonist59by321uvic#page/n0/mode/1up -
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Memorial – The panel on the Halifax Memorial, at Point Pleasant in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, on which Carl Cecil Wilson's name is inscribed. Image taken 25 November 2017 by Tom Tulloch. -
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HMCS Niobe – HMCS Niobe – The Royal Canadian Navy ship in which Carl Cecil Wilson served as an Able Seaman, and from which he set off with a group of five other ratings in Niobe's steam pinnace led by Boatswain Albert Charles Mattison in an unsuccessful attempt to scuttle the burning munitions ship S.S. Mont Blanc in Halifax Harbour on 6 December 1917. All seven sailors were killed instantly when the Mont Blanc exploded. -
Details
Halifax Harbour – A view of Halifax Harbour – shortly after the 6 December 1917 explosion that killed some 2,000 people and injured 9,000. Carl Cecil Wilson's ship, HMCS Niobe, can be seen making smoke, beside the tall chimney on the right.
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