Canadian Virtual War Memorial
Lewis Dalgety
In memory of:
Chief Officer Lewis Dalgety
March 16, 1942
Caribbean Sea
Military Service
41
Merchant Navy
Canadian Merchant Navy
S.S. Sarniadoc (Fort William, Ontario)
Additional Information
April 17, 1900
London, Ontario
Son of James Anderson Dalgety and Ruth Grace Oldrieve, of London, Ontario. Husband of Mary Cybil Coles, of Chilcompton, Somerset, England. Father of Wanda Ruth Dalgety.
During the First World War, he enlisted on 17 May 1916 with the 135th Overseas Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force, service number 803208. He was demobilised on 31 May 1916 because he was too young. Re-enlisted on 26 March 1918 in the 64th Depot Battery, Canadian Field Artillery, regimental number 335350, and was again demobilised on 13 March 1919 without ever having seen action.
At 2:30 am on 14 March 1942, the Sarniadoc was sailing unescorted to St Thomas, in the Virgin Islands, when she was hit by a torpedo, behind the funnel, launched by U-161 200 miles (322 km) west of Guadeloupe, in the Caribbean Sea, and sank in less than 30 seconds with her crew of 21 men, in position 15°45'N/65°00'W.
Commemorated on Page 122 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.
Digital Collection
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Details
Newspaper clipping – From the Toronto Star April 1943. Submitted for the project Operation Picture Me
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