Submarine Attack off New York Harbour

The day before war ended we were bound from Halifax to New York. We'd gone through the Cape Cod Canal and we were going up Block Island Sound and when we got to a place called Point Judas, there's a buoy off there. We got up to the buoy and as we approached the buoy about eight o'clock the morning before the day war ended, there was a collier coming in the other direction and I was looking through the binoculars at this ship and I saw a periscope. And there was another officer on the, a senior officer on the, we were just changing watches at eight o'clock in the morning and John O'Harrow was the Chief Officer and I said, “My God,” I said, “that's a periscope on the other side of the buoy.” So he had a look, he couldn't see anything. He didn't see anything. So we, at the buoy we made the alteration and the other ship must have made her alteration and within five minutes, “boom”, up she goes! Coming in the opposite direction was a fleet of American, I'll call them torpedo boats, high speed and they went out and they located the submarine and they sank her, off Block Island, Block Island Sound. The next day we're in New York and the war was over and put the ship back into he war time, or peace time colours again and that was the end of war for me.

One day before the war ends, Mr. Goodyear witnesses the torpedoing of an American collier just outside New York harbour, followed by the submarine falling victim to American torpedo boats.

Thomas Goodyear

Thomas Goodyear was born in St. John’s, Newfoundland on March 17, 1920. He was the eldest of four children. His father had served in the First World war, and later became operating engineer in the local butter company. Mr. Goodyear left school at age 13 to learn the dry fish business, and in 1936 ran away to work at sea with provisioning coastal communities in Newfoundland, Labrador and Quebec. The outbreak of the Second World saw Mr. Goodyear join the transatlantic merchant fleet as a quartermaster. In addition to the North Atlantic, he saw service in the Indian Ocean, where he survived the torpedoing of his ship. Mr. Goodyear offers some unique experiences from his perspective as a Merchant Mariner.