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The Sinking of the Liner Ettrick
November 15, 1942
References/Additional Reading:
https://uboat.net/allies/merchants/2432.html
https://www.combinedops.com/Training%20No1%20CTC.htm
Veterans Affairs Canada
Beaton, Joseph Alex
V/26206
Able Seaman
HMS Quebec, Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve;
(Troop Transport Ettrick)
Date of Death:
November 15, 1942
Aged:
18
Memorial:
Halifax Memorial
Joseph was the son of John Hector and Mary Beaton, of Low
Point, Inverness Co., Nova Scotia. Joseph was born in Halifax, NS on
January 14, 1924.
Commemorated on Page 57
Merchant Navy Book of Remembrance
Displayed in the Memorial Chamber
of the Peace Tower in Ottawa on February 10
Remembering three Nova Scotians
(Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer
Reserve)
lost in the sinking of the Liner Ettrick
Robertson, Charles Kenneth
3615
Able Seaman
HMS Quebec, Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve;
(Troop Transport Ettrick)
Date of Death:
November 15, 1942
Aged:
20
Memorial:
Halifax Memorial
Charles was the son of Charles H. and Thelma Agnes Robertson
of Sydney, Nova Scotia. He joined the Canadian Navy in May
1940.
Commemorated on Page 110
Merchant Navy Book of Remembrance
Displayed in the Memorial Chamber
of the Peace Tower in Ottawa on March 8
Slauenwhite, Donald Joseph
V/25787
Leading Stoker
HMS Quebec, Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve;
(Troop Transport Ettrick)
Date of Death:
November 15, 1942
Aged:
26
Memorial:
Halifax Memorial
Donald was the son of Frederick and Grace Slauenwhite, of
Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Commemorated on Page 114
Merchant Navy Book of Remembrance
Displayed in the Memorial Chamber
of the Peace Tower in Ottawa on March 10
The Ettrick, owned by P&O Steam Navigation Co Ltd,
London was requisitioned by the British Admiralty in 1939
for troop transport.
Operation Torch, the first Anglo-American amphibious
operation in WW2, was an invasion by British and American
troops of French North Africa started on November 8, 1942.
The Ettrick was one of the troop transport ships used
by the allies in the Operation.
Having successfully landed the troops, the fleet of
liners used to transport the invading force from Britain to
Algeria was subject to U-boats attacks on the return
voyage. Eight of the ships, including the Ettrick, were sunk
by enemy attack.
At 4:14 am on the morning of November 15, U-155
attacked the convoy 120 miles north west of Gibraltar. The
Ettrick was sunk with the loss of six crew and eighteen
naval ratings. The Captain, and two hundred and four crew
members, forty-one gunners and sixty-six naval rating were
rescued.
Among the dead were Joseph Beaton, Charles
Robertson, and Donald Slauenwhile, returning to HMS
Quebec, No. 1 Combined Training Centre, at Inveraray,
Scotland. HMS Quebec trained army and navy service
personnel in the use of minor landing craft for landing
assault troops, supplies, ammunition and weaponry onto
heavily defended enemy occupied beaches.
All three were in training at HMS Quebec and
returning from Operation Torch.
IWM (A 29892)
HMS Quebec
