Max Billiard

Sources: Canadian Virtual War Memorial Commonwealth War Graves Commission u-boat.net Merchant Seamen Deaths, 1939 -1953

Name: Max Billiard Rank: Fireman Service: SS Ocean Venture Canadian Merchant Navy Date of Birth: September, 1914 Place of Birth: Burgeo, Newfoundland Permanent Address: North Sidney, Nova Scotia Marital Status: Single Religion: Church of England Next of Kin: Agnes Billiard (Mother) North Sidney, Nova Scotia Date of Death: February 8, 1942 Age at Death: 27 Memorial: Halifax Memorial, Halifax, NS Grave Reference: Panel 22 Commemorated on Page 95 of the Merchant Navy Book of Remembrance Displayed in the Memorial Chamber of the Peace Tower in Ottawa on February 27 and July 27 Max (Maxwell) Billiard was the son of Agnes Martha (Crewe) Billiard (1892-1971). Max served as a Fireman n the SS Ocean Venture. The crew totalled 45, including the captain and two DEMS (Defensively Equipped Merchant Ship) gunners. The Ocean Venture carried 9115 tons of foodstuffs and four aircraft as deck cargo. The ship departed Vancouver, British Columbia passed through the Panama Canal and was enroute to Hampton Roads, Virginia and onward to the United Kingdom. Sailing unescorted on February 8, 1942, the ship was hit by one torpedo from U-108 near Cape Hatteras and stopped. The crew abandoned the ship after hit again in an attempt to sink the ship, but the vessel remained afloat and sank by the bow following a second hit at 11.16 hours. 30 crew members and the two DEMS gunners were lost. The master and 13 crew members were picked up by USS Roe and landed at Norfolk, Virginia. Max Billiard was the only Canadian crew member, and his name is commemorated on the Halifax Memorial. The other 31 crew members including the two DEMS gunners lost are commemorated on the Tower Hill Memorial in the United Kingdom.