Ambrose Ivan Kehoe

Sources: Canadian Virtual War Memorial uboat.net

Name: Ambrose Ivan Kehoe Rank: Fireman Service: SS Ingerfire (Bergen, Norway) Canadian Merchant Navy Date of Birth: November 18, 1905 Place of Birth: Sydney, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia Address: 121 Cottage Road, Sydney, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia Date of Death: April 11, 1943 Age: 37 Memorial: Halifax Memorial, Halifax, Nova Scotia Reference: Panel 23 Commemorated on Page 164 of the Merchant Navy Book of Remembrance Displayed in the Memorial Chamber of the Peace Tower in Ottawa on April 3, August 31, and November 6 Ambrose, also known as ‘Bo’, was the son of John Charles Kehoe Jr (1872-1939) and Ann Temperance (Tobin) Kehoe (1876-1950) of Sydney, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. The Ingerfire was enroute from Barrow, England, to Halifax, Nova Scotia, with convoy ONS-2; however, the ship had lost the convoy in stormy weather. On April 11, 1943, at 10:28 pm, the ship was torpedoed by U-613 and sank in less than a minute about 400 miles east of Newfoundland. The vessel was struck by two torpedoes. The crew had barely unhooked the lifeboats from their falls when a third torpedo hit. One lifeboat capsized instantly, while the other was swamped after a life raft landed directly on top of it. The Ingerfire rose to a vertical position and sank so rapidly that everyone remaining on board was forced to jump into the freezing Atlantic. Once the raft was cleared from the swamped lifeboat, the two were moored together to keep the survivors grouped. Those in the water were hauled aboard, many of them suffering from wounds. The Ingerfire had a crew component of 36. Eight of the crew were lost including Ambrose Kehoe the only Canadian crew member. The following day, a U-boat surfaced alongside the boats, with the Germans questioning the survivors for their names and ship's information. The survivors, including the captain, were picked up in the afternoon of April 12 by the Canadian destroyer HMCS St. Croix and the Canadian Corvette HMCS Camrose.