The SS Lord Kelvin The British SS Lord Kelvin was a cable-laying ship which served during the Second World War. First owned by the British American Telegraph Company and completed in 1916, the ship was sold the same year to Transatlantic Cables. It was tasked with laying cables until taken out of service in 1963 and broken up in 1967. On September 27, 1942, while southwest of Anticosti Island, the ship was performing cable work when the Canadian Bangor-class minesweeper HMCS Chedabucto was ordered to escort her to Rimouski, Quebec. Chedabucto was running in a blacked-out state, and at 05:55, Lord Kelvin rammed the minesweeper in its side, near the wardroom. One member of Chedabucto's crew was killed in the collision. Three men who served aboard the SS Lord Kelvin with ties to Nova Scotia died due to service in WWII. They were: Name: Melville Henry Bloomer Rank: Master Date of Birth: 1893 Place of Birth: Islington, London, England Date of Death: June 30, 1940 Age: 48 Cemetery: St Johns Cemetery, Halifax, Nova Scotia Grave: Section M, Row 29, Lot 567 Commemorated on Page 97 of the Merchant Navy Book of Remembrance Displayed in the Memorial Chamber of the Peace Tower in Ottawa on February 28, 29, and July 28 Melville was the son of Reverend Henry Bloomer and Edith Sarah (Jecks) Bloomer, and husband of Hylda Marion (Morley) Bloomer (1899-1998) of Australia, whom he married on January 13, 1921. Hylda served in the Women's Auxiliary Army Corps of the Royal Air Force in WWI. His children were Peter Henry Edward Bloomer, Julian Cyril Stephen Bloomer, Basil Bloomer, Newcomb Bloomer, and Celia Edith Marion Bloomer. He earned his certificate of competency as First Mate of a foreign going ship June 25, 1915, in England. Serving in the Royal Navy in WWI, he was mentioned in Despatches (Lieutenant, Royal Naval Reserve, London Gazette, 1919). In 1921, he was living in Dover in Kent, England and serving as First Officer of HMS Kilmun, o of fifty-four Kil Class patrol gunboats of the Royal Navy. He immigrated to Canada in 1925. Captain Melville Bloomer was also the co-inventor of the submarine cable plow. He died at Halifax, Nova Scotia on June 30, 1940, of natural causes. Melville’s UK, Merchant Seamen Deaths, 1939 -1953 file records his date of death as July 1, 1940. Canadian Virtual War Memorial Name: John Cossar Rank: 4th Mate Date of Birth: October 20, 1909 Place of Birth: Red Island, Newfoundland Date of Death: February 15, 1947 Age: 38 Cemetery: Camp Hill Cemetery, Halifax, Nova Scotia Grave: Section XX, Row F Commemorated on Page 116 of the Merchant Navy Book of Remembrance Displayed in the Memorial Chamber of the Peace Tower in Ottawa on March 10 and August 7 John was the son of Arthur Cossar (1871-1965) and Caroline (Kinslow) Cossar (1871-1944), and the brother of Miriam Cossar (1902-1947), Mary Jane Cossar (1904-1940), and Lott Cossar (1907-1994). He was also the husband of Gertrude Stella Miles (1911-1979), and the father of Raymond Dennis Cossar (1942-1970), Samuel Miles Cossar (1946-1946), and three other children John moved from Newfoundland to Cape Breton in 1929, married Gertrude in 1938 in Halifax, and the two had two sons in 1944 and 1946. They lived on Summit Street in Halifax. John died of drowning in San Juan, Puerto Rico on February 15, 1947. Canadian Virtual War Memorial Name: Edwin Renouf Rank: Leading Seaman Date of Birth: January 14, 1898 Place of Birth: Sandy Point, Bay St. George, Newfoundland Date of Death: January 29, 1948 Age: 50 Cemetery: Camp Hill Cemetery, Halifax, Nova Scotia Grave: Unknown Edwin was the son of John Henry Renouf (1855-1938) and Elizabeth Martha (Morris) Renouf (1858-1940). He was the husband of Mildred A Messervy (1901-1995), and the father of Rita May Renouf (1919-2013) and John Earle Renouf (1922-2009). He married Mildred in Sandy Point, Newfoundland in 1919. Leading Seaman Edwin Renouf died of a pulmonary embolism on January 29, 1948, during an operation at the Halifax Infirmary. Edwin lived at 52 Berlin Street in Halifax, Nova Scotia.