Remembering World War II

SS Wigry

The SS Wigry, a steam-powered Polish cargo ship was travelling from Reykjavik to New York in January of 1942. Twenty-five crew members perished during the incident with only two survivors including one Icelander and one Polish. The ship departed for the US from Hafnarfjordur harbor south of Reykjavik. The main cargo was fish. The weather that day was very bad, with high winds and low visibility (less then 100 meters). The ship was proceeding until one of the boilers exploded, with some men injured from the explosion. Without the boiler, the ship did not have enough power to keep up with the storm and drifted towards the shore where it stranded. The crew launched rescue boats. Three of the sailors on Wigry refused to go in them, and they drowned when the ship sank. Dark and stormy, it was impossible to get to the shore. The sailors on the rescue boats tried to wait for daylight and better weather, but the boat capsized. Some of the men drowned including the injured from the boiler blast. Five of them managed to hang on the keel of the ship, but one by one they lost their grip and drowned. In the morning they were only three on the keel. They tried to swim to the shore and two of them did make it. One of them drowned. When the last two made it ashore one of them lost consciousness but survived. The other got to a farm and called for help. The two survivors were Bragi Kristjánsson (Icelandic) and 2nd Officer Ludwik Smolski (from Poland). On September 9, 1961, the Polish government raised a memorial in the Fossvogur Cemetery in Reykjavik, where the Polish sailors lie. One of the two surviving crew members, Braga Kristjansson, was present at the ceremony. The 25 dead include 4 Canadians, and English, Greek, Icelandic, Latvian, Egyptian, and Polish crew members. Of the four Canadians - three of them had ties to Nova Scotia. The three Nova Scotians are listed below. Reginald Smallwood, born January 18, 1916, in Armstrong, British Columbia, was the fourth Canadian lost.

John Dickson (Fireman) Date of Birth: January 13, 1913 Place of Birth: born in Sydney Mines, Cape Breton, NS Date of Death: January 16, 1942 Age at Death: 29 Memorial: SS Wigry Memorial, Fossvogur Cemetery, Reykjavik, West Iceland John was the son of Mrs. Harry Boudreau of Sydney but originally from Dominion near Glace Bay. The Canadian Virtual War Memorial incorrectly lists his date of death as January 1, 1942. Commemorated on Page 126 of the Merchant Navy Book of Remembrance Displayed in the Memorial Chamber of the Peace Tower in Ottawa on March 15th and August 12th Not commemorated by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission Canadian Virtual War Memorial Carl William Julien (Steward/Chef) Date of Birth: December 11, 1922 Place of Birth: Sydney, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia Date of Death: January 15, 1942 Age at Death: 19 Memorial: SS Wigry Memorial, Fossvogur Cemetery, Reykjavik, West Iceland Carl William Julien’s parents are unknown. He and his brother Max were left orphans at an early age and were brought up by relatives in Sydney, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. Carl attended Sydney Academy. Laura Bond, of Truro, Nova Scotia, was an aunt. Adelaide Mary Plumptre with the Canadian Red Cross sent two queries concerning a missing person to the Polish Transport Committee in London, England, on August 17 and 19, 1942. The person she was searching was said to be ‘Carl Wilhelm Julian’ born in December 1922. This was Carl William Julien born in Sydney, Canada, December 11, 1922. He embarked on the SS Wigry in England September 20, 1941, as a steward. Carl William Julien stayed aboard the ship with the ship’s Polish Captain Wladyslaw Grabowski. Commemorated on Page 8 of the Merchant Navy Book of Remembrance Displayed in the Memorial Chamber of the Peace Tower in Ottawa on January 7th, January 8th, June 6th, and June 7th Not commemorated by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission Canadian Virtual War Memorial Charles Henry Peach (Wireless Operator/Liaison Radio Officer) Date of Birth: March 15, 1915 Place of Birth: Louisbourg, Cape Breton, NS Date of Death: January 16, 1942 Age at Death: 26 Memorial: SS Wigry Memorial, Fossvogur Cemetery, Reykjavik, West Iceland Charles Henry Peach was the son of James Henry Peach (1873-1920) and Flora Elizabeth (Martell) Peach (1877-1967) of Halifax, NS. His father born in Louisbourg, Cape Breton, and his mother was born in Main-A-Dieu, Cape Breton. Charles was the wireless operator aboard SS Wigry. Halifax Herald from April 2, 1942, dated April 3, 1942, quote: Death of CHARLES HENRY PEACH "According to a news item in yesterday’s issue of the Halifax Herald, Charles Henry Peach, a native of Louisbourg, had been lost at sea. He was a wireless operator on board a Polish steamer at the time of his death, presumably as a result of the ship being sunk by enemy action. He was a son of the late Henry Peach formally of this town, but who removed to Halifax many years ago. The mother of Charles Peach, who was before her marriage, Miss Flora Martell of Main-A-Dieu, lives at Halifax." He is commemorated on the family headstone at the Fairview Lawn Cemetery in Halifax, NS, but not interred there. He is not currently commemorated in Canada’s Merchant Navy Book of Remembrance in Ottawa, nor by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission

Remembering Merchant Seamen John Dickson (Fireman) Carl William Julien (Steward/Chef) Charles Henry Peach (Wireless Operator/Liaison Radio Officer) Reginald Smallwood (Able Seaman)

SS Wigry photo from the Maritime Museum of Reykjavík

Sources: Alexander Witold Bogdanski, Memory Curator of SS Wigry crew President of The Association of Poles in Iceland shipwreck.eu

SS Wigry Memorial, Reykjavik, Iceland.