SS Nereus and SS Proteus Remembering the Lost Nova Scotian Merchant Seamen The SS Nereus was a steel-hulled cargo ship originally built in 1913 by the Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company in Virginia. Designed as a collier for the U.S. Navy, the ship was commissioned as USS Nereus (AC-10) and served by transporting coal to American warships. Eventually decommissioned and sold to commercial interests, the vessel was acquired by the Aluminum Company of Canada in the early 1940s and adapted for hauling bauxite, a crucial ore used in the production of aluminum for Allied aircraft during the Second World War. On December 10, 1941, the Nereus departed from St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands bound for Canada, carrying a full load of bauxite and a crew of 61, including her captain, John Thomas Bennett. The ship was never seen again. No distress calls were sent, no debris recovered, and no trace of her wreckage was ever discovered. The Nereus’s loss mirrored the mysterious fate of her near-identical sister ship, the SS Proteus, which had vanished just two weeks earlier, on November 23, 1941, under almost identical circumstances. Also owned by the Aluminum Company of Canada, the Proteus had departed St. Thomas with a similar cargo and crew complement of 58 and, like the Nereus, disappeared without a trace enroute to Portland, Maine. Several theories have emerged over the years. At the time, enemy submarine activity was considered, given the ongoing Battle of the Atlantic. However, no recorded German U-boat claims or Allied military reports correspond to the locations or timelines of the disappearances. Another widely considered explanation involves structural fatigue, both ships were nearly three decades old, and the heavy bauxite loads might have stressed their ageing frames beyond tolerance, causing them to break apart in rough seas. The disappearances of the Nereus and Proteus remain among the maritime mysteries of World War II. SS Proteus was lost on November 23, 1941, with 58 crew members including two with a Nova Scotia connection. Samuel Roy Cardwell was born on May 16, 1873, in West Derby, Liverpool, Lancashire, England. He was the son of Samuel Roy Cardwell (1849-1902) and Mary Elizabeth (Hill) Cardwell (1846-1897). In January, 1902 he married Alice Drummond (1875-1955) in Liverpool England. They had two sons, Roy Drummond Cardwell (1903-1974) and Alfred Cardwell (1906-1990). He married Adelaide Saunders, (b. Newfoundland) in Halifax, Nova Scotia, after 1931. Commemorated on Page 108 of the Merchant Navy Book of Remembrance. Displayed in the Memorial Chamber of the Peace Tower in Ottawa on March 6 and August 3 John Joseph LeBlanc was the son of Alexandre Le Blanc and Lucie Doucette of New Waterford, Nova Scotia. Commemorated on Page 172 of the Merchant Navy Book of Remembrance. Displayed in the Memorial Chamber of the Peace Tower in Ottawa on April 7, September 4, and November 10 SS Nereus was lost on December 10, 1941, with 61 crew members including five with a Nova Scotia connection. Clarence Keldon Cleveland was born on October 18, 1916, in Gaspereau, Kings Co., Nova Scotia. He was the son of Edwin Dadmond Cleveland (1887-1953) and Alice Gertrude Jordan (1890-1970), of Canning, Kings Co., NS. Commemorated on Page 114 of the Merchant Navy Book of Remembrance Displayed in the Memorial Chamber of the Peace Tower in Ottawa on March 9 and August 6 Edward Norman Fitzmaurice was born on January 1, 1918, the son of Charles Thomas Fitzmaurice (1867-1949) and Florence Millie Mosher (1873- 1923) of Bedford, Halifax, Nova Scotia. Commemorated on Page 135 of the Merchant Navy Book of Remembrance Displayed in the Memorial Chamber of the Peace Tower in Ottawa on March 19 and August 16 Walter Patrick Gabriel was the brother of Grant Joseph Gabriel, of Halifax, Nova Scotia. Commemorated on Page 139 of the Merchant Navy Book of Remembrance Displayed in the Memorial Chamber of the Peace Tower in Ottawa on March 21 and August 18 Basil Morris Harvey, was born on June 4, 1920 in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He was the son of Frederick Cochrane Harvey (1894-1951)and Mabel Blanche Hines (1894-1958) of Armdale, Nova Scotia. Commemorated on Page 152 of the Merchant Navy Book of Remembrance Displayed in the Memorial Chamber of the Peace Tower in Ottawa on March 28, August 25, and October 31 Clarence Howard Monroe was born on October 1, 1908. He was the son Harvey Stanley Munroe (1879-1966) and Charlotte Elizabeth Conrad (1881-1948) of Guysborough, Nova Scotia, and the husband of Muriel Munroe of Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. Commemorated on Page 199 of the Merchant Navy Book of Remembrance Displayed in the Memorial Chamber of the Peace Tower in Ottawa on April 20, September 17, and November 23

Sources: Canadian Virtual War Memorial Commonwealth War Graves Commission Nova Scotia Archives - Births, Marriages findagrave