SS Caribou Memorial

Memorial to the 137 people killed when U-boat torpedoed the overnight ferry in 1942

The memorial in the town centre commemorates the sinking of the SS Caribou on 14 October 1942. The ferry was making its regular crossing of the Cabot Strait when a German submarine torpedoed it; the ship sank in under five minutes. Of the 238 passengers and crew, 137 drowned — an enormous loss for a small community that depended on the crossing.

The monument lists the names of the dead. The tragedy is still remembered in the region, and the memorial is a quiet, sobering stop near the ferry terminal that puts the route in a different perspective.

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A story
On 14 October 1942, the SS Caribou was making its regular overnight crossing from North Sydney to Port aux Basques when a German U-boat, U-69, fired a single torpedo. The ship sank in minutes. Of the 238 people on board — passengers and crew, many of them servicemen — 137 died. It was the worst maritime disaster in Newfoundland's history and the last major U-boat attack in Canadian coastal waters.