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In 2003, retired master mariner Captain John (Jack) C.S. Smith was interviewed for the Canadian War Museum Oral History Project. The following recording (and transcript) is an excerpt from this interview. Born on 20 April 1920 in Newfoundland, Smith was an outport schooner fisherman, fishing for cod from dories, at the start of the Second World War. He joined the Newfoundland merchant navy and then the Canadian Merchant Navy, sailing east coast routes (both independent sailings and in convoy) from St. John’s, Newfoundland, to the Caribbean. In this testimony, he recalls an encounter with a submarine off the coast of Bermuda. Smith died on 27 December 2011 in Ottawa, Ontario. (See also Battle of the Atlantic and U-Boat Operations in Canadian Waters.)
Please be advised that Memory Project primary sources may deal with personal testimony that reflect the speaker’s recollections and interpretations of events. Individual testimony does not necessarily reflect the views of the Memory Project and Historica Canada.
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Transcript
We came up and we got off of Bermuda. It was a squally morning. There was rainsqualls, dark rainsqualls would come up. We’d go like a scalded cat cause the wind was a good sheet off. In fact, there was too much wind for the mainsail, and we used to lower the mainsail down, so the canvas would touch deck. And then when the squall went by, we would raise it up again. There was a submarine on our quarter. If it was an enemy submarine or a friendly submarine, I don’t know. I would think, from my experiences afterwards, that it had to be a German sub because they were hanging around that area. Shortly after that, a schooner coming back, I mentioned earlier, the Helen Force, in that same area, this guy got shelled and lost the vessel and lost two men, two crew members. So I would think it was a German sub. But he couldn’t catch us because we got a hell of a good wind behind us and we were going good.
Interview with John Smith - FCWM Oral History Project
Accession Number CWM 20020121-145
George Metcalf Archival Collection
© Canadian War Museum
