Evening star., 1942-10-17
1877 Lost as U-boat !
Sinks Steamer Outside
Gulf Of St. Lawrence
13 Americans Amonq
Victims, Including
Women and Children
6y the Associated Press.

<1S ti't hoSoSiotCu IiNoS.
SYDNEY, Nova Scotia, Oct. II.
An enemy submarine, lurking
Just outside the Gulf of st. Law
renee Wednesday night, torpe-
doed and sank the 1900 ton New
foundland steamer Caribou, TAX
ing the lives of 1877 men, women
and children making an eight
hour overnight trip from North
Sydney, Nova Scotia, to Port Aux
Basques, Newfoundland.
Among the victims were 13 Amer
leans, including eight United States
servicemen. Only one of IS chill
dren aboard the vessel-15-month
old Leonard Shiers of Halifax
survived the sudden attack in Cabot
Strait which caught many of the
passengers asleep in their cabins.
Other victims were IS Canadian
servicemen and 40 civilians, includ-
ing 16 women, and the entire officer
personnel of the ship except Purser
Thomas p Fleming. The bodies
of Capt. Ben Taverner of Channel,
Newfoundland, and his two sons,
Downey and Harold, both ships
officers, were recovered yesterday.
The bodies of 80 other victims have
been found.
American Civilians Missing.
The American civilians missing
and believed lost in the sinking are
William H. Gerth, 50, Camden,
N. j.: James Flynn, 80, New Haven,
Conn; Louis Gagne, %, Woonsocket,
r. l.; John Sheppard, 80, Auburn,
N. Y. and Charles Berry, 43, Mount
Vernon, N. Y. The identity of the
American servicemen lost was not
Immediately disclosed.
Gagne attracted national at
tention two years ago when he and
another sea scout, James Carol,
padded canoe down the Missis-
sippi River to New Orleans. He was
employed as an accountant on a
project in Newfoundland.
The Caribou was only two hours
from her destination when the to-
pedo struck Sleepy-eyed passen-
gers stumbled to the deck, many
dressed in night clothes. The ex-
plosion tore some of the lifeboats
to shreds.
The passengers scrambled into the
remaining lifeboats, at least one of
which capsized, and pushed off.
Some survivors said the submarine
in surfacing smashed one boat and
capsized one or two RATS, contrib
uting to the loss of life.
Fails to Ram U-Boat.
AS his craft, owned by the New
foundland government settled, Capt.
Taverner headed her prov for the
U-boat, but the Caribou slid under
before reaching the submarine.
George Smothers of Toledo, Ohio,
United States Navy cook and one
of the survivors, said there were
so persons in his lifeboat when it
left the doomed ship. The small
craft capsized twice.
when w@ were rescued there
were only six of us left, including
a woman and her baby" Smothers
said.
The woman and her baby were
Mrs. Gladys Shiers and her son,
Leonard, who were on their way to
st. Johns, Newfoundland, to visit
her husband. They were thrown
out of bed by the explosion.
When I got up from the state
room floor" Mrs. Shiers said, Il
grabbed the baby, but by that time
the water was pouring into the ship
and entering so fast I was swept
off my feet. The boat was going
down"
The baby was swept out of her
arms, but when she finally reached
raft Leonard was there in the
arms of another woman.
Bride Loses Husband.
The men sang hymns" Mrs.
Shiers said, "and some one said
prayer to keep our spirits up"
Mrs. j. H. Barrett of Calgary,
bride of two weeks, lost her hus-
band in the sinking. One entire
family, John Taper, Royal Can
adian Navy seaman, his wife and
three children were lost. Nursing
Sister Agnes Wilkie of the Cam
adian Navy, held on a raft for hours
by woman friend, finally slid into
the sea and was lost.
II held her as best 7 could until
daybreak," said her friend, Mar
garet M. Brooke of Ardath, Sas-
katchewan. Finally wave took
her. When I called to her, she
didn't answer. She must have been
unconscious. The men left tried
to reach her, but she floated away"
A blond, 15-month- baby boy
rescued by Purser Fleming only
to die on the rescue ship, will be
buried tomorrow without a name.
His parents apparently were lost,