“Most of the crew were asleep in their mess decks in the forward part of the ship, which drifted clear of the after part, capsized and sank in under a minute’s time. Every man in the forward half of the ship, and on the bridge, was killed.”

By James Brun

NICHOLAS MONSARRAT concluded the prologue of his great novel of war in the Atlantic with the words, “…and the only villain the cruel sea itself.”[1] Those words perfectly describe the short and deadly wartime service of His Majesty’s Canadian Ship (HMCS) Margaree during the Second World War.

Margaree began her life as the D-class destroyer, HMS Diana in the Royal Navy but was renamed Margaree and transferred to the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) to replace HMCS Fraser, which had met a tragic end off the coast of France in June of 1940. Fraser was cut in half during a collision with the British cruiser HMS Calcutta. Many of the survivors embarked in Margaree following her commissioning into the RCN, a mere two months after surviving that horrific accident. In a tragic twist of fate during the Battle of the Atlantic, Margaree would be sunk two days into her first escort patrol. Like Fraser, she also was sliced in two during a collision with an Allied ship.

HMS Diana was laid down in 1931 by Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company in Hebburn-on-Tyne, and commissioned into His Majesty’s service in 1932. She displaced 1,375 tonnes, was 100 metres long, and could make good an enviable 31 knots. Her complement of 180 men and officers crewed four 4.7-inch guns, one three-inch gun, a pair of two-pounders, machine guns, torpedoes and depth charges.[2] 

On Sept. 6, 1940, HMS Diana was renamed HMCS Margaree, and commissioned into the RCN. She immediately underwent a refit at the Albert Docks in London, before transiting to Londonderry. On Oct. 20, Margaree slipped her berth and proceeded to sea on her first patrol, bound for Canada as an escort for a fast convoy of five merchant ships designated OL 8.[3]

The following night, OL 8 was 400 miles west of Ireland when a squall closed in, severely hampering visibility.[4]

Margaree was patrolling ahead of the convoy, and in the heavy weather, her lookouts lost sight of the merchant ships they were escorting. Margaree’s first lieutenant reduced speed to allow the ship to gradually fall back within visual range of the merchant ships. This ‘fall-back’ manoeuvre was carefully explained to his relief when he turned over the watch at midnight.[5]

At 0125, a lookout on the escorted merchant freighter, Port Fairy, sighted Margaree close off the starboard bow.[6] Moments later, Margaree altered sharply to port, cutting across Port Fairy’s bow. Desperate to avoid collision, the freighter stopped her engines, and ordered them full astern to check her forward momentum. Unfortunately, it was too late. Port Fairy’s bow sliced through Margaree just aft of her bridge, and cut the destroyer in half. 

Lieutenant William Landymore, who had survived Fraser’s sinking, shot out of his cabin and rushed to the deck to see the bridge “smashed all to hell.”[7] Most of the crew were asleep in their mess decks in the forward part of the ship, which drifted clear of the after part, capsized and sank in under a minute’s time. Every man in the forward half of the ship, and on the bridge, was killed  — including the captain.[8]

The force of the impact spun Margaree’s severed stern around so that for a moment she was held alongside Port Fairy. Seizing the opportunity for escape, some of those in Margaree’s engine room, as well as off-duty officers, managed to scramble to safety in Port Fairy. Tragically, other men fell between the two ships and were lost. A small group of survivors remained aboard Margaree, setting her embarked depth charges to ‘safe’ to prevent their ignition as they sank with the destroyer. This act of heroism prevented further damage to other ships in the convoy. During this time, the after part of the ship drifted away from Port Fairy. This small group of brave sailors escaped from the wreck onto a Carley float, and were recovered from the churning seas an hour later by Allied ships.

Attempting to sink Margaree’s remains, Port Fairy fired 26 rounds from her four-inch gun into the crippled destroyer.[9] After sunrise, a small party of Canadian survivors returned to their ship to scuttle it, but found fires burning near the after magazine and were unable to board her. Port Fairy fired 10 more rounds into Margaree and then rejoined the convoy.

As there were no survivors from Margaree’s bridge, a Board of Inquiry convened after her loss was unable to determine what led to the collision and sinking.[10] We will never know if Margaree’s bridge watch saw Port Fairy, or not. We will never know whether the destroyer’s hard turn to port was an error, a misunderstood order, or an equipment malfunction. What is certain, however, is that the actions of those aboard Port Fairy following the collision saved the lives of Canadian sailors.

HMCS Margaree sank with 142 souls, 86 of whom survived the sinking of HMCS Fraser.

James Brun is a lieutenant commander in the Royal Canadian Navy and the commanding officer of HMCS Yellowknife (MM706). For his daily tweets of rare and fascinating World War Two photos, follow him at @lebrunjames81

[1] Monsarrat, Nicholas. The Cruel Sea. (London, England; Penguin Publishing, 2002), 10.

[2] Government of Canada. “HMCS Margaree”. https://www.canada.ca/en/navy/services/history/ships-histories/margaree.html. Accessed 16 February 2022. 

[3] Schull, Joseph. The Far Distant Ships: An Official Account of Canadian Naval Operations in the Second World War. (Ottawa: Queen’s Printer, 1961), 49.

[4] Douglas, W. A. B., Roger Sarty, Michael Whitby, Robert H. Caldwell, William Johnston, and William G. P. Rawling. No Higher Purpose: the Official Operational History of the Royal Canadian Navy in the Second World War, 1939-1943 Volume II, Part I. (St. Catharines, ON: Vanwell Publishing, 2002), 116.

[5] Douglas et al, No Higher Purpose, 116.

[6] Douglas et al, No Higher Purpose, 116.

[7] Douglas et al, No Higher Purpose, 117.

[8] Schull, Far Distant Ships, 50.

[9] Douglas et al, No Higher Purpose, 117.

[10] Douglas et al, No Higher Purpose, 117.