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In memory of those who have Crossed the Bar
Halifax Mail Star, Friday, 02 Sep 1949 Courtesy of / Research by George Newbury
Historical note: On April 17, 1943, Flora Alberta, skippered by Captain Guy Tanner, left Lunenburg and headed to the Western Bank fishing grounds. Flora Alberta arrived in the fishing grounds on April 18 and fished for three days. On April 20, 1943, British steamer Fanad Head left Halifax, Nova Scotia alongside a convoy of eight ships heading to the United Kingdom. Fanad Head had a length of 420 feet and a net registered tonnage of 3002 tons.
On April 21, 1943 at approximately 5:20 a.m. (ADT), the Flora Alberta was hit on the starboard side by the Fanad Head in dense fog. The incident occurred approximately 140 kilometers southeast of Halifax. The Flora Alberta was sliced in two by the collision and sank within a few minutes. Most of the Flora Alberta crew were sleeping at the time of the collision and did not have time to escape the sinking ship. Twenty-one of the twenty-eight crew members aboard the Flora Alberta died. The Fanad Head crew put three lifeboats in the ocean immediately after the collision and rescued the surviving crew members.
The deaths of 21 crew members left 46 fatherless children. The local MLA, John James Kinley interceded on behalf of the widows and obtained pensions for the families, based on the sinking being a "wartime incident".
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