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S.S. CORNWALLIS
This page is not meant to be a comprehensive history of SS Cornwallis., but a record of sailors of the ROYAL CANADIAN NAVY who served in her, photos they took and stories they may have shared with their families.
Completed in October 1921 as Canadian Transporter for the Canadian Government. 1932 renamed Cornwallis for Canadian National Steamships Ltd, Montreal.
On 11 Sep 1942, U-514 (Auffermann) fired a total of six torpedoes at Cornwallis and the Norwegian motor merchant Betancuria (2696 grt) in the harbour of Bridgetown, Barbados. At 22.37 hours, two G7e bow torpedoes were fired, one on each target from a distance of about 3500 meters, followed by single G7e bow torpedoes on each ship at 22.43 and 22.55 hours. The U-boat then turned around and fired both G7e stern torpedoes from a distance of about 2200 metres at 23.02 hours, again at both targets. Auffermann claimed the sinking of two ships with 7500 grt and 4500 grt, but he was not aware of the torpedo net off Carlisle Bay that caught most of the shots. Only the last torpedo fired at Cornwallis apparently passed a hole in the net made by a previous shot and hit the ship abreast of #2 hold, causing her to sink in shallow waters at 13°05N/59°36W. She was raised and after temporary repairs towed to Trinidad in December 1942 and later towed to Mobile, arriving on 24 Jan 1943. The ship was repaired and returned to service in August 1943.
At 10.00 hours on 3 Dec 1944 the unescorted Cornwallis (Master Emerson Horace Robinson) was torpedoed and sunk by a Gnat from U-1230 10 miles southwest of Mount Desert Rock in the Gulf of Maine. The master, 35 crew members and seven gunners were lost. Five survivors were picked up by the fishing vessel Notre Dame and landed at Rockland, Maine. (Ship's history from the U-Boat.net)
Divers find long-lost WW II shipwreck headed for Saint John - CBC New Brunswick 08 Nov 2026
Divers discover wreck of long-lost Second World War ship - Global National 10 Nov 2026 (Video news story)
(CRW001) South - S.S. Cornwallis, Puerto Rico (CRW002) Ken James, S.S. Cornwallis, South (CRW003) South, S.S. Cornwallis, Trinidad From the collection of Robert Webster, PO, RCNVR
How long would you wait to learn where your son was lost?
For two North Sydney families, the answer was 82 years.
This week, divers announced they had found the ship that took George Whalen and Willy Quilty, nearly 400 feet down in the Gulf of Maine.
George and William "Willy" Quilty were best friends, and both served in the Royal Canadian Navy. Late in the war, the two were working as temporary crew on a Canadian merchant ship, the SS Cornwallis. George was 21.
The Cornwallis had already survived one torpedo. In 1942, a U-boat hit her in the harbour at Barbados. She was raised, patched and sent back to work.
On November 20, 1944, she left Barbados again, loaded with sugar and molasses for Saint John, New Brunswick. There were 48 people on board, and more than a dozen of them were Nova Scotians.
So why was a German submarine waiting off the coast of Maine.
It had just landed two spies at Hancock, Maine. Days later, at about 6 a.m. on December 3, 1944, it fired at the Cornwallis about 10 miles southwest of Mount Desert Rock. The ship sank in under ten minutes.
In 2003, Willy's nephew Ian Baird spoke with the last living survivor. The survivor remembered that Willy was on watch in the boiler room when the torpedo hit.
Only five survived. Forty-three were lost, George and Willy among them. They have no grave. Their names are on the Halifax Memorial in Point Pleasant Park, Panel 23.
For almost 82 years, nobody knew exactly where the Cornwallis lay. Then, in July 2026, a team of volunteer divers from New Hampshire, the Nomad Exploration Team, found her after seven years of searching. "This is a grave," diver Danny Allan said. "It's closure for their families."
Two friends, one ship, and after 82 years, a place their families can finally point to on a map.
(Article transcribed from unknown source. Courtesy of Bill Gard)
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In memory of those who made the ultimate sacrifice
Lest We Forget
