I Survived The Wreck of The S.S. Caribou

John (Jack) T. Dominie

Jack Dominie was born at Cape La Hune, on the west coast of Newfoundland. Here is his story of the wreck of the Gulf ferry S.S. Caribou. She was struck by a torpedo in the early morning of October 14, 1942.

I JOINED THE CARIBOU on the first day of August, when she was in St. John's for a refit. We signed articles to sail on the 27th of September and picked up our run in North Sydney.

My job was seaman. We were on watch the night she got torpedoed. Those times you had four hours on and four off. Now, we were on at twelve o'clock that night; well, we had to get up and let the other watch go off. I went on watch on the starboard side of the bridge that night.

Captain Tavenor was coming and going all night, one place and the other. I don't know how many different men he sent up on the wheelhouse, to see if they could see the lights from the escort. He was an uncomfortable man.

We didn't get any warning. Two o'clock I went in and took the wheel, and that's where I was when she got torpedoed.

I left the wheel and started to go down on the starboard side. I couldn't see anything for steam. The lifeboats were all covered in with steam, where it struck the engine room, I suppose.

I got to the starboard side and met the bo'sun coming back. He said, "Boy, it's no good for you to go over there. Everything over there is all tangled up." He was excited. He was looking for his young fella and he was all excited.