SS Caribou
Career
Name:	SS Caribou
Ordered:	1925
Builder:	Rotterdam, Netherlands
Fate:	Sunk by German U-boat in the Cabot Strait, 14 October 1942
Notes:	Homeport St. John's, Newfoundland
General characteristics
Length:	84 metres long
Speed:	14.5 knots
Capacity:	3,000 horsepower

SS Caribou was a passenger ferry used by the Newfoundland government's ferry service between Port aux Basques, Newfoundland and North Sydney, Nova Scotia.

Caribou was built in 1925 at Rotterdam, Netherlands for the Newfoundland Railway. Launched in 1925, she had a capacity of 3,000 horsepower (2,200 kW) and was able to reach a speed of 14.5 knots (26.9 km/h) when fully loaded. She also had steam-heat and electric lights in all of her cabins, a luxury at the time. Due to her ice-breaking design, the Caribou also assisted during the seal hunt along the Newfoundland coast each spring.

Caribou was torpedoed by the German U-boat U-69 and sunk in the Cabot Strait during the night of 14 October 1942. Caribou was carrying 46 crew and 206 civilian and military passengers. 137 lost their lives, many of them Newfoundlanders. Of the deceased, 2 were rescued but died of exposure. The remains of 34 victims were found. Only one of the eleven children survived.

[edit] See also

• Newfoundland Railway
• Marine Atlantic
• CN Marine

[edit] Further reading

• Douglas How, Night of the Caribou Hantsport: Lancelot Press, 1988.

[edit] External links

• Railway-Coastal Museum
• Canadian Military Heritage
• Paper on topic
• The History of the Nursing Sisters of Canada
• The Last Voyage of the S.S. Caribou Includes a list of victims and survivors.