Ship SSNerissa

Sinking of the SS Nerissa

Winnipeg Tribune May 7 1941

By April 1941, the troopship SS Nerissa had made a dozen wartime crossings of the North Atlantic. Her final crossing began on 21 April 1941 in Halifax. The Officer Commanding all embarked Canadian and Allied troops (OC Troops) was Lieutenant Colonel Kenneth Charles Burness, MC and Bar, PPCLI. Nerissa arrived in St. John's Newfoundland at about 6:00 AM local time on Wednesday 23 April. Early on the 24rd, she sailed independently from St. John's bound for Liverpool. A total of 291 persons were embarked:

• 105 Merchant Navy crew members
• 16 Royal Canadian Navy (4 officers and 12 Ordinary Telegraphists)
• 108 Canadian Army personnel from logistics, artillery, medical, infantry, armoured, signals, engineers and provost (RCMP) units
• 5 Royal Navy (Including 2 DEMS gunners for assisting the crew in manning the 4-inch Breech Loading MK VII naval gun)
• 12 Royal Air Force - A Wing Commander and staff of 11 were returning to the UK after serving as Officer Commanding Troops (O.C. Troops) in various troopships
• 7 British Army - An officer of the 11th Hussars and 6 Royal Artillery Maritime Regiment gunners for manning the Bofors 40-mm anti-aircraft gun
• 14 Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA) American pilots
• 4 Norwegian Army Air Service personnel who had completed training at the "Little Norway" base on Toronto Island, and were being transferred to air force headquarters in London
• 20 civilians

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