A ghost ship, also known as a phantom ship, is a vessel with no living crew aboard; it may be a fictional ghostly vessel, such as the Flying Dutchman, or a physical derelict found adrift with its crew missing or dead, like the Mary Celeste. The term is sometimes used for ships that have been decommissioned but not yet scrapped, as well as drifting boats that have been found after breaking loose of their ropes and being carried away by the wind or the waves.
CP Ships was a large Canadian shipping company established in the 19th century. From the late 1880s until after World War II, the company was Canada's largest operator of Atlantic and Pacific steamships. Many immigrants travelled on CP ships from Europe to Canada. In 1914 the sinking of the Canadian Pacific steamship RMS Empress of Ireland just before World War I became largest maritime disaster in Canadian history. The company provided Canadian Merchant Navy vessels in World Wars I and II. Twelve vessels were lost due to enemy action in World War II, including the RMS Empress of Britain, which was the largest ship ever sunk by a German U-boat.
SC 7 was the code name for a large Allied convoy in the Second World War comprising 35 merchant ships and six escorts, which sailed eastbound from Sydney, Nova Scotia, for Liverpool and other British ports on 5 October 1940. While crossing the Atlantic, the convoy was attacked by one of the first U-boat wolfpacks. The escorts were overwhelmed, twenty of the 35 cargo vessels were sunk and two were damaged, with 141 lives lost. The disaster demonstrated the potency of wolfpacks and the inadequacy of British anti-submarine operations.
The Battle of the Caribbean refers to a naval campaign waged during World War II that was part of the Battle of the Atlantic, from 1941 to 1945. German U-boats and Italian submarines attempted to disrupt the Allied supply of oil and other material. They sank shipping in the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico and attacked coastal targets in the Antilles. Improved Allied anti-submarine warfare eventually drove the Axis submarines out of the Caribbean region.
SS Aenos, formerly SS Cedar Branch, was a British-built cargo steamship. She was completed in England in 1910 and sunk in the Battle of the Atlantic in 1940.
The SS Snefjeld was a steam merchant ship active from 1909 to 1940, serving in both world wars. The ship served first under Dutch flag, followed by the Norwegian.
German submarine U-564 was a Type VIIC U-boat built for Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine for service during the Second World War. The RAF sank her in the Bay of Biscay on 14 June 1943.
The SS Nerissa was a passenger and cargo steamer which was torpedoed and sunk on 30 April 1941 during World War II by the German submarine U-552 following 12 wartime voyages between Canada and Britain. She was the only transport carrying Canadian Army troops to be lost during World War II.
MV British Prudence was a tanker built by Sir James Laing & Sons Ltd. of Sunderland in 1939 and operated by the British Tanker Company. A U-boat sank her in 1942 off the coast of Newfoundland. She was a victim of the Second Happy Time: the Kriegsmarine's Operation Drumbeat to sink Allied merchant shipping in the Western Atlantic
RNLB J C Madge was a Liverpool-class, Pulling and Sailing non-self righting lifeboat stationed at Sheringham in the English county of Norfolk from December 1904 until June 1936 during which time she was launched on service 34 times and saved 58 lives. J C Madge was replaced by Forester’s Centenary.
Empire Drum was a 7,244 GRT cargo ship that was built in 1941 by William Doxford & Sons Ltd, Sunderland, Co Durham, United Kingdom for the Ministry of War Transport (MoWT). Completed in March 1942, she had a short career, being torpedoed and sunk on 24 April 1942 by U-136.
Habib Marikar was a 7,067 GRT cargo ship that was built in 1943 by Short Brothers Ltd, Sunderland, Co Durham as Empire Duchess for the Ministry of War Transport (MoWT). She was sold into merchant service in 1949 and renamed Braemar Castle. A further sale in 1950 saw her renamed King James.
RNLB Foresters Centenary is a retired Liverpool-class lifeboat of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI), stationed in the English coastal town of Sheringham in the county of Norfolk in the United Kingdom. The lifeboat was on station for 25 years between 1936 and 1961 when she was sold. She has been restored to her original condition and is exhibited in Sheringham Museum.
RNLB Cecil Paine is a retired Liverpool-class non-self-righting lifeboat of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution. It was the second motor lifeboat to be stationed in the English coastal town of Wells-next-the-Sea in the county of Norfolk in the United Kingdom, and was on station at Wells from 25 July 1945 until she was sold in June 1965.
Henry Ramey Upcher was the second private lifeboat to be stationed in the English town of Sheringham in the county of Norfolk. She was launched on 4 September 1894 and stayed on station for 41 years until she was slowly retired from duty and by 1935 had ceased rescue work completely. The lifeboat is now on permanent display in her converted original boat shed.
Convoy SQ-36 was a trade convoy of merchant ships during the Second World War. It was one of the numbered SQ convoys from Sydney, Nova Scotia to Québec. The convoy was found on 15 September 1942 by U-517, which then destroyed two ships from the convoy while U-165 sank another and damaged two.
Several vessels have been named Walmer Castle for Walmer Castle:
SS Nailsea Court was a UK cargo steamship. She was launched in 1936 in Sunderland, England. She was named after Nailsea Court in Somerset, England, which is an historic Elizabethan manor house. A U-boat sank her in the North Atlantic in March 1943. 45 men died and only four survived.
SS Commodore was a British-registered collier. She was built at Newcastle upon Tyne in 1870 and served with three companies. She was driven into shallow waters off Sheringham, Norfolk on 7 November 1896. Local fishermen tried to render assistance but were driven off by gale force winds. After the Commodore was driven onto rocks she sent a distress signal and the Sheringham lifeboat Henry Ramey Upcher took off all 14 crew and 3 stranded fishermen. The wreck was blown up in 1906 as a hazard to the Sheringham fishing fleet. The remains were exposed by storms in September 2021.
Canada/United Kingdom