The Caribou Disaster and Other Short Stories by Cassie Brown published by Flanker Press, St. John’s, 1996
Excerpts from various stories
The Caribou Disaster

According to the purser, Thomas Fleming, Captain Ben Taverner had a premonition that something was about to happen and two hours later it did. A 500 ton German U-boat, U-69, hit the Caribou with a torpedo and within minutes she sank. Capt. Ben was not the only person to have a feeling of impending danger as William Lundrigan of Corner Brook also had that feeling. P/O Gerald Bastow, an airman who had just finished the Fighter Operational Training Course, was coming home before embarking for the United Kingdom and he also had a premonition.

Mr. Fleming recalls that he and his assistant William Hogan of Carbonear were in their office on the bridge deck when Captain Ben came in and said that he was restless and uneasy because there was only one escort ship and he didn’t like their course even though it was set by the Royal Canadian Navy. Within the hour the ship was struck.

William Lundrigan was on his way home to Corner Brook to get some well deserved rest according to doctor’s orders but when he stepped aboard he felt that the Caribou was in danger. All through the night he walked the deck of the ship and when everyone had gone to bed he began to familiarize himself with the part of the ship that he would have to go to in case the ship was torpedoed.

It was 3:10 a.m. when the torpedo struck and less than ten minutes the Caribou had gone under.

 

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