Owner
Registration No.
Official No.
Vessel Name
Place Constructed
Year Constructed
No. of Decks
No. of Masts
Type of Vessel

Length (ft)
Width (ft)
Depth (ft)
Gross Tonnage
Net Tonnage
Year Registered



 

Customs Newfoundland
S925064
151660
Caribou
Holland
1925
3
2
Steamer

266
41
15
2223
1170
1925



 

The sinking of the S.S. Caribou is probably one of the better known vessels that have been sunk off the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador.

This vessel has its connection to Trinity in that the Captain of the vessel, Benjamin Taverner, was born in Trinity in 1880 and had a family connection to the place that goes back to the 1700s to Jacob and William Taverner who had fishing rooms in Trinity.

In 1702, William is recorded as having fourteen summer and six winter servants. William however did not stay very long before moving back to Poole, England but Jacob stayed and in 1728 became one of the first Justices of the Peace for the district. It is from this branch of the family that the Taverner's descended and in 1753 four of Jacob’s sons, (Benjamin, Jacob, Andrew and Joseph), resided in Trinity and had their own fishing properties.

Through the images and documents that follow you will be able to see, learn and read more about the fate of the S.S. Caribou from the night of October 14, 1942, the witness accounts of some of the survivors and those on shore as well as the Magisterial Enquiry that was completed.