Page 40 - Caribou and Grandmere

ISSUE : Issue 46

Published by Ronald Caplan on 1987/8/1

really bitter. Rigby: By the same token, at that time of night you can't see any? thing. It's so dark that you wouldn't have been able to see anyone anyway. People in lifeboats, you wouldn't have been able to see them. (But come 6 o'clock in the morn? ing, you could begin to see them.) Yeah, when it started to break day, you could see them. (When you talk to some of the survivors--I remember this years ago, when I did some interviews, people always included in their story, "We came up on deck, and we looked for the escort, and we couldn't see it.") Hedden: I guess that would be auto? mat ic,~wouT3n't it? If you know the es? cort's there, certainly they're going to look for it for help. But in the meantime, (we) still have to try and keep that sub down, or if possible, sink it. (So after the torpedoing, you were chasing the submarine. And before the torpedoing-- am I correct?--you were separated from the Caribou more than you would have pre- ferred.) I don't know. Not really sepa? rated from her. We could only run along? side of it, because of the speed. And a minesweeper's not very fast--I think about 18 knots, all out. Survivors of the Caribou, aboard the Grandmere: baby being held by Engineer Of? ficer Brown, with stoker Vince Daub. (So--correct me if I'm wrong--it's not that you weren't with her, but that you couldn't do your normal minesweep because of the speed the captain of the Caribou chose to run her. Did you ever discuss this...?) No, there was no communication from ship to ship. Any communication from ship to ship would be by light at night, or by flag hoist in the daytime. (You wouldn't speak.) Rigby: That's what they call "radio silenceT" (So that there was no normal way of saying to the captain, "Slow down.") Hedden: No, the only way you'd do that is the next time you'd have a conference with him, prior to the run, they'd probably request it of him. But I think that would be his prerogative, if he thought he could...run as fast as he could. (Would you say that if you could have swept in a normal way, that you might have prevented the Caribou disaster?) Quite pos? sibly. Quite possibly (the submarine) would have got us instead of (the Caribou). Rigby: We mightTiave got a ping off her, and you'd know where it was then. Hedden: Normal convoy procedure, they have a set speed, when you've got many ships. You may have a senior officers' ship right out in front, which is usually a destroyer. Your corvettes or escorts should be on the Specialists in 341 Welton St., Sydney SERVING ALL OF CAPE BRETON PRODUCTS LTD. Phone:539-4111 • No structural changes • No more painting • Clean from inside FREE ESTIIVIATES (40) Ramsay's Honda Shop 539-7644 * 480 GRAND LAKE RD., SYDNEY * 539-1730 Complete Line of 3- & 4-Wheeled Vehicles for Year Round Use Available Accessories: Trailers, Snowplows, Mowers * Great Utility Vehicles * * Great for Hunting & Fishing * HONDA nrif Bide'BoiighC(nmtr]!i

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