Add Information to Record of a Person who served during the Second World War on The Wartime Memories Project Website
Add Information to Record of a Person who served during the Second World War on The Wartime Memories Project Website
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John A. Barrett
Merchant Navy SS Expositor
I served on SS Expositor along with SS Cape Corso both part of convoy PQ-15. I witnessed SS Cape Corso's sinking from the bridge of the SS Expositor. A German bomber came down low into the middle of the convoy and was shot down but not before it released its torpedo. Some minutes later this struck the Cape Corso. There was an subdued explosion that burst through what I would call the No. 2 hatch cover. The ship began to sink slowly going down stern first. I saw no lifeboats lowered and assumed no one survived until I read the Wartime Memories site. A sea water temperature of 40 degrees F probably claimed the lives of some initial survivors. I was very young then and it all seemed so unreal. My sincere condolences to the families involved.