Tom St. Amand and Tom Slater

         The say that “Bad luck comes in threes,” and that old adage certainly proved true for Stephen Powell.

          When Powell was killed in 1940 he became the first Sarnian to die in the Second World War. And the circumstances of his passing remain tragic and puzzling to this day.           

          The eldest son of Cora and Ernie, Stephen attended Sarnia’s public schools.  He was an active youth, becoming a member of the Servers’ Club at St. George’s Anglican Church and completed a course in electricity at SCITS.

          Powell also became a member of the 26th Lambton Field Battery, Royal Canadian Artillery in Sarnia. At the age of 17, and before the war began, he joined the Royal Canadian Navy in April 1939.

          Ordinary Seaman Powell was first assigned to the HMCS Fraser, a C-class destroyer. On June 25, 1940, the ship was heading to Bordeaux, France to help in the rescue of approximately 4,000 refugees trapped in the area by German forces.

          Accompanying the HMCS Fraser were the HMCS Restigouche and the British destroyer HMS Calcutta. At 10:30 p.m. that night and facing rough seas and poor visibility, the Fraser’s captain decided the three ships should move closer together and ordered a turn to port to bring his ship behind the Calcutta.

          In the rolling sea the two ships collided, and the bow of the heavier Calcutta sliced through the side of the lighter Fraser, cutting it into three pieces. Forty-five members of the Fraser crew and 19 men aboard the Calcutta perished.

           Stephen Powell survived that accident at sea, but bad luck continued to pursue him.

           Following the Fraser sinking he had a second close call when the ship he was on was bombed at a London dock, and a number of crew members were killed.

          He was then transferred to the HMCS Margaree, a D-class destroyer.   In October 1940, the Margaree was the sole escort for a convoy of five ships heading for Halifax.

          They were about 750 kilometres northwest of Iceland and zigzagging without lights in a submarine zone, when the identical circumstances that doomed the Fraser claimed the HMCS Margaree:

          Nighttime and poor visibility.

          Rough seas and a fateful turn to port.

          Another collision in the Atlantic.

          The Margaree struck the freighter MV Port Fairy and took the brunt of the collision. The entire bow section of the Margaree was sheered off and sank instantly.  A total of 142 men died, 86 of them crew members of the ill-fated Fraser.

          This time, Stephen Powell did not escape.

          The reason for the collision remains a mystery.  All the officers who were issuing the orders were gathered on the bow of the Margaree, and they too perished.

          The ship’s aft section floated long enough for the 34 remaining crewmembers to be rescued from the icy ocean.

          After Powell’s parents received the official notification of their son’s death, two of his letters arrived in the mail.  In them, he expressed hope he’d be able to make a trip home to Sarnia soon.

           He was just 18.

          At a memorial service at St. George’s Church, Stephen was remembered for “his uprightness and splendid physical, mental and spiritual characteristics.”

          In July 1941, a Memorial Cross would be issued to Cora Powell for the loss of her son. Also referred to as the Silver Cross, it was engraved with Stephen’s name, rank and service number.

          Able-Bodied Seaman Stephen Powell deserved better luck. 

          He has no known grave and his name is inscribed on the Halifax Memorial and the Sarnia Cenotaph.