William (“Bill”) Anderson was born on May 20, 1921, the youngest son of Edward James and Mary R. Anderson, of 111 Alfred Street, Sarnia. William had two brothers and two sisters, who at the time of William’s death were Stanley C., serving as a patrolman in the R.C.N.V.R.; Edwin, in St. Thomas; Mrs. Margaret Olenuik of St. Catharines; and Eileen in Sarnia. William attended St. Patrick’s High School and Sarnia Collegiate Institute and was a member of St. Joseph’s Catholic Parish, Sarnia. Prior to enlisting, William was a machine operator employed with Electric Auto-Lite Limited. Single at the time, he enlisted in the Canadian Navy in August of 1941 and trained at Windsor, Ontario and St. Hyacinthe, Quebec. In May of 1942, William would celebrate his 21st birthday at St. Hyacinthe, Quebec, where he was attending naval school. He became a member of the Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve aboard the corvette HMCS Shawinigan, attaining the rank of Leading Coder. In April of 1944, William would return to Sarnia on a nine-day leave to visit his family and friends, the first furlough he had in 20 months.
The HMCS Shawinigan (K 136) was a Flower-class corvette commissioned on September 19, 1941 at Quebec City. It was one of the sturdy little “work horses” of the RCN and was to become the 9th corvette and 19th Canadian warship lost in the war. She was in the navy’s convoy escort and patrol fleet. Her sea miles totalled more than 150 000, and she had been one of the busiest vessels of her class, escorting convoy runs in the Atlantic Ocean and off the east coast of Canada. Few ships of her class spent more time at sea during the period when German U-boats were most active in the North Atlantic. During the two years prior to her sinking, she did not lose a ship under her charge. Men who served aboard her had been acclaimed for fighting efficiency, for rescue work and attacks on enemy U-boats. She escorted hundreds of thousands of vital war supplies and shipping to Allied ports.
On November 24, 1944, the HMCS Shawinigan and a United States Coast Guard Cutter Sassafrass escorted the ferry Burgeo from Sydney, Nova Scotia to Port aux Basques, Newfoundland. Ferries on this route were always escorted after the tragic loss of the ferry SS Caribou two years earlier. In mid-October of 1942, the passenger ferry SS Caribou had been torpedoed on the same route, and 136 lives were lost including ten children. The three ships in November 1944 made an uneventful crossing to Port aux Basques, at which time the Shawinigan detached to continue doing an independent anti-submarine patrol in the area. The Shawinigan was scheduled to rendezvous with the Burgeo the following morning for the return to Cape Breton. But the Shawinigan never made it. On that fateful November 24 moonlit night, the Shawinigan maintained radio silence while performing anti-submarine patrol, in the
Cabot Strait between Newfoundland and Cape Breton Island. Nearby, German U-boat U-1228 was trying to repair a faulty snorkel without success and had decided to return to Germany for repairs. As soon as U-1228 decided to head back into the Atlantic, she sighted and attacked the Shawinigan with a Gnat torpedo. It was U-1228’s first recorded attack on enemy shipping.
Four minutes later, the Shawinigan, with its entire crew, disappeared in a plume of water and a shower of sparks. The ship had no time for any message to be sent. The next morning, the Burgeo left Port aux Basques on schedule in the fog but could not find the Shawinigan. Keeping radio silence and not informing command of Shawinigan’s failure to appear, the Burgeo made for Sydney, arriving on November 25 at 6 pm. When Burgeo arrived unescorted, the navy knew something had happened to Shawinigan. A day or so later, searching ships came upon fragments of wreckage and six bodies, which were all that remained to indicate what had happened to the Shawinigan.
Seven officers and 84 crew members, including William Anderson, were lost. There were no survivors. Twenty-six year old Petty Officer Stoker Michael Paithowski, another Sarnian, was also on board and perished. His story is also included in this project. In late November of 1944, parents Edward and Mary Anderson in Sarnia would receive a telegram from the Department of National Defence informing them that their son, Leading Coder William J. Anderson, has been reported missing at sea. The message contained no other information and intimated that a letter would follow. Mary had received a letter from her son William only one week prior, in which he had stated that he was well and getting along O.K.
On December 7, 1944, in a dispatch from Ottawa, the Hon. Angus L. Macdonald, Minister of National Defence for Naval Services, announced the loss of the H.M.C.S. Shawinigan, while on operational duty in the North Atlantic. He gave no details but said the ship’s complement had been lost and five bodies have been recovered and identified. It was announced locally that two Sarnia seamen, William Anderson and Michael Paithouski, were members of the crew of the Shawinigan and were reported missing. In mid-February of 1945, parents Edward and Mary Anderson in Sarnia would receive a telegram from Ottawa informing them that their son, Leading Coder William J. Anderson, who was reported missing at sea last November is officially presumed lost. Later, the Navy would inform the Anderson family that William Anderson was officially listed as, Missing, presumed dead, when the ship in which he was serving, H.M.C.S. ‘Shawinigan’ was lost while on operational duty at sea. It was understood that William’s mother, Mary, would receive the Memorial Cross in the near future. It was not until after the war ended and U-1228 surrendered, that the details of what had happened to the Shawinigan that night become uncovered. Twenty-three year old William Anderson has no known grave. He is memorialized on the Halifax Memorial, Nova Scotia, Canada, Panel 12.
SOURCES: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, J, L, N, P, T, U, X, 2A, 2C, 2D