Ralph Omar Martindale was born in York, Ontario on July 27, 1922, the son of Ralph Emerson Martindale and Ina Agatha (nee Renshaw) Martindale, of 413 Nelson Street, Sarnia. Both his parents were born in Haldimand, Ontario. Ralph Omar had one brother, Albert, and one sister, Geraldine. At his enlistment, Ralph Martindale, single at the time, and recording his occupation as machinist, joined the Canadian Navy. He would become a member of the Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve, with the rank of Ordinary Seaman. In June of 1942, Omar Martindale would come home to Sarnia while on leave to visit his parents and friends. After his leave, Ralph Omar Martindale would return to service, serving aboard the HMCS Raccoon.

The HMCS Raccoon (S14) was a 148 foot, 377 ton civilian yacht, originally built in 1931, and commissioned for military service by the RCN in June 1940. Beginning in the spring of 1942, the HMCS Raccoon was assigned to the naval base at Gaspe to patrol the river and Gulf of the St. Lawrence and to escort convoys of ships sailing from Quebec to Sydney, Newfoundland or Halifax.

In early September 1942, the armed yacht HMCS Raccoon was providing escort along with corvette HMCS Arrowhead, minesweeper HMCS Truro and two Fairmile launches Q-64 and Q-83 for the convoy QS-33 in the Gulf of St.Lawrence. The slow-moving convoy, bound for Sydney Nova Scotia, was unaware that two German U-boats, U-165 and U-517 were lying in wait on opposite sides of the river, by Cap Chat and Pointe-des-Monts, Quebec. Late on the night of September 6, 1942, west of Pointe-des-Monts where the St.Lawrence narrows to 50 kilometers in width, German U-boat U-165 intercepted and struck the starboard side of the Greek steam merchant ship Aeas with one torpedo just under the bridge. The Aeas sank, two of the crew died, and the 29 others survived by abandoning ship and climbing into life rafts. One of her escorts, the HMCS Raccoon left the convoy at midnight, zig-zagging in search of the German U-boat. Shortly after, at 1:12 am (September 7), there was a loud explosion, as the HMCS Raccoon was also torpedoed by U-165, at almost point-blank range, causing her boiler to explode, sinking her in minutes. Ships in the convoy guessed they were hearing depth charges being dropped by the Raccoon as it pursued the U-boat. Explosions from both sinkings, which lit up the sky, could be heard for miles around; windows of houses close to shore were rattled by the detonations.

Three days later, only a few bits of debris from the HMCS Raccoon were found on the south coast of Anticosti Island, and one body was found. The body was that of a well-known McGill University footballer, Russell McConnell. The entire Raccoon crew of thirty-seven men were lost, including Ralph Martindale. Days after the sinking, parents Ralph and Ina Martindale in Sarnia would receive a cable informing them that their son Omar was reported missing when the Canadian patrol vessel Raccoon was lost while in convoy duty. Ralph Martindale would later be officially listed as, At sea, presumed lost on board H.M.C.S. ‘Raccoon’. Twenty year-old ordinary seaman Ralph Omar Martindale has no known grave. His name is inscribed on the Halifax Memorial, Nova Scotia, Canada, Panel 9.

Another sad story in the loss of the Raccoon, is that of Supply Assistant John Sheflin, one of Ralph Martindale’s crew-mates, who also perished in the sinking. At the very moment that the Raccoon was going down, a train sped through nearby Riviere-la-Madeleine carrying John Sheflin’s wife, Marguerite, and their two pre-school children. They had made a spur-of-the moment decision to move from Toronto to join family in Eureka, Nova Scotia, so that they could see John when he took his occasional shore leave. It would be years before his family discovered just how close together they were, before tragedy tore them apart forever.

SOURCES: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, J, L, N, P, T, U, X, Z, 2A, 2C, 2D