Stephen (Buster) Powell was born in Barrie, Ontario on January 23, 1922, the eldest son of Ernest John Powell (born in Waltham Abbey, Essex, England) and Cora Irene (nee Court, born in Woodstock, Ontario) Powell, of 433 Lydia Street, and later 462 Cromwell Street, Sarnia. The Powell family moved to Sarnia when Stephen was seven years old. Father Ernest was a local customs officer at the Blue Water Bridge who had served with the Canadian Forestry Corps in the Great War. Ernest was also on the board of directors of the Sarnia Branch No. 62, Canadian Legion. Stephen had one sister, Mary (born 1933), and three brothers: Allan John (born 1924); Robert Grant (born 1926); and Ernest James (born 1933, Mary’s twin). Stephen was educated in Sarnia public schools and had completed a course in electricity at the Sarnia Collegiate. He was a member of the Servers’ Club of St. George’s Anglican Church, and he was active in much of the young people’s work in the church. Stephen was originally a member of the 26th Lambton Field Battery, Royal Canadian Artillery, in Sarnia. Before the war started, in April of 1939, single at the time, Stephen joined the Royal Canadian Navy. He would later become a member of the crew of HMCS Fraser and later the HMCS Margaree, attaining the rank of Able-Bodied Seaman.

The HMCS Fraser (H48) was a C-class destroyer built for the Royal Navy launched in September 1931, originally named the HMS Crescent. In late 1936, it was sold to the Royal Canadian Navy and renamed the HMCS Fraser. Initially stationed on the Canadian west coast, with the outbreak of war, she was transferred to the Atlantic coast for convoy escort duties. On June 25, 1940, the HMCS Fraser was proceeding to Bordeaux, France to help in the rescue of an estimated 4000 refugees trapped in the area by German military forces. Stephen Powell was an Ordinary Seaman aboard the Fraser. Accompanying the HMCS Fraser was Canadian destroyer HMCS Restigouche and the British cruiser HMS Calcutta. On that date, at 10:30 pm, in rough seas and in poor visibility, the captain of the Fraser decided that the three ships should move closer together and ordered a turn to port to bring his ship behind HMS Calcutta. In doing so, the two ships collided, the bow of the heavier Calcutta sliced into the side of the lighter Fraser, cutting it into three pieces. Forty-five members of the Fraser crew and nineteen men on the Calcutta lost their lives. Many of the Fraser survivors were later transferred to duty aboard the HMCS Margaree, including Stephen Powell.  In October 1940, only one month into her service as the HMCS Margaree, the ship would meet the same fate as the Fraser.

The HMCS Margaree (H49) was a D-class destroyer launched as the HMS Diana in June 1932, originally with the Royal Navy, where she spent most of her career as part of the Mediterranean Fleet. She was transferred to the Royal Canadian Navy September 6, 1940 and renamed the HMCS Margaree, to serve as a River class destroyer. She was transferred to the RCN to replace the HMCS Fraser, the RCN C-class destroyer, which had been lost in a tragic accident.

Following the sinking of the Fraser, Stephen Powell took a course in anti-aircraft gunnery before he and a number of the Fraser survivors were detailed to the Margaree. They had a close call from death on one occasion when the ship was bombed at a London dock, and a number of the crew killed. On October 17, 1940, the HMCS Margaree was escorting Convoy 0L8 bound for Canada. She was the sole escort for a small, fairly fast convoy of five ships heading for Halifax. On October 22, only two days at sea, while in the mid-Atlantic (450 miles northwest of Iceland), the HMCS Margaree was in a collision with a large freighter that she was escorting. Shortly after midnight, on a rough, squally night with poor visibility, as the Margaree veered to port, the freighter MV Port Fairy collided with her, sheering off the entire bow section of the Margaree. The Margaree bow sank instantly, taking 142 seamen to the bottom, 86 of them survivors of the HMCS Fraser collision just four months earlier. For Stephen Powell, this was the second sea disaster in which he had been involved.

No reason for the collision has ever been determined since all the officers who were in a position to know were in the bow. The thirty-four survivors were all aboard the aft section, which remained afloat until the men were rescued by the Port Fairy and dropped off at Bermuda. Ordinary Seaman Stephen Powell was one of the 142 who were lost in the tragedy. Although the official casualty list cited him as an Ordinary Seaman, he had received his Able Seaman papers while on the Fraser, but these records were lost with that ship. Stephen’s parents Ernest and Cora in Sarnia were notified of the loss of their son by telegram from the minister of national defence for naval affairs, just prior to the release by the Canadian naval authorities of the public announcement of the sinking of the destroyer. A day later, they received a dispatch from Ottawa that drew attention to the fact that errors were possible in the naval list of survivors and the missing, owing to the difficulties of wireless communication at sea in wartime. The Powells hoped that their son had survived, but felt the chances were remote in view of the fact that only 31 survivors (at that time) were reported accounted for.

Stephen had been home the previous Christmas and, in two letters received by his parents days after learning of his death, Stephen had expressed the hope that he might get a trip home to Sarnia soon. It was indicated in despatches that many of the crew of the Margaree were looking forward to spending Christmas with their families. Able-Bodied Seaman Stephen Powell was the first casualty of the Second World War from Sarnia. A memorial service was held for the Stephen Bruce Powell one month after his death in St. George’s Anglican Church, where he had been active in the organizations for the young people in the church. At the memorial service, Rev. F.G. Hardy said, “We will remember Stephen Bruce Powell because of his uprightness and splendid physical, mental and spiritual characteristics.” After speaking of the fact that it is often the youngest and best who are taken from the world, Rev. Hardy quoted from “In Flanders Fields” and urged the congregation to hold the torch high and go out to establish God’s Kingdom in society so that war might not happen again. Eighteen-year old Stephen Powell has no known grave. His name is inscribed on the Halifax Memorial, Nova Scotia, Canada, Panel 4.

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