For Caribou schematic click here.
My comic book Almost Home: The Sinking of the S.S. Caribou found its start with stories that my Nanny Morgan, my dad and my aunts and uncles told me about Thomas Moyst. He was Nanny Morgan’s father, my dad’s grandfather, and 2nd Engineer on the Newfoundland Railway ferry the S.S. Caribou. My dad and my Aunt Vi, were 11 and 12 in October 1942, and had vivid memories of the night the S.S. Caribou was torpedoed. It was the largest loss of civilian life in North American waters during World War II.
“Almost Home” fits the curriculum for Newfoundland and Labrador Cultural Studies and Grade 8 Social Studies. An excerpt from the comic book is included in the English Grade 10 Newfoundland and Labrador Literature Supplement. “Almost Home: The Sinking of the S.S. Caribou” was awarded the 2014 Newfoundland and Labrador Heritage and History Awards for children and young adult writing.
You can contact me at: morganjlee(at)hotmail(dot)com and you can purchase this comic book at Breakwater Books.
In the beginning of March 2017, I submitted a manuscript to Breakwater Books for my next comic book on this subject. Lifeboats Down: The Sinking of the S.S. Caribou Part 2 follows the stories of a number of survivors from the time they boarded the ferry, until they found their way home or, in the case of Bill Ryan, didn’t arrive home.
As part of my research I’ve been trying to learn everything I can about the crew and passengers aboard the Caribou that night. Please check out the page “S.S. Caribou: Passengers & Crew 14/10/1942” and add any edits/comment you can.
- Almost Home: The Sinking of the S.S. Caribou. Published by Breakwater Books (2012)
- Wartime St. John’s
- 66 Prince of Wales Street in 1942.
- page 14
- I Photoshopped my dad’s name and address into this ration card.
- Thanks to the QEII Rare Books Archive.
- Images of these were hard to find.
- Thomas Moyst, Second Engineer, the S.S. Caribou