| Comments | Newfoundland, 1942. 203 dead; three U.S. navy ships, the destroyers "Wilkes" and "Truxton" and the supply ship "Pollux", went off course during a blizzard and crashed into the rocks near St. Lawrence at the entrance to Placentia Bay: the ships had been unable to check their position as they had been ordered to keep radio silence: the "Wilkes" floated off the rocks but the other two ships were pounded to pieces: the rescue efforts of the villagers of St. Lawrence saved the lives of many sailors: as a gesture of gratitude, the U.S. government constructed a hospital in the town which was closed down by the Newfoundland government in 1989. |