WWI Victory. Master Beasley. Portsmouth. KIA as passenger, Empress of Canada 1943. in Singles

Correctly named Mid BN Beasley RNR Benjamin Norman Beasley was born to Benjamin and Mabel in Huntingdon in 1901. We see from records he served WWI and is entitled to a Pair. His medals were sent to his ship RFA Montenol. The Montenol was a 2nd class, 2000 tonne tanker. She was sunk by U159 in May 1942. Benjamin volunteered for mine clearance after WWI. He qualified as a First Mate in 1921 and as a Master in May 1924. He married Constance Elizabeth Axtens in 1929. We find that Benjamin, in 1943 was in Durban, South Africa, and was a passenger aboard the Empress of Canada. RMS (HMT) Empress of Canada, Vancouver, British Columbia, 1 June 1936. RMS Empress of Canada was an ocean liner built in 1920 for the Canadian Pacific Steamships (CP) by Fairfield Shipbuilding & Engineering Company at Govan on the Clyde in Scotland. She was 653 feet long. This ship was the first of two CP vessels to be named Empress of Canada, and regularly traversed the trans-Pacific route between the west coast of Canada and the Far East until 1939. Following the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, she was converted for use as a troopship. Her defensive armament consisted of a 6-inch gun right aft with a 3-inch AA gun sited above it. She was one of the ships in the first Australian/New Zealand convoy, designated US.1 for secrecy, destined for North Africa and at that time not yet fully converted for full troop capacity with few ships of the convoy carrying more than 25% more than their normal passenger load. Empress of Canada departed Wellington on 6 January 1940 with the New Zealand elements, joined the Australian ships and arrived in Aden on 8 February from where the convoy split with all ships heading for Suez. She continued to transport ANZAC troops from New Zealand and from Australia to the war zones in Europe until sunk. The return voyage from Europe was not less dangerous than the trip north had been. On 13 March 1943, while en route from Durban, South Africa to Takoradi carrying Italian prisoners of war along with Polish and Greek refugees, the SS Empress of Canada was hit on the starboard side by a torpedo from the Italian submarine Leonardo da Vinci, and quickly developed a list and lost all power. She was struck at midnight approximately 400 miles south of Cape Palmas off the coast of Africa. Within an hour another torpedo hit and she sank soon after. Of the approximate 1800 people on board, 392 died. The final casualty toll was 44 crew, 8 guards and 340 passengers, ironically many of them Italian prisoners of war. An SOS had been transmitted and a Catalina flying boat found the lifeboats the next day. Rescue boats finally collected 1,360 survivors and took them to Freetown. It is recorded that many fell victim to shark attacks. Benjamin was not to survive the sinking. At the time of his death, his address is noted as 10 Durley Avenue, Cowplain, Portsmouth. He is remembered on the Tower Hill Memorial. He is entitled to a 39/45 Star along with the Atlantic Star and War Medal for his WWII service.