General Archives | Page 5 of 9 | When World War II Came to Bell Island, Newfoundland

Cross-section of Bell Island iron mine shafts

This drawing shows how the shafts of the Bell Island iron mines extended more than five kilometres out under the Atlantic Ocean. Water pumps had to operate 24 […]

Home Page: Detail of Sinking of the Saganaga by Joe Dwyer

A section of the painting Sinking of the Saganaga by Joe Dwyer. The painting shows the explosion as a German torpedo strikes the side of the steamship Saganaga […]

Electric shovel loading iron ore into ore car at Bell Island

An electric shovel loading iron ore into an ore car in a Bell Island iron mine in 1949. Ore production increased as heavy equipment was introduced into the […]

Drilling for iron ore at Bell Island

A driller and chucker operate a drill in a Bell Island iron mine. Mining was hard and dangerous work. Dozens of miners were killed at Bell Island over […]

Tank production at the Montreal Locomotive Works

Canadian industry switched to war production during World War II. For example, the Montreal Locomotive Works produced tanks for the Canadian Army. Manufacture of trucks, tanks, airplanes, ships, […]

Pouring molten steel in Canadian steel mill, 1944

Steel production was crucial to the Allied war effort. Iron ore from Bell Island was used to make steel in the Dominion Steel & Coal Corporation’s steel mills […]

Map of second U-boat attack at Bell Island

This map of the second U-boat attack at Bell Island was drawn by Canadian Army Intelligence staff who investigated the sinkings. The map (marked SECRET) shows two ships […]

SS P.L.M. 27 before World War II

P.L.M. 27 was owned by a French railway company before World War II. The ship carried coal to feed the railway’s locomotives. This photo shows the ship loading […]

SS Rose Castle in 1942

A Royal Canadian Air Force plane took this photo of Rose Castle as she left Sydney, Nova Scotia in the first convoy (BW 1) to Bell Island, Newfoundland […]

Map of first U-boat attack at Bell Island

The Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) investigated the first U-boat attack and sinkings after September 5, 1942. This map came from RCN files on the sinking of SS Saganaga. […]

Rose Castle survivor Gordon Hardy in 1942

Gordon Walter Hardy of Ingonish, Nova Scotia was a 17-year-old steward on SS Rose Castle in 1942. He survived the sinking on November 2, 1942 and later enlisted […]

SS Lord Strathcona

The steamship Lord Strathcona was owned by the Dominion Shipping Company, a subsidiary of the Dominion Steel & Coal Corporation, which owned the Bell Island iron mines. The […]