Object Archives | When World War II Came to Bell Island, Newfoundland

German G7e torpedo

Both U-boat attacks at Bell Island were made using G7e/T2 torpedoes. These weapons were 7.2 metres long and 53.3 centimetres in diameter. They weighed 1603 kilograms, which included […]

Diver swims through a torpedo hole in shipwreck

A female scuba diver swims through a torpedo hole in the hull of one of the Bell Island shipwrecks. The thick steel plates of the hull are bent […]

Unexploded shells on a Bell Island shipwreck

Unexploded artillery shells on the stern deck of one of the Bell Island shipwrecks. The shells were collected by clearance divers from the Royal Canadian Navy’s Fleet Diving […]

Video of Canadian Forces divers removing unexploded shells

Video of clearance divers from the Royal Canadian Navy’s Fleet Diving Unit (Atlantic) removing unexploded artillery shells (also called unexploded ordnance or UXO) from two of the Bell […]

Dominion of Newfoundland postage stamp 1941

Twenty-four-cent postage stamp issued by the Dominion of Newfoundland in 1941. The stamp shows a merchant ship loading iron ore at a loading pier on Bell Island. The […]

Video of German U-boat attacks at Bell Island in 1942

Video shows German newsreel of U-boat crews attacking Allied merchant ships with torpedoes. Transcript of narration: On September 4th 1942, U-513 under the command of captain Rolf Ruggeberg […]

Sextant on the Rose Castle shipwreck

A sextant was a vital navigational instrument used by sailors to determine the latitude of their ship. This sextant was photographed on the Rose Castle shipwreck prior to […]

Diver Luc Michel recovers a sextant from Rose Castle shipwreck

In 2015, scuba diver Luc Michel (on left) recovered a navigational sextant from the Rose Castle shipwreck. On the right in the photo is Rick Stanley of Ocean […]

Sailor’s shoe on P.L.M. 27 shipwreck

A sailor’s shoe sits on the deck of the shipwreck of P.L.M. 27. (Purple slime worms are now growing on the shoe.) Small artifacts such as this shoe […]

Navy divers handling unexploded artillery shell

Canadian Forces clearance divers from the Fleet Diving Unit – Atlantic lift an unexploded artillery shell recovered from the SS Rose Castle shipwreck. The divers are Leading Seaman […]

Navy diver clearing unexploded ammunition from Rose Castle shipwreck

A Canadian Forces clearance diver from Fleet Diving Unit – Atlantic shows an unexploded artillery shell (lower right) on the S.S. Rose Castle shipwreck. The Royal Canadian Navy […]

Multibeam sonar image of P.L.M. 27 shipwreck

High-resolution multibeam sonar image of P.L.M. 27 shipwreck. Shallower features shown in yellow, deeper objects in blue and purple. The bow of the ship is on the left, […]