HMCS Guysborough was initially a VTE-engined Bangor-class minesweeper of the Royal Navy. HMCS Guysborough saw action in the Battle of the Atlantic and the Invasion of Normandy. En route from Shelburne, Nova Scotia, to the United Kingdom with a crew of 90, on March 17, 1945, at 6:50 pm, Guysborough (J 52) was hit on the port side in the stern by a Gnat from U-868 about 210 miles north of Cape Finisterre in the Bay of Biscay. Guysborough did not sink and the U-boat fired a torpedo at 8:35 pm and hit the starboard side amidships causing the minesweeper to sink fast by the stern. Two crew members were killed in the explosions and the remaining men abandoned ship on five Carley floats. A first group of 48 survivors lashed four rafts together, while the fifth raft drifted away overcrowded by the remaining men. They had managed to send a distress signal and several vessels were sent to their rescue, but it took HMS Inglis (K 570) some 19 hours to arrive. In the meantime many of the men clinging to the overcrowded floats had died of injuries or exposure. The frigate picked up the survivors. 37 survived the sinking and 53 were lost including two with connections to Nova Scotia:

Name: Rank: Service No: Service: Date of Birth: Place of Birth: Date of Enlistment: Date of Death: Age at Death: Cemetery: Reference:

Wilfred Harding Densmore Cook (Seamen) V/76094 Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve March 24, 1925 Densmore’s Mills, Hants Co., NS December 22, 1943 March 18, 1945 (at sea) 19 Halifax Memorial Panel 13 Commemorated on page 509 of the Second World War Book of Remembrance Displayed in the Memorial Chamber of the Peace Tower in Ottawa on October 29 Wilfred Harding Densmore was the son of George Ettinger Densmore and Ruby Jean (Laffin) Densmore, of Densmore's Mills, Nova Scotia. He joined the crew of HMCS Guysborouth on February 14, 1945 Source: Canadian Virtual War Memorial Service File: Wilfred Harding Densmore

Name: Rank: Service No: Service: Date of Birth: Place of Birth: Married: Date of Enlistment: Date of Death: Age at Death: Cemetery: Reference:

Robert Gordon Stevenson Stoker 1st Class V60554 Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve August 16, 1924 Emo, Ontario Jean Stevenson, Halifax, Nova Scotia May 6, 1943 March 18, 1945 (at sea) 20 Halifax Memorial Panel 13 Commemorated on page 567 of the Second World War Book of Remembrance Displayed in the Memorial Chamber of the Peace Tower in Ottawa on November 27 Robert Gordon Stevenson was the son of Herbert and Nettie Stevenson, of Flin Flon, Manitoba and the husband of Jean L. Stevenson, of Halifax, Nova Scotia. He joined the crew of HMCS Athabaskan on February 25, 1945 Source: Canadian Virtual War Memorial Service File: Robert Gordon Stevenson