Jun 27 1918 British Royal Navy hospital ship HMHS Llandovery Castle sunk in the Atlantic by SM U-86 with the loss of 234 of the 258 people on board. When crew, including nurses, took to the lifeboats, U-86 surfaced and machine-gunned many of the survivors.



On board were 94 medical officers and nurses of the Canadian Medical Staff. Among the dead were 14 Canadian nurses 13 of which have a picture to match to their name. Among the dead nurses was the Matron Margaret Marjory (Pearl) Fraser, the daughter of Duncan Cameron Fraser who served as Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia.

One of the only 24 survivors was Sergeant Arthur Knight, who was in the same lifeboat as the nurses. He later testified about what happened:

Unflinchingly and calmly, as steady and collected as if on parade, without a complaint or a single sign of emotion, our 14 devoted nursing sisters faced the terrible ordeal of certain death … In the entire time I overheard only one remark, when the Matron Margaret Marjory Fraser turned to me as we drifted helplessly towards the stern of the ship, and asked, “Sergeant, do you think there is any hope for us?” And I replied, “No.” seeing myself our helplessness without oars and the sinking condition of the stern of the ship. A few seconds later we were drawn into the whirlpool of the submerged afterdeck, and the last I saw of the nursing sisters was as they were thrown over the side of the boat. All were wearing lifebelts, and of the fourteen two were in their nightdress, the others in uniform. It was doubtful if any of them came to the surface again, although I myself sank and came up three times, finally clinging to a piece of wreckage and being eventually picked up by the captain’s boat.“

Here is a list of the nurses

Christine Campbell



Carola Josephine Douglas



Alexina Dussault



Minnie Asenath Follette



Margaret Jane Fortescue



Matron Margaret Marjory Fraser

Margaret Katherine Gallaher

Jessie Mabel McDiarmid

Nursing Sister Mary Agnes McKenzie

Nursing Sister Rena “Bird” Maud McLean



Nursing Sister Mae Belle Sampson



Anna Irene Stamers



Not pictured: Jean Templeman and Gladys Irene Sare