Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Brocklebank Medal, obverse: blue and white enamelled company flag, reverse engraved, ‘S.S. Fort Camosun, 3rd December 1943, Damaged by Enemy Action’, 32mm., bronze, unnamed, unmounted, nearly extremely fine £80-100

The S.S. Fort Camosun, a freighter of 7,126 tons gross, was built in 1942 at Victoria, B.C. for the US War Shipping Administration. Taken up by the MOWT on bare-boat charter, Brocklebanks, Ltd. were appointed her managers.

On her maiden voyage she was loaded in the Vancouver area with wheat, timber and metal and set off for Bilboa, the Pacific entrance of the Panama Canal. Having barely travelled 100 miles she was torpedoed on 20 June 1942 by the Japanese submarine I-25. Damaged and with no casualties, she was towed back to Esquimalt where her cargo was unloaded, given temporary repairs and proceeded to Seattle for permanent repairs.

On 3 December 1943 she was heading towards Aden with a cargo of pig-iron, manganese and general cargo, when she was again torpedoed, this time by the I-27. She had on board 80 persons including 9 gunners and probably seamen being repatriated. Again damaged but with no casualties she managed to get to Aden the next day and was temporarily repaired. Departing Aden in February 1944 she returned home via the Suez Canal and was given permanent repairs at West Hartlepool.

During the 1939 – 1945 War, Brocklebanks lost 18 ships and a further 5 were damaged. A total of 255 officers and crew lost their lives.