Letter from Nursing Sister Margaret Brooke

Transcript of audio clip:

Male voice:

Nursing Sister Margaret Brooke and her colleague Nursing Sister Agnes Wilkie were returning from leave when they boarded the S.S. Caribou on October 13^th, 1942. Margaret survived the sinking. She wrote this letter to her brother a week after the tragedy.

Female voice:

“When we got on board ship, we decided to go on deck. When we came down to go to bed, we were laughing and joking about the trip and for some reason I decided there should be life-belts somewhere. We looked all over laughing about it all the time, finally Agnes spotted them on the ceiling right over my berth. We went to bed then but just before I turned out the light, I glanced up at the belts and figured out how to put them on. We both went right to sleep.

“When the torpedo struck, I was thrown across the room right on top of Agnes. I knew what had happened but for a second couldn’t do anything. She jumped up and grabbed the flash-light and climbed up for our life-belts. I would never have thought of them but I managed to grab our Burberrys [trench coats], then we headed for our life boat on the starboard side, struggling into our coats as we went. When we got on deck, the lifeboat was smashed. People were screaming and shouting. One sailor was trying to launch some rafts but outside of that it was just one terrified mob. The only thing we could do was put on our life-belts. Thank God, I had figured out how to put them on for Agnes didn’t know. We just had to stand there and fell the ship going down under us. Neither of us knew enough to jump overboard and get away from her, so when she went down, we were sucked under with her. How we got away from her, I don’t know, but we clung together somehow all the time we were under and when we finally reached the surface, we managed to grab a piece of wreckage and cling to that. Part of a capsized lifeboat came by soon, so we got hold of that. I crawled part way up and a soldier pulled me the rest of the way. Then we pulled Agnes up. There were about a dozen of us clinging to ropes at the beginning, but the waves kept washing right over us and the boat kept tipping. We knew that if it ever turned right side up, it would sink. We tried to watch for the waves and be ready for them but they came so fast and left us gasping from cold and from swallowing the salt water. We could hear people calling for help all around us but just had to cling there and listen. One by one they slipped off the boat with the waves. I never saw them go. One minute they were there, the next they were gone.

“It couldn’t have been more than two or three hours before Agnes suddenly let go. I managed to catch her with one hand. She didn’t answer when I called her and I couldn’t get her hands around the ropes they were clenched so tight. One of the men and the poor little bride who lost her husband tried to help me but they had to hang on themselves. I tried to pull her up high enough so her head would be on my shoulder, but I wasn’t strong enough. If only those horrible waves would have stopped for a little while, each one would pull her away from me and each time, I would pull her back. I did manage to hold her till day break but then a wave pulled her right away from me. I tried to reach her but couldn’t and the men in front were too weak to pull her back. She didn’t struggle because she was unconscious, and I knew she wasn’t suffering but it was so terrible to have to cling there and watch her go. After that I just pushed my arms through between the ropes and lifeboat and didn’t bother any more. When the rescue ship came up and threw ropes, I managed to get hold of one but that was all I could do about it and really didn’t care. I don’t know how they got me on board, nor what happened for a while. The Lieutenant looking after me said a sailor dived over for me. The first thing I can remember is that I was so terribly cold and someone was telling me to drink something hot and I couldn’t because my teeth were clenched so tight. Finally, they did get my mouth open but I couldn’t get warm. So at last they swung a hammock just below the steam pipes, wrapped me in blankets and put me there. I shall bless that Engineer Lieutenant till my dying day for thinking that up, because at last the cold began to go. There isn’t much more to tell but those men from cook to Captain were so kind. We were all terribly sick from swallowing so much salt water and they looked after us so well. They all kept coming to see how I was because they had found out from the papers in my Burberry pocket that I belonged to the Navy.

“As soon as the ship docked, I was taken to the Military Hospital. I just couldn’t forget about Agnes. …

“They told me Agnes had been found a few days ago. I had kept hoping somehow, somewhere, she might be found alive, but of course, I really knew it couldn’t be. It has been my only consolation that she didn’t suffer and that she was never afraid, but if I could only have held her another half hour, she would be here too. I try not to think of that though. …”

Much love,

Margaret”