DOSCO report on need for coastal defence of Bell Island
Source:
Library and Archives Canada, Department of National Defence fonds, RG24-D-12, box 11114, file 57-3-1
Extracts from a report of October 16, 1939 by J.A. Macdonald for the Dominion Steel and Coal Corporation (DOSCO) on the need for coastal defences at Bell Island. DOSCO owned and operated the iron ore mines and associated infrastructure on Bell Island.
“The greatest danger to our properties at Wabana would be from a [enemy] submarine operating at close range … Our shipping piers, power plant and transformer bank seem to all be grouped together … An under-water craft could very easily come into the Bay in broad daylight … come to the surface and put these plants out of commission with shell fire. If an ore boat happened to be loading at one of the piers a well directed torpedo would send her to the bottom right in the dock.”