Projects

Our Next Expedition: Bell Island, Newfoundland, Canada

Bell Island Battle of the Atlantic Virtual Memorial Expedition

Overview

The Bell Island Battle of the Atlantic Virtual Memorial Expedition is a multidisciplinary field project designed to document, interpret, and commemorate Canada’s most intact and historically significant Second World War naval battlefield. The expedition responds to a fundamental challenge in naval history and commemoration: the absence of traditional battlefields and large cemeteries for the tens of thousands of naval and merchant sailors from all nations who died at sea during the Battle of the Atlantic, the longest campaign of the Second World War.

Unlike land warfare, naval combat leaves few visible traces. Ships sink, crews are lost offshore, and families are often left without graves to visit or landscapes that convey the scale and human cost of the conflict. As a result, much of the Battle of the Atlantic remains physically invisible despite its central importance to Canada’s wartime history and national identity.

Bell Island, Newfoundland and Labrador, is one of the rare locations where the naval battlefield, the industrial target, coastal defences, and commemorative landscapes remain geographically and historically linked. In 1942, four loaded iron ore carriers were torpedoed while at anchor off Bell Island during two separate German submarine attacks. These were deliberate penetrations of a sheltered anchorage adjacent to a defended harbour and a critical wartime industrial target, rather than open-ocean interceptions. The wrecks and surviving shore features together form one of the most concentrated and interpretable Battle of the Atlantic landscapes on the Atlantic coasts of Canada and the United States.

In addition to its commemorative purpose, the expedition advances a broad range of scientific, educational, and community-focused objectives. High-resolution underwater archaeology will document the wrecks and associated industrial infrastructure as a connected cultural landscape, while marine biology and marine ecology research will establish baseline data on the wrecks as artificial reef systems within Conception Bay. The project is designed to support public education through digital visualization, academic research, and curriculum-aligned resources, while also contributing to sustainable heritage tourism by making an otherwise inaccessible naval battlefield understandable and meaningful to visitors. Together, these integrated approaches ensure that the Bell Island expedition functions not only as a memorial, but also as a living platform for science, education, and regional cultural and economic engagement.

Bell Island Attacks: Dates, Ships, and Operational Context

The Bell Island attacks occurred in two phases during the autumn of 1942 and were conducted by German submarines operating independently in western North Atlantic waters.

First attack – 5 September 1942

Submarine U-513 (Type IXC) entered Conception Bay and torpedoed two iron ore carriers lying at anchor:

• S.S. Saganaga (British)

• S.S. Lord Strathcona (Canadian)

Second attack – 2 November 1942

Submarine U-518 (Type IXC) returned to the Bell Island anchorage and torpedoed two additional iron ore carriers:

• S.S. Rose Castle (Canadian)

• S.S. PLM-27 (British-registered; operating under Free French control)

The second attack was also associated with damage in the Scotia Pier area.

While many vessels were sunk near shore during the intense submarine campaign of 1942, Bell Island is distinguished by the successful penetration of a sheltered anchorage and the sinking of multiple vessels in close proximity to an active industrial facility and defended harbour.

A Unique Wartime Landscape

Bell Island preserves an unusual concentration of Battle of the Atlantic features within a single geographic setting:

• Four merchant shipwrecks resting offshore in Conception Bay

• The remains of Scotia Pier, directly linked to wartime industrial activity and the 1942 attacks

• A preserved coastal artillery battery, constructed prior to and operational during 1942

• Two cemeteries associated with the events, including the Seamen’s Cemetery at Lance Cove

• Flooded iron ore mine workings that formed the industrial heart of the wartime target

Together, these elements allow the Battle of the Atlantic to be understood not as isolated ship losses, but as a connected system linking naval operations, industrial production, coastal defence, and commemoration.

Bell Island within the North Atlantic Theatre

Within the Allied system of global theatres of war, the Battle of the Atlantic formed a distinct and continuous theatre of operations. The Canadian Northwest Atlantic Theatre was the only Allied theatre of war commanded by a Canadian, it was under the leadership of Rear Admiral—later Vice-Admiral—Leonard W. Murray, Commander-in-Chief, Canadian Northwest Atlantic.

Bell Island must also be understood within a wider North Atlantic geographic framework that included Newfoundland (then a separate dominion under British administration), Greenland and Iceland, the Faroe Islands, Jan Mayen, and the Azores—locations central to convoy routing, air coverage, weather reporting, and anti-submarine operations. Nearby Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, while not a naval base, held strategic significance due to intelligence, communications, and political-control concerns within the western North Atlantic. Svalbard, while geographically Arctic, was closely linked to the Battle of the Atlantic through the Arctic Convoys supplying the Soviet Union.

Canadian forces were deployed well beyond domestic waters, including army contingents to Iceland and a joint British-Canadian military raid into Svalbard, reflecting Canada’s expanding operational role within the Atlantic theatre. At the western edge of this interconnected system, Bell Island supplied iron ore essential to steel production in Sydney, Nova Scotia, Britain, and beyond, placing it firmly within the strategic geography of the North Atlantic war.

Purpose: A Virtual Battle of the Atlantic Memorial

Because the Battle of the Atlantic left few conventional memorial landscapes, the Bell Island expedition advances a complementary approach: the creation of a high-resolution, three-dimensional Digital Terrain Model (DTM) that functions as a Virtual Battle of the Atlantic Memorial.

Rather than treating wrecks and shore features as isolated heritage sites, the project documents Bell Island as a connected wartime landscape. This approach allows users to visualize how naval operations, industrial infrastructure, coastal defence, and human loss intersected in space and time, giving form and context to a conflict that remains largely invisible beneath the sea.

Expedition Collaboration and Expertise

The expedition is a multidisciplinary collaboration between the Marine Institute of Memorial University of Newfoundland (MI–MUN), the Shipwreck Preservation Society of Newfoundland and Labrador (SPSNL), VOYIS, the Royal Canadian Geographical Society (RCGS), and a team of highly experienced technical divers drawn from the HMCS Canada Expedition.

• The Marine Institute of Memorial University of Newfoundland (MI–MUN) serves as the expedition’s principal academic and operational partner, providing research vessels and crew, ROV operations and positioning systems, expedition hardware, integrated research leadership, graduate student participation, and comprehensive institutional safety and environmental governance, including drone-based aerial documentation.

• The Shipwreck Preservation Society of Newfoundland and Labrador (SPSNL), a registered Canadian charity and member of the Museum Association of Newfoundland and Labrador, contributes volunteer expertise, regional maritime heritage knowledge, and liaison support related to provincial and federal funding and regulatory processes, ensuring alignment with Newfoundland and Labrador’s heritage stewardship frameworks.

• VOYIS, a Canadian marine technology company specializing in underwater imaging and autonomous systems, provides onsite engineering support and high-resolution three-dimensional survey capability across all four wrecks, forming a core technical component of the expedition’s integrated Digital Terrain Model framework.

• The Royal Canadian Geographical Society (RCGS) supports professional cartographic integration through its cartographic program and advances national storytelling and curriculum-linked educational outreach through Canadian Geographic and Canadian Geographic Education.

• The technical dive team brings decades of deep- and cold-water operational experience, conducting diver-based photogrammetry on S.S. PLM-27 and within the submerged sections of the iron ore mine as part of the expedition’s comparative documentation approach.

MI–MUN, SPSNL, and VOYIS are contributing significant in-kind support through vessels, equipment access, engineering services, volunteer time, and institutional expertise, substantially reducing overall expedition cash requirements. Dive team members volunteer their time and cover their own travel expenses.

Governance and Institutional Recognition

The Grants Committee of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society has awarded the Bell Island Battle of the Atlantic Virtual Memorial Expedition a Major Grant. This designation enables charitable receipting for foundations, corporate sponsors, and individual donors supporting the project and authorizes the expedition to fly the official RCGS Expedition Flag.

Technical Approach and Comparative Methodology

The expedition integrates multiple documentation techniques into a single, unified three-dimensional digital landscape:

• AUV-based and ROV-supported photogrammetry on all four wrecks

• Diver-based photogrammetry on selected targets

• Terrestrial laser scanning of shore features

• Drone-based aerial photography for overhead context

• Professional cartographic integration supported by RCGS expertise

S.S. PLM-27 will be documented using both diver-based and AUV-based photogrammetry. To current knowledge, this project represents the first deliberate, coordinated application in Canada of both methods to the same shipwreck, undertaken as a comparative methodology and integrated into a single archaeological and cartographic product.

The wrecks lie at depths generally ranging from approximately 25 to 45 metres, allowing systematic documentation while supporting repeat surveys and long-term monitoring.

Scientific Objectives

The expedition integrates three complementary streams of research and documentation.

Underwater archaeology
High-resolution three-dimensional models will document wreck condition, spatial relationships, and archaeological context.

Industrial and subsurface heritage
Mine-diving photogrammetry will document flooded sections of the iron ore mine, capturing the industrial dimension of the wartime target.

Marine biology and ecology
The wrecks function as artificial reefs. Baseline ecological data will support longer-term monitoring of environmental change in Conception Bay.

Education, Outreach, and Legacy

The Virtual Memorial will support:

• Marine Institute student orientation and field-science education

• RCGS-developed educational resources for schools and post-secondary institutions

• On-site visitor engagement through QR-code-enabled visualization

• Heritage tourism development for Bell Island and Conception Bay

By transforming an otherwise inaccessible naval battlefield into an integrated digital landscape, the Bell Island Battle of the Atlantic Virtual Memorial Expedition provides a durable form of commemoration while advancing research, education, and public understanding. It preserves a nationally significant site and situates Bell Island within the wider Atlantic theatre that shaped the outcome of the Second World War.

In 2016, I participated in NOAA’s Battle of the Atlantic Expedition documenting the German submarine U-576 and the merchant vessel Bluefields off North Carolina. That work contributed to the expansion of the Monitor National Marine Sanctuary, which now formally honours United States Navy and Merchant Marine personnel lost during the Battle of the Atlantic. The expedition combined advanced 3D photogrammetry, archival research, and survivor testimony to transform a seabed battlefield into a place of public memory and education.

Bell Island represents Canada’s most intact Second World War naval battlefield — a site of national commemoration and a landscape of remembrance and sacrifice whose full significance encompasses both dignified memorialization and rigorous archaeological and ecological documentation. The Bell Island Battle of the Atlantic Virtual Memorial Expedition will integrate high-resolution underwater photogrammetry of four wrecked merchant ships with georeferenced terrestrial documentation of the Cemetery Hill battery, Scotia Pier remains, Lance Cove Seamen’s Cemetery, and Bell Island mine structures. These datasets will be spatially integrated within a unified GIS framework to produce a comprehensive undersea and land-based 3D terrain model of the 1942 submarine attack landscape.

The project will establish baseline archaeological documentation of the wrecks and a marine ecological baseline for Conception Bay. Together, this integrated dataset will support long-term heritage management, academic research, and the development of a nationally connected Battle of the Atlantic tourism framework linking Newfoundland to related sites across the province and mainland Canada.

Joseph Frey