John Charles Ardagh

Jack Ardagh came from an old Toronto family. His great-grandfather Richard Ardagh was born in Ireland in 1832 and arrived in Toronto as a child. He joined Toronto's volunteer fire brigade when he was 15 and was a councillor from 1864 to 1866 before becoming fire chief in 1876. The family lived on Sherbourne Street in the neighbourhood of other members of Toronto society. Richard was injured when he had to jump from a window on the night in 1895 when The Globe newspaper building burned down and he died from his injuries a few weeks later. Ardagh Avenue near Jane and Bloor Streets was named after him.

Jack's grandfather Charles was also a fireman, foreman of a station that was near Bloor and Parliament. Jack's father Victor Roland Ardagh was born in 1890 and was a clerk at Eaton's department store when he married Hilda Narcissa Emily Barton in May 1915. Hilda was born in Richmond, England circa 1895 and she came to Toronto with her family in 1912. Her father was a baker and she was working as a clerk when she married.

Victor enlisted in the First World War in November 1915, not long after his son Roland was born. When he was younger he had been a bugler with the 48th Highlanders for two years and was in the active militia when he enlisted. By the time he shipped out in June 1916, Hilda was pregnant with their second son, Robert. Victor arrived in France in September 1916 and was captured in March 1917 at Vimy Ridge. He spent the rest of the war in a German POW camp where food was often scarce. After the war he returned to his job at Eaton's.

During the war Hilda moved to the Beach area and lived on Dixon Avenue near Kingston Road and Queen Street. When Victor returned, the family was living on Kew Beach Avenue and when Hilda was pregnant with Jack in 1921, they moved into 321 Kenilworth Avenue. Jack was born on October 13 in the family home. (Until Toronto East General Hospital was built in 1929, Beach mothers either gave birth at home or at a maternity house on Lee Avenue.) Victor soon had a job as a public health inspector. The family went to St. John's Norway church.

Jack attended Norway School until 1935 and continued at Eastern Commerce. After graduating, he was a stock keeper/shipper at Silks Limited on Wellington Street West. He enlisted in the navy on April 29, 1940 and after training in Toronto, he was sent to the naval base in Halifax in August. By January 1941 he was training at Halifax to be a gunner on a defensively equipped merchant ship (DEMES). British and Commonwealth merchant ships were fitted with adequate defence against enemy submarines and aircraft. This meant installing large guns on deck and part of the training was to be able to identify Allied and enemy aircraft and to shoot the guns.

A 4 inch gun on a DEMES ship. Source: Library and Archives Canada.

Jack appears to have been assigned to various merchant ships. On April 28, 1941, The Toronto Star included him in an article wherein he described some of his experiences in England.

The Toronto Star, April 28, 1941.

Vancouver Island under her former name Weser. Photo from City of Vancouver Archives, CVA 447-2833

Jack joined the merchant ship Vancouver Island on June 24, 1941 as one of eight anti-aircraft gunners. The Vancouver Island was previously named Weser and had been a German merchant ship. At the beginning of the war it had been captured and taken over by the Ministry of War which renamed it. On July 8, Jack was at the training centre in Liverpool, taking a course in machine gun firing. For the next three months, Jack, as a rear gunner, crossed the Atlantic several times and most of the trips were very quiet, not giving him much opportunity to shoot his gun except as target practice. When he had leave in Canada Jack would return to Toronto. In late summer he spent four days with his family.

On approximately September 29, the Vancouver Island left Halifax with supplies for Britain and carrying 32 passengers. Two were RCAF members and the rest were mostly American members of the Civilian Technical Corps. These were volunteers who were to support radar and radio and assist the war effort in the United Kingdom. Normally a trip across the Atlantic would take about a week, but to avoid enemy detection, the ships would zigzag their way across which would add several days to the voyage. The Vancouver Island was travelling unescorted.

On October 15 at 2154 hrs, U-Boat 558 was searching for a 53 ship convoy west of Ireland. Instead, the submarine encountered the Vancouver Island. At 2249 hrs it shot three torpedoes, two of which hit the ship, fore and amidships. The ship stopped but it didn't sink. The Germans reported that the crew abandoned the ship in lifeboats after the first hit. At 2308 hrs and 2317 hrs two more torpedoes were fired. They both hit the ship fore and aft and caused her to sink fast by the stern. The 64 merchant marine crew members, the gunners and the passengers all died. On October 31, one lifeboat was discovered with two officers' bodies.

Jack's name is on the Halifax Memorial, to those Canadian men and women who perished at sea during the two world wars.

The Ardaghs lived on Kenilworth Avenue until 1966 when they moved to an apartment in Willowdale to be close to one of their sons.