SS Jasper Park
| {{Infobox ship begin
|infobox caption= |display title= }} {{Infobox ship image |Ship image=SSJASPER_PARK.jpg |Ship image size= |Ship caption= SS Jasper Park 1943 }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header= |Ship country=Canada |Ship flag={{shipboxflag|Canada|1921}} |Ship name=* Jasper Park |Ship namesake= Jasper National Park |Ship owner=Park Steamship Company |Ship operator= |Ship registry= |Ship route= |Ship ordered= |Ship builder=Davie Shipbuilding |Ship original cost= |Ship yard number= |Ship way number= |Ship laid down= |Ship launched= 12 August 1942 |Ship completed= 24 September 1942 |Ship christened= |Ship acquired= |Ship maiden voyage= |Ship in service= |Ship out of service= |Ship identification= |Ship fate= Torpedoed by {{GS|U-177 | 2}} on 6 July 1943
|Ship notes= }} {{Infobox ship characteristics | Hide header = | Header caption = | Ship type = Park ship | Ship tonnage =*{{GRT|2,878}}
| Ship displacement = | Ship length = {{convert|315|ft|5|in|m|2|abbr=on}} | Ship beam = {{convert|46|ft|5|in|m|2|abbr=on}} | Ship height = | Ship draught = | Ship depth = {{convert|22|ft|9|in|m|2|abbr=on}} | Ship decks = | Ship deck clearance = | Ship ramps = | Ship ice class = | Ship sail plan = | Ship power = Triple expansion steam engine | Ship propulsion = Screw propeller | Ship speed = | Ship capacity = | Ship crew = 34, plus 4 DEMS gunners | Ship notes = | Ship armament = *1 x 4 inch deck gun aft
}} |
SS Jasper Park was a Park ship freighter, built in 1942. She was sunk by torpedo from {{GS|U-177}} on 6 July 1943, the first Park ship lost to enemy action.[https://wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?15241 wrecksite.eu, Jasper Park] She was completed on 24 September 1942, by the company Davie Shipbuilding in Lauzon, Quebec. Her hull number is 537. Davie Shipbuilding is now called Chantier Davie Canada Inc. The ship was owned by the Park Steamship Company, which was owned by Canada's Federal government. The government had built 400 vessels during World War II. Built as a merchant steamship constructed for Canada’s Merchant Navy in 1942. She was named after Jasper National Park in the Canadian Rockies in the province of Alberta, Canada.[http://shipbuildinghistory.com/canadaships/wwtwo.htm shipbuildinghistory.com Park Ships][http://www.mariners-l.co.uk/ParkA.html mariners, Park ship A to M]
She was operated for the Government by Canada Shipping Company.
{{cite book
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=7VW3AAAAIAAJ&q=%22Phaeax+II%22
| title = A Great Fleet of Ships: The Canadian Forts & Parks
| author = Syd C. Heal
| publisher = Vanwell Publishing
| page = 285
| year = 1999
| isbn = 9781551250236
}}
{{cite book
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=DqcfAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Phaeax+II%22
| title = Canadian Shipping and Marine Engineering News, Volume 18
| publisher = Maclean Publishing
| year = 1946
| page = 29
| location =
| isbn =
| accessdate = 2017-03-29
| quote = Then there was the famous Greenhill Park, now sailing the seas again as Phaeax II under the flag of Greece.
}}
{{cite book
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=K5DxAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Phaeax+II%22
| title = The unknown navy: Canada's World War II merchant navy
| author = Robert G. Halford
| publisher = Vanwell Publishing
| year = 1995
| pages = 39, 144
| location =
| isbn = 9781551250168
| accessdate = 2017-03-29
| quote = The badly damaged ship was sold by War Assets to Greek interests who had her rebuilt to sail again as the Phaeax II.
}}
World War II
Jasper Park was part of Convoy ON 154. The ships departed Liverpool on 18 December 1942Hague 2000 p. 158 and were met by the Royal Canadian Navy Mid-Ocean Escort Force Group C-1.Lenton & Colledge 1968 p. 279 The convoy sailed in twelve columns of three or four ships each. The convoy formation was {{convert|5|mi|spell=in}} wide and {{convert|1.5|mi|spell=in}} long. Of the 55 cargo freighters 13 were sunk on the trip, Jasper Park survived. Jasper Park and remainder of the convoy reached New York City on 12 January 1943.{{cite web|url=http://www.gordonmumford.com/m-navy/ons154-0.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081015204534/http://www.gordonmumford.com/m-navy/ons154-0.htm|url-status=usurped|archive-date=October 15, 2008|title=Convoy ONS 154|publisher=J. Gordon Mumford|accessdate=2010-12-02}}{{cite web|url=http://www.convoyweb.org.uk/on/index.html|title=ON convoys|publisher=Andrew Hague Convoy Database|accessdate=2011-05-25}}
Jasper Park was on voyage from Calcutta and Cochin, India unescorted to Saint John, New Brunswick via Durban, South Africa with 6,500 tons of general cargo including jute and tea. On 6 July 1943 at 10AM Jasper Park was found by the {{GS|U-177}}, commanded by Robert Gysae, south-southwest of Cap Sainte Marie, Madagascar. Jasper Park was hit by two or three torpedoes from U-177. She sank in the Indian Ocean, south of Durban.
The Germans questioned the Jasper Park survivors they found in two lifeboats, then departed. Jasper Park had a crew of 55. Four men were lost in the sinking. The lifeboats were found and the master, 44 crew members and six gunners were rescued by two destroyers of the Royal Australian Navy: {{HMAS|Quiberon|G81|6}} and {{HMAS|Quickmatch|G92|6}}. The crew were taken to Durban.[http://forposterityssake.ca/Navy/JASPER-PARK-DEMS.htm forposterityssake.ca/Navy, Jasper Park] The ship is located on the ocean floor at ({{coord|32|52|S|42|15|E}}).{{cite web |url=http://www.mariners-l.co.uk/ParkA.html |title=Park Ships A-M |publisher=Mariners |accessdate=6 January 2012}}{{cite web |url=http://uboat.net/allies/merchants/ships/2986.html |title=Jasper Park |publisher=Uboat |accessdate=7 March 2012}}
The lost are remembered in the Royal Canadian Naval Ships Memorial Monument in Spencer Smith Park in Burlington, Ontario.[https://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/memorials/national-inventory-canadian-memorials/details/5698 Royal Canadian Naval Ships Memorial Monument]
File:WWII Navy Memorial in Spencer Smith Park in Burlington, Ontario.jpg
See also
References
{{reflist|30em}}
{{Park ships}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jasper Park, SS}}
Category:Maritime history of Canada
Category:World War II merchant ships of Canada
Category:Canadian Merchant Navy
Category:Naval history of Canada
Category:Fleet of the Canadian Merchant Navy