Albert Henry John – Merchant Navy, S.S. Ocean Crusader

Able Seaman Albert Henry John – Merchant Navy, S.S. Ocean Crusader

A Seaman of the Second World War

Another seaman who served with the Merchant Navy during the Second World War, and about whom only limited information survives, was Albert Henry John, born in 1914 at Swansea. Like many men of his generation, his life and service are recorded only briefly in surviving wartime documents, yet his loss forms part of the wider story of sacrifice made by Merchant Navy personnel during the conflict.

Merchant Navy Service

Merchant Seamen Deaths

According to Merchant Seamen Deaths, Albert was residing at Tempence House, Kings Dock, Swansea, at the time of his service. He served as an Able Seaman, a skilled deck rating responsible for essential duties in navigation, maintenance, and the daily running of the ship. His life was tragically cut short following the sinking of the S.S. Ocean Crusader on 26 November 1942, during one of the most dangerous phases of the Battle of the Atlantic, when Allied merchant ships faced constant threats from U‑boats, aircraft, and mines.

Albert Henry John
Tower Hill Memorial
credit - Benjidog Histroical Research Resources.
The Merchant Navy Memorial

The Loss of the S.S. Ocean Crusader

On 26 November 1942, in the Atlantic, west of Newfoundland, the S.S. Ocean Crusader was on passage from Portland, Maine, to the United Kingdom, sailing via Panama and New York, and carrying 8,891 tons of general cargo. She had become a straggler from Convoy HX 216, which comprised 42 ships, and was therefore travelling without the protection of the main convoy body. In this vulnerable state, she was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U‑262. The attack was devastating: the Master, Captain Ellis Wynne Parry, together with 44 members of the crew, were lost. Only two men survived the sinking. Among those who perished was Able Seaman Albert Henry John of Swansea, whose service ended in the cold waters of the North Atlantic.

Commemoration

With no known grave but the sea, Albert Henry John is commemorated on the Tower Hill Memorial, London, where his name stands among those of thousands of Merchant Navy men who lost their lives while keeping Britain supplied during the war. Though the surviving details of his life are few, his service and sacrifice remain part of Swansea’s enduring maritime heritage.