Telegraphist V/26054 Royal Canadian Navy Volunteer Reserve.

HMCS ‘Athabaskan’, a Royal Canadian Navy Tribal Class Destroyer, was attacked and sunk by two German torpedo boats in the English Channel north-east of Ouessant, France;

The ‘Athabaskan's magazine and a boiler blew up in a massive explosion when the ship came under fire.

129 members of the crew went down with the ship; 83 men were picked up from the water by the torpedo boats and were taken prisoner, and another 44 of the crew members were picked up by HMCS 'Haida'.

In 2002 the wreckage of HMCS ‘Athabaskan’ was located near the island of Batz in the English Channel.

She was found by Jacques Ouchakoff, a French marine historian, in 90 metres of water.

Ottawa Branch member Paul Bender is devoted to protecting RCN shipwrecks and their contents.

As direct result of his work, and petitioning the government of France with respect to Athabaskan, the French government has placed the wreck, which is in French territorial waters, under the protection of the French Heritage Code, which provide

s legal protection of the wreck and its contents.