Honouring the Men who gave their lives whilst serving in the Merchant Navy
and whose names are on the Australian War Memorial Commemorative Roll

S.S. FORT ATHABASKA (London)  -  WW2

S.S. Fort Athabaska was destroyed during the bombing of the harbour at Bari by German bombers on 2 December 1943. The attack had unexpected consequences as one of the ships hit was John Harvey that was loaded with chemical weapons that were to be made ready for retaliation in case the Germans used similar weapons. There were many casualties and the incident was hushed up for many years.