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

M.V. IMPERIAL TRANSPORT  WW2

MV Imperial Transport was an oil tanker built in the early 1930s for the Houlder Line .During World War II, the ship was torpedoed by a German submarine in early 1940 and broke in half. The stern section was saved and a new forward half was built and mated to the ship, which returned to service in 1941. Imperial Transport was torpedoed again in early 1942, but her crew was able to get her back to port. She was repaired in the United States and was back in service by early 1943.

Donkeyman George Herbert COLES  B.E.M.

Born: 1918, Shrewton, Wiltshire, England

Date of Engagement 4-4-1941, Albany

Merchant Navy

World War 2 Nominal Roll states last Ship as the Piako

Died: 30-1-1943, Weehawken, Hudson County, New Jersey, U.S.A.

Honoured: Australian War Memorial Commemorative Roll

The Daily Telegraph (Sydney, N.S.W.)  31-3-1943
REQUIEM MASS was celebrated in the Church Of The Sea, New York, for an Australian merchant seaman, George Coles, who was drowned when he fell from his ship in New York Harbor. Coles had no friends or relatives in New York to mourn him. His coffin, draped with the American flag, is shown in front of the altar.

The Daily News (Perth, W.A.)  21-4-1943
NONE TO MOURN AUSTRALIAN SEAMAN
In the Stars and Stripes draped casket in the Church of the Sea in New York are the remains of 24year old Australian Merchant Seaman George Coles for whom Requiem Mass is being Celebrated. Coles who was drowned when he fell from a ship in New York Harbour, had no friends or relatives in America. The Church Pews are empty.