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Maritime Museum of the Atlantic, MP23.81.1, M93.63.19, 20462.tif

The bow of the tug Erg, formerly the tug Sambro,
shown after she sank for the second time in 1943.


Name: Sambro Name Changes Renamed Erg in 1927 Official Number: 134463
Tonnage: 28.29 Gross
Dimensions: 55' long, 14.7' breadth, 7.2' deep
Built: Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada Builder: Halifax Shipyard Year: 1915
Registered Port: Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada Owners: Halifax Shipyard
Vessel Type: Steam Tug, later converted to Diesel Work Boat
Career: One of the earliest steel vessels built in Halifax, Sambro was a steam tug built and owned by Halifax Shipyard. She was sunk by the Halifax Explosion in 1917. Ten years later, she was raised, re-named Erg and converted to a diesel work boat. She was sunk again on July 6, 1943 in a collision with Norelg a Norwegian freighter. Erg was carrying shipyard workers when the freighter, arriving in Bedford Basin, overtook her in fog and rain to strike her on the port side. Only five of the 24 men on board were saved. An inquiry blamed carelessness and a poor look-out about Norelg. Fourteen days after sinking, Erg was raised by the floating crane Lord Kitchener and the bodies of 10 victims removed. Too badly damaged to repair, she was scuttled near Roach Cove in Bedford Basin and forgotten. In 2001, a team from the Nova Scotia Undersea Exploration Society located and identified the wreck.
Sources: National Archives of Canada, RG 12, Vol. 1243, File 9704-165; RG12 Series Ali, Vol. 5102, file 9704-38.

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