Chapel of the Four Chaplains Presentation – 15 November 2022
Presentation by District 9 Sr Vice Commandant, John Castle
to Pastor Don Treglown, Detachment Chaplain
In the early morning hours of 3 February 1943, the U.S.A.T. Dorchester was crowded to capacity, carrying 902 servicemen, merchant seamen, and civilian workers. Once a luxury coastal liner,
the 5,649-ton vessel had been converted into an Army transport ship.
The Dorchester, one of three ships in the SG-19 convoy, was moving steadily across the icy waters
from Newfoundland toward an American base in Greenland. SG-19 was escorted by
Coast Guard Cutters Tampa, Escanaba, and Comanche.