Broadside: Halifax’s wartime pilot boat disaster by Rick Grant

The thoroughly researched tale of Canada’s deadliest pilot boat disaster set against the backdrop of the Second World War.

On a bitter winter night during the Second World War, a British freighter smashed into a Halifax Harbour pilot boat, sending nine men to their deaths. Drawing on interviews and years of meticulous research, Rick Grant uncovers the true story of what happened, and the official Canadian government cover-up that followed.

But the tragedy did not end with the sinking. Families of the lost men, including widows and fatherless children, faced both censorship and government apathy to get the compensation and truth they were owed.

Rick Grant offers a dramatic, evocative, and deeply researched account of a moment in history that still resonates today for readers of Second World War history, naval history, and those interested in the human cost of seafaring.