For Posterity's Sake         

A Royal Canadian Navy Historical Project

In memory of those who have Crossed the Bar 

CAMPBELL, Angus Hector - 91, master mariner, of Connaught Avenue, Halifax, passed away at the Abbie J. Lane Memorial Building Thursday, April 9, 1998, after a valiant struggle with pneumonia, which typified much of his life. Born July 26, 1907, he was the eldest son of the late Capt. Daniel J. and Barbara (Livingstone) Campbell, Big Bras d’Or, Victoria County. He plied the seas of the world from an early age, first as a deckhand at age 14, later joining the United Fruit Company fleet on its South American and Caribbean runs. He settled in Halifax as a home port after he obtained his masters (home trade) papers in December 1939 and served as officer in various ships with the Imperial and Standard Oil fleets. After his ship, the SS James McGee, was mined and sunk in Bristol Channel in June 1940, he returned to Halifax and joined the Royal Canadian Naval Reserve as a navigation officer in July 1940. He served in the following ships: HMCS St. Clair, HMS Snowberry, HMCS Columbia (from where he received two mentions in dispatch citations for his actions in helping save a foundering ship, the SS Matthew Lukenbach), HMCS Prescott and was commanding officer HMCS Kincardine until it was paid off and demobilized in March 1946. Following demobilization, he returned to the Merchant service with the Imperial Oil fleet and obtained his masters (foreign-going) papers. He sailed the world’s oceans and seas, the Great Lakes and Eastern Canada, until he retired in 1972. He returned to sea intermittently for three years after his retirement, serving as an ice pilot in Canada’s northern coastal communities. He was and avid reader, an active gardener and a superlative storyteller. He was a member of Edgewood United Church, Athole Lodge, Naval Officers Association of Canada, Company of Master Mariners and the Canadian Geographic Society. He is survived by his daughter, K. Barbara Campbell and granddaughter, Allison Smith, Halifax; son, Bruce and wife Becky, with whom he resided in Halifax; sisters, Alexandra (Sandie) MacKenzie, New Dominion, Edith (Mrs. Wally MacKenzie), Big Bras d’Or; brother, A. Albert (Bert) and wife Marilyn, Sydney River; several cousins, nieces, nephews, grandnieces and grandnephews and Nisha, Timber and Khaki, his beloved companions. He was predeceased by his wife, Beryl Joan (Collins), sisters, Wilhemena (Billie) MacNeil, Sarah (Sadie) MacNeil, Deena, brother Daniel J. Campbell. Cremation has taken place. Arrangements under the direction of Atlantic Funeral Home, 6552 Bayers Road, Halifax, with visitation Monday from 2-4, 7-9 p.m. Funeral service will be held at Edgewood United Church at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday with Rev. John Tapscott officiating. Interment of ashes at Oakridge Memory Gardens; the scattering of ashes at sea will take place at a later date. Donations may be made in his memory to Missions of Seamen or QEII Foundation, Abbie J. Lane Family Medicine Unit.

M.I.D. Citation:  CAMPBELL, Angus Hector, Skipper Lieutenant - Mention in Despatches-RCNR / HMCS Columbia -Awarded as per Canada Gazette of 29 May 1943and London Gazette of 5 October 1943.  "During the salvaging of S.S. Matthew Luckenback, Skipper Lieutenant Campbell by his experience, initiative and energy was largely responsible for the assessing and improving the condition of water-tightness in the ship."