N66°52′ W8°02′ (HMS Punjabi) One-Place Study

This study began as an investigation into the location and circumstances of my great uncle Clary’s death in 1942. He died when the Royal Navy destroyer on which he was serving, HMS Punjabi, was accidentally rammed and sunk by the much larger battleship, HMS King George V, on the 1st May 1942. The tragic accident, which was apparently hushed up at the time, occurred in Arctic waters approximately 175 miles northwest of Iceland – at N66°52′ W8°02′ to be precise. 

As time has passed by, my interest has broadened to include the lives of all the other seamen who died when the ship sank – who were they, where were they from, what were their lives like, and who did they leave behind? One thing is certain – all of our lives are connected by what happened that fateful day in the cold Norwegian Sea. 

A fuller account of the sinking of HMS Punjabi can be found in the December 2024 edition of Destinations.