German submarines torpedoed these ships off Newfoundland’s coast, but the memories are still alive

// custom header art window.tgam.meta.photo_desktop = "https://www.theglobeandmail.com/resizer/v2/53VLXMERTNGPFIQ7QDASRIQ4FM.jpg?auth=f6e3ce6a2c325ee827c1a44f0d8d029e4c236fa00b56acb8e267de2ef27ed5c2&width=1920&quality=80"; window.tgam.meta.photo_mobile = "https://www.theglobeandmail.com/resizer/v2/53VLXMERTNGPFIQ7QDASRIQ4FM.jpg?auth=f6e3ce6a2c325ee827c1a44f0d8d029e4c236fa00b56acb8e267de2ef27ed5c2&width=1200&quality=80"; window.tgam.meta.video = ""; window.tgam.meta.caption = "Filmmaker and explorer Jill Heinerth has spent years diving in the Bell Island shipwrecks – as she is doing here in 2016 – and the now-submerged iron mines that supplied the freighters’ valuable cargo."; window.tgam.meta.credit = ""; // custom header layout parameters window.tgam.meta.headline_overlay = true; window.tgam.meta.headline_overlay_vertical_position = "top"; // top, centre, bottom window.tgam.meta.headline_overlay_horizontal_position = "left"; // left, centre, right window.tgam.meta.headline_overlay_gradient = true; window.tgam.meta.two_column = false; window.tgam.meta.swap_column = false; window.tgam.meta.full_width = false; window.tgam.meta.dark_background = true; window.tgam.meta.dark_background_colour = "#054463"; window.tgam.meta.centre_headline = false; window.tgam.meta.large_headline = false; window.tgam.meta.sans_headline = false; window.tgam.meta.label_text_colour = ""; window.tgam.meta.label_box_colour = ""; window.tgam.meta.label_text_colour_overlay = "" ; window.tgam.meta.label_box_colour_overlay = ""; window.tgam.meta.audio_bar = true; // custom header display overrides (optional): window.tgam.meta.display_head = "Echoes of Bell Island"; window.tgam.meta.display_deck = "In 1942, Nazi U-boats took these ships to the bottom of the Atlantic. Today, Newfoundlanders take their memory to heart each Remembrance Day"; window.tgam.meta.label = "In photos"; window.tgam.meta.byline = "Photography and writing by Jill Heinerth"; window.tgam.meta.byline2 = ""; window.tgam.meta.creditline = "Special to The Globe and Mail"; The unforgiving sea holds tales that remain long after the world above has forgotten them. As I plunge into the Atlantic from the stern of a 42-foot cruiser called Mermaid, the sharp chill jolts me. Pulsing and vibrant, lion’s mane jellyfish drift by, trailing endless tendrils of pink and white.