Allan's Island, NF

On 18 February 1942, two US Naval ships went aground at Lawn Point and Chamber Cove, near St. Lawrence on the Burin Peninsula. It was the worst marine disaster to occur along the Eastern seaboard of Canada. Both ships were headed for the US Naval station at Argentia when they ran into a fierce winter storm. The USS Truxtun met her fate when she crashed ashore on a reef at Chamber Cove. The USS Pollux went aground at Lawn Point, about four miles from where the Truxtun met her doom.

The USS Truxton (DD-229) was a four master destroyer assigned to escort duty for the USS Pollux (AKS-2).

It was similar in design to the fifty destroyers given to Britain in exchanges for leases on American bases in the West Indies. Another US Destroyer, the USS Wilkes, also went aground at the same time, but freed herself and continued on to Argentia in a damaged condition.