HMT Bedfordshire Memorial, Ocracoke

The memorial consists of a low black granite commemorative plaque inscribed in honor of the British trawler the HMT Bedforshire and its crew who perished on May 11, 1942 when sunk by a torpedo from a German U-boat. The polished black granite is approximately 8 feet long by 3 feet tall, with the front face at an angle. The names of the lost sailors are inscribed, and the inscribed face is framed on the left by the insignia of the Royal Naval Patrol Service and on the right by the symbol of the Hyde County Heritage Trail. In 1942, the British trawler, the HMT Bedfordshire, came to the United States as part of the Allied effort during World War II. While patrolling the waters of the Outer Banks for German Naval activity, the boat was torpedoed by a U-Boat on May 11, 1942, and all thirty-seven crewmen aboard were lost. Only four bodies were recovered. They were laid to rest on Ocracoke in a tiny plot considered the smallest Commonwealth War Graves Commission grave site in the world.