On February 3, 1943, the transport ship USAT Dorchester was en route to Greenland carrying 901 soldiers, merchant seamen, and civilians. Among them were four chaplains: Methodist minister Rev. George Fox, Rabbi Alexander Goode, Dutch Reform minister Rev. Clark Poling, and St. Stephen's own Fr. John P. Washington. At 12:55 AM, a German U-boat fired a torpedo that struck the right hull of the Dorchester where soldiers were sleeping, killing them instantly. The ship lost power and went dark, and panic overwhelmed those on board. In the freezing cold, the four chaplains made their way to the top deck to guide soldiers to lifeboats and pass out life jackets. After giving out the last life jackets, they removed their own and gave them to four soldiers. The ship sank within eighteen minutes, and witnesses testified that the last thing they saw was the four chaplains on the stern with locked arms, singing hymns in English, Hebrew, and Latin and praying as the ship went down.