75 Years: SS Athenia:

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75 Years: SS Athenia:

On 3 September 1939, the SS Athenia, en route from Glasgow to Montreal, became the first victim of the Battle of the Atlantic when she was torpedoed and sunk by a U-boat. Two survivors of the wreck describe the attack, the dramatic evacuation into the lifeboats and the long night spent waiting for rescue.

Hope with all else occurring this year, we tribute Athenia.

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An extract from SHIPPING COMPANY LOSSES OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR, published by the History Press.

ATHENIA (Captain James Cook). Bound for Montreal, sailed independently from Liverpool on 2 September, 1939. War was declared at 11am on the 3rd and, at 9.45pm, the ship was torpedoed by U.30 (Oblt. Fritz-Julius Lemp), and sank at 11am on the 4th in position 56°44´N 14°05´W. Of the 1103 passengers and 329 crew, 112 died. Of the survivors, 602 were picked up by the Knute Nelson (Nor.) (Captain Carl Johan Anderssen) and landed at Galway. Two hundred and twenty-three, picked up by the illuminated motor yacht Southern Cross (Swed.), transferred to the City of Flint (US) (Captain J.A. Gainard) and landed at Halifax, Nova Scotia. Four hundred and ninety-five picked up by the destroyers HMS Electra (LtCdr. S.A. Buss) and HMS Escort (LtCdr. J. Bostock), and landed at Greenock.

As u-boat commanders were instructed to observe the Hague Convention, which stated that merchant ships were not to be sunk without warning, Lemp contravened the instruction. This infuriated Hitler as many of the Athenia’s passengers were US citizens and the sinking might have brought the United States into the War.

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From "The Sea is Their Grave" by Billy McGee:

"Passenger liner Athenia, 13,465grt, (Donaldson Bros. & Black Ltd). On the evening of the 3rd September 1939 a few hours after Britain declared war on Germany, the Athenia sailing independently from the Clyde and Liverpool bound for Montreal with over 1100 passengers including women and children was attacked by U-30, 250 miles West of Donegal. One torpedo slammed into her port side near the engine room and the ship immediately began to develop a port list trapping a number of passengers below deck as the stairways collapsed. As the ship began to settle the order to abandon was given and the crew began to evacuate the passengers. Crewmembers fought desperately below deck searching for passengers trapped in their cabins, made more difficult by the lights being disabled by the explosion. The sound of bulkheads could be heard collapsing under the pressure of the in rushing sea and the night air became filled with the screams of women and children fighting for their lives in the pitch darkness. The majority of the ships lifeboats were successfully launched, though two met with accidents, one falling from the davits while being lowered throwing the occupants into the sea, while another capsized in rough seas. Transmitting a distress message, which was picked up, number of ships in the area, they quickly raced to the scene. On arriving they were met with the full horror of the situation. The Norwegian Merchant ship Knute Nelson, one of the first to arrive, whilst attempting to pick up the survivors from one of the boats accidentally pulled another boat under her stern, which was cut to pieces by the ships propeller killing most of the occupants. Three British Destroyers were soon on scene as well as the British Merchant ship City of Flint and the Swedish yacht Southern Cross, who rescued over 1300 passengers and crew. A total of 112 passengers and crew perished. The Battle of the Atlantic had begun. The rules of U-boat engagement were that no passenger ships should be attacked stemming from the worldwide outcry after the sinking of the Lusitania in W.W.I. The Commander of U-30, Fritz J Lemp was said to believe that the Athenia was an Armed Merchant Cruiser. Adolph Hitler worried about reprisals from America because of the amount of American passengers onboard at the time put his propaganda machine into action and denied all knowledge of the incident. Commander Lemp was recalled to Germany to help the cover up"

On 9th May 1941 U-110 under the command of Fritz J Lemp attacked a convoy along with U-201. After being spotted by the escort ships Aubretia, Bulldog, and Broadway, U-110 was forced to the surface after depth charges were dropped. Believing he was about to be rammed Lemp ordered his boat to be abandoned. At the very last moment HMS Bulldog turned to evade the collision when her Commander realized he could probably capture the U-boat. The story goes that Lemp jumped into the sea and tried to re-board his U-boat in an attempt to scuttle her, and was subsequently shot and drowned. On board U-110 was one of the latest Enigma machines.

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The 3rd September was the day that the SS Athenia was sunk just nine hours after Prime Minister Chamberlain declared the outbreak of war on the ‘wireless’. It should also be noted that the last casualties before VE Day was also a Merchant Ship also with the loss of merchant seafarers.

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The SS Athenia:

The Wartime Memories Project - The Second War

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The Last Moments of ATHENIA:

Remembered by Survivor Cathleen Schurr

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Full text of "Tomorrow Never Came The Story Of The S S Athenia"

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September 3rd 2014 – The Anniversary of the sinking of SS Athenia within hours of the declaration by Neville Chamberlain that Britain was at war with Germany.

The United Kingdom marks its Merchant Navy Day, on September, 3 EVERY YEAR.

[SS ATHENIA]

September 3, 1939 saw the first British ship sunk by the Germans in the Second World War and the first Canadian civilian deaths of the war.

In the photo is SS ATHENIA. Photo part of the Clifford M. Johnston collection and is from Royal Canadian Navy heritage archives.
Of the 98 passengers who died 54 were Canadian including a Canadian girl, 10-year-old Margaret Hayworth, was included among the casualties, and was one of the first Canadians to die as a result of enemy action.

Canadian newspapers widely publicised the story, proclaiming "Ten-Year-Old Victim of Torpedo" as "Canadians Rallying Point", and set the tone for their coverage of the rest of the war. A thousand people met the train that transported her body back to Hamilton, Ontario, and there was a public funeral attended by the mayor of Hamilton and the city council, as well as the Lieutenant-Governor, Albert Edward Matthews, Premier Mitchell Hepburn, and the entire Ontario cabinet.

SS ATHENIA

SS ATHENIA, under Captain James Cook, departed Glasgow for Montreal on 1 September 1939, via Liverpool and Belfast, carrying 1,103 passengers, including about 500 Jewish refugees, 469 Canadians, 311 Americans, 72 British, and 315 crew.

SS ATHENIA left Liverpool at 1300 on 2 September, and on the evening of 3 September was 60 mi (97 km) south of Rockall (250 miles/400 km northwest of Inishtrahull, Ireland), when she was sighted by the German submarine U-30 commanded by Oberleutnant Fritz-Julius Lemp around 1630.

Captain Lemp later claimed that the fact that she was a darkened ship steering a zigzag course which seemed to be well off the normal shipping routes made him believe she was either a troopship or a Q-ship or an armed merchant cruiser.

German U-30 tracked the Athenia for three hours until eventually, at 1940, when both vessels were between Rockall and Tory Island, Lemp ordered two torpedoes to be fired. The first struck home and exploded, while the second came. Athenia began to settle by the stern.

Several ships, including HMS Electra, raced to the site of the attack. The captain of Electra, Lt. Cdr. Sammy A. Buss, was Senior Officer Present, so he took charge. He sent the destroyer HMS Fame on an anti-submarine sweep of the area, while Electra, another destroyer, HMS Escort, the Swedish yacht Southern Cross, the 5,749 ton Norwegian tanker MS Knute Nelson, and the American freighter SS City of Flint, rescued the survivors. Between them, about 981 passengers and crew were rescued. The German liner SS Bremen en route from New York to Murmansk, also received Athenia's distress signal, but hardly surprisingly ignored it. The City of Flint took 223 survivors on to Halifax, and the Knute Nelson landed 450 at Galway.

SS ATHENIA remained afloat for over fourteen hours after being torpedoed, until she finally sank stern first at 1040 the following morning. Of the 1,418 aboard, 98 passengers and 19 crew members were killed. The toll in lives included fatalities caused when the torpedo struck, and from accidents and other mistakes during the evacuation.

Most of the fatalities occurred in the engine room and after stairwell, where the torpedo hit and some died later when one of the lifeboats was crushed in the propeller of the Knute Nelson.

No. 5A lifeboat came alongside the empty tanker and tied up, against advice, astern of No 12 lifeboat. Only 15 feet separated the life boat from the tanker's exposed propellor. Once the No. 12 lifeboat was emptied it was cut adrift and began to sink. This fact was reported to the bridge of Knute Nelson.

For some reason the ship's throttle was then set to full ahead. The 5A lifeboat's warp parted under the strain, causing the lifeboat to be pulled back into the fast revolving propellor. This resulted in about 50 deaths.

A second accident occurred at about 0500 hrs when No. 8 lifeboat capsized in a heavy sea below the stern of the yacht Southern Cross causing ten deaths. Three passengers were crushed to death while attempting to transfer from lifeboats to the RN destroyers. The other fatalities were due to falling overboard from Athenia and her lifeboats, or to injuries and exposure.

Fifty-four dead were Canadian while twenty-eight of the dead were American citizens, which led to German fears that the incident would bring the US into the war.

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SS ATHENIA.