Post by Administrator on Feb 16, 2017 12:11:06 GMT
The sinking of SS Mendi
Later this month the Commonwealth War Graves Commission will be commemorating more than 600 servicemen who died following the sinking of SS Mendi 100 years ago during the First World War.
Events are due to be held at CWGC sites in Portsmouth and Southampton.
The troopship SS Mendi left Cape Town on 25 January 1917, carrying the last contingent of the South African Native Labour Corps bound for the Western Front – some 823 men of the 5th Battalion. She stopped three times during her voyage, delivering cargo and taking on supplies. Her last stop was Plymouth, England, on 19 February. She sailed for France the following day. Since German submarines were present in the English Channel, she was escorted on this last, hazardous, leg of her journey by the Royal Navy destroyer HMS Brisk.
The bald facts are that on 21 February 1917, the SS Mendi was struck by another ship not far from the Isle of Wight and badly damaged. It sank. More than 600 South African men died.
How did it come about that hundreds of South African men — predominantly black, but some white — were sailing from Cape Town to Le Havre, France? Like many thousands of others from across the British Empire, they were travelling to support the war effort. Put simply, Britain and her allies were running out of people and supplies.
This was a time during which the prevalent view in Britain was an absolute belief in the superiority of the white man. So although it was deemed necessary to conscript and recruit from the Caribbean, Africa and India, there was uneasiness at the prospect of putting weapons into the hands of colonial subjects. In the end, battalions of armed Caribbean and African men were deployed to fight, but always under the command of white men. As well as troops, labourers were also conscripted and recruited to serve in the war effort. The latter were known as the Foreign Labour Corps.
There were about 70,000 men working in the South African Native Labour Corps. These were the passengers on board the SS Mendi, which left Cape Town towards the end of January 1917. It was carrying 823 men from the 5th Battalion South African Native Labour Corps when the fatal blow was struck. Travelling at some speed in foggy, dangerous waters 20 kilometres from the Isle of Wight, the Darro, a mail ship twice the size of the Mendi, crashed into the smaller boat.
The larger ship initially did not stop to help the SS Mendi and its beleaguered, drowning passengers and crew. It took less than half an hour for the stricken vessel to sink.
LINK
Later this month the Commonwealth War Graves Commission will be commemorating more than 600 servicemen who died following the sinking of SS Mendi 100 years ago during the First World War.
Events are due to be held at CWGC sites in Portsmouth and Southampton.
The troopship SS Mendi left Cape Town on 25 January 1917, carrying the last contingent of the South African Native Labour Corps bound for the Western Front – some 823 men of the 5th Battalion. She stopped three times during her voyage, delivering cargo and taking on supplies. Her last stop was Plymouth, England, on 19 February. She sailed for France the following day. Since German submarines were present in the English Channel, she was escorted on this last, hazardous, leg of her journey by the Royal Navy destroyer HMS Brisk.
The bald facts are that on 21 February 1917, the SS Mendi was struck by another ship not far from the Isle of Wight and badly damaged. It sank. More than 600 South African men died.
How did it come about that hundreds of South African men — predominantly black, but some white — were sailing from Cape Town to Le Havre, France? Like many thousands of others from across the British Empire, they were travelling to support the war effort. Put simply, Britain and her allies were running out of people and supplies.
This was a time during which the prevalent view in Britain was an absolute belief in the superiority of the white man. So although it was deemed necessary to conscript and recruit from the Caribbean, Africa and India, there was uneasiness at the prospect of putting weapons into the hands of colonial subjects. In the end, battalions of armed Caribbean and African men were deployed to fight, but always under the command of white men. As well as troops, labourers were also conscripted and recruited to serve in the war effort. The latter were known as the Foreign Labour Corps.
There were about 70,000 men working in the South African Native Labour Corps. These were the passengers on board the SS Mendi, which left Cape Town towards the end of January 1917. It was carrying 823 men from the 5th Battalion South African Native Labour Corps when the fatal blow was struck. Travelling at some speed in foggy, dangerous waters 20 kilometres from the Isle of Wight, the Darro, a mail ship twice the size of the Mendi, crashed into the smaller boat.
The larger ship initially did not stop to help the SS Mendi and its beleaguered, drowning passengers and crew. It took less than half an hour for the stricken vessel to sink.
LINK
