Web site 3, listed below states that:

“Battle of the Atlantic – The six year long battle starts on the 3^rd September with the sinking of the liner Athenia by U-30 (Lt Lemp) northwest of Ireland. She was mistaken for an armed merchant cruiser, and her destruction leads the Admiralty to believe unrestricted submarine warfare has been launched. Full convoy plans are put into operation, but in fact Hitler has ordered the U Boats to adhere to international law and after the Athenia incident, tightens controls for a while”

Thus began the Battle of the Atlantic.

Athenia’s sister ship Letitia did in fact later serve as an Armed Merchant Cruiser but was later converted back and eventually ended the war as a Hospital Ship.

This is the names of the 19 crewmembers lost from the Athenia sinking. The first 18 are on the Tower Hill Memorial. The last one is Canadian and is commemorated in Halifax Nova, Scotia.

CARLIN , Assistant Steward, JAMES, S.S. Athenia (Glasgow). Merchant Navy. 3rd - 4th September 1939. Age 56. Panel 12.

DONNELLY , Assistant Steward, IAN, S.S. Athenia (Glasgow). Merchant Navy. 3rd - 4th September 1939. Age 26. Panel 12.

DONNELLY , Assistant Steward, JOHN, S.S. Athenia (Glasgow). Merchant Navy. 3rd - 4th September 1939. Age 23. Panel 12.

ELDER , Donkeyman, JAMES, S.S. Athenia (Glasgow). Merchant Navy. 3rd - 4th September 1939. Age 45. Husband of Mary Elder, of Cambuslang, Lanarkshire. Panel 12.

FORDYCE , Watchman, CHARLES, S.S. Athenia (Glasgow). Merchant Navy. 3rd - 4th September 1939. Age 65. Son of George and Jessie Fordyce; husband of Mary Penelope Fordyce. Panel 12.

GALLAGHER , Greaser, HUGH, S.S. Athenia (Glasgow). Merchant Navy. 3rd - 4th September 1939. Age 23. Son of Thomas Gallagher, and of Isabel Gallagher, of Glasgow. Panel 12.

HARROWER , Stewardess, ALISON, S.S. Athenia (Glasgow). Merchant Navy. 3rd - 4th September 1939. Age 41. Daughter of William and Hannah Foster Denny Harrower. Panel 12.

HOGG , Assistant Steward, JOHN, S.S. Athenia (Glasgow). Merchant Navy. 3rd - 4th September 1939. Age 51. Husband of Sarah A. Hogg, of Brantford, Ontario, Canada. Panel 12.

JOHNSTON , Stewardess, MARGARET, S.S. Athenia (Glasgow). Merchant Navy. 3rd - 4th September 1939. Age 41. Daughter of James and Christina Johnston, of Glasgow. Panel 12.

KENT , Assistant Steward, JOHN, S.S. Athenia (Glasgow). Merchant Navy. 3rd - 4th September 1939. Age 50. Husband of Jessie Darroch Kent, of Bridgeton, Glasgow. Panel 12.

LAWLER , Stewardess, JESSIE, S.S. Athenia (Glasgow). Merchant Navy. 3rd - 4th September 1939. Age 60. Wife of Patrick Lawler, of Sholing, Southampton. Panel 12.

MARSHALL , Bellboy, JAMES, S.S. Athenia (Glasgow). Merchant Navy. 3rd - 4th September 1939. Age 15. Panel 12. *see emails below

MORRISON , Steward, DAVID, S.S. Athenia (Glasgow). Merchant Navy. 3rd - 4th September 1939. Age 32. Panel 12.

McDERMOTT , Assistant Steward, MICHAEL J., S.S. Athenia (Glasgow). Merchant Navy. 3rd - 4th September 1939. Age 33. Panel 12.

McJARROW , Printer, JOHN, S.S. Athenia (Glasgow). Merchant Navy. 3rd - 4th September 1939. Age 39. Panel 12.

McKEOWN , Steward, JOHN, S.S. Athenia (Glasgow). Merchant Navy. 3rd - 4th September 1939. Age 47. Husband of M. E. McKeown, of Dunoon, Argyllshire. Panel 12.

PROVAN, Barber, DAVID, S.S. Athenia (Glasgow). Merchant Navy. 3rd - 4th September 1939. Age 65. Son of Alec and Margaret Provan; husband of Martha Provan, of Glasgow. Panel 12.

THOMSON , Assistant Steward, SAMUEL, S.S. Athenia (Glasgow). Merchant Navy. 3rd - 4th September 1939. Age 45. Husband of Julia McCafferty Thomson. of Glasgow. Panel 12.

BAIRD , Stewardess, HANNAH S.S. Athenia (Glasgow). Merchant Navy. 3rd - 4th September 1939 Canadian Merchant Navy HALIFAX MEMORIAL Nova Scotia, Canada Panel 17.

http://www.vac-acc.gc.ca/general/sub.cfm?source=collections/virtualmem/Detail&casualty=2557406  

Registers and Indexes of Birth, Marriages & Deaths of Passengers & Seamen at Sea.

The records are held in what is known as BT files and are very important you remember the file No. The file you need to access is "BT334" This will give you the following information:

Name of ship, official No. port of registry, date of death, place of death, name of deceased, sex, age, rating/rank, nationality and birthplace, last place of abode, cause of death and remarks.

Outward Bound Passenger Lists 1890-1960 are held in BT27 an gives information on passenger lists of people leaving the United Kingdom by sea kept by the Board of Trade's Commercial and Statistical Department and its successors. There is also BT32 covering 1906-1951 Registers of passenger lists kept by the Board of Trade's Commercial, Labour and Statistical Department and its successors.

Please note the PRO will not search their files for you, if you are unable to attend in person, they will give the names of independent researchers who will do it for an hourly fee (very expensive).

Public Records Office,
Kew,
Richmond,
Surrey,
TW9 4DU,
Tel. 020 8876 3444.

Athenia - A Survivors Story - Exclusive to my Site
© Lona Marie Attfield

My name is Lona-Marie Attfield and I'm a survivor!

I was born and raised in Victoria in British Columbia, Canada on August 30, 1919. I was the second baby to be born by cesarean section in Victoria but the first to live. My life since then has been one survival event after another. However, the most horrendous of all was the sinking of the liner the SS Athenia on September the 3rd, 1939.

My mother, Lillian Attfield and my sister Grace Atttfield and I had traveled to Europe in the spring of '39 to visit my mother's extensive family who lived in England, France and the Netherlands. In those days we did not travel lightly but had a steamer trunk packed to overflowing for each of us to last four or five months. My mother and her four sisters had had an internationally acclaimed theatrical act called naturally enough, The Five Sisters Winterburn. For many years they performed throughout Europe including command performances for European royalty. The group broke up when two of the girls married, one to a Dutchman and another to a Frenchman. It had been over 20 years since they had seen each other so this trip had a great deal of significance for each of them.

It was while we were visiting my aunt and uncle in Rouen, France that we received a telegram from my father back in Victoria advising us to come home as quickly as possible as war in Europe was eminent. We said our good byes, and returned to England and booked passage back to Canada on the SS Athenia. We left on Friday night, 1 September from Liverpool stopping at two other ports to pick up additional passengers.

We were strolling along the deck, chatting with fellow passengers, and generally getting ready for the ten day crossing to Montréal. Suddenly the Sunday afternoon tranquility was broken when some of the passengers reported seeing the conning tower of a submarine not too far out from the ship. It appeared to be stalking our ship while deciding what to do next with us. We had been informed on Saturday that war had been declared when Hitler invaded Poland. So seeing a submarine so close set the entire ship on edge. Sunday evening my mother and sister and I had finished our evening meal and had returned to our cabin when at approximately 7:15 PM our world was turned upside down by a horrific explosion! We were directed to done our life preservers and proceed to our lifeboat stations. This was nearly impossible as there was utter chaos everywhere with people going in all directions frightened beyond all imagination. Finally we made it to the lifeboat station only to find that the boat was painted fast to the davits. It looked nice but the davits didn't work as advertised. I suddenly realized that it would be a long cold night without proper clothing so I made my way back to the cabin crawling down a broken ladder amidst the people seemingly not knowing what to do next.. Once in the cabin I gathered up our coats and looked around to see if there was anything there that might come in handy if we hand to spend the night in a lifeboat. I suddenly saw an Apple on the dresser and thought one of us might get hungry during the night. I put it in my pocket and made my way back to the lifeboat station. By now the smell of smoke from the fires was everywhere.

By now the ship had a had taken on a severe list and our lifeboat was impossible to launch even with the davits working. We were then directed to the other side of the ship where the lifeboats were hanging free some 3 feet out from the rail. People were entering the lifeboats by swinging the boats close to the rail and when close enough, people would jump across. Not a very safe procedure but at the moment it was all we could do. We were told to get into one particular boat as it swung back and forth. I was the first aboard and as the boat neared the rail, I help my mother to get into the lifeboat. It was then discovered that the lines used to lower the boat to the water were fouled so they told us to leave that boat for another. I put my mother back on board and before I could get back, one of the lowering lines let loose up ending the lifeboat, dumping me and some other passengers into the sea.

It was a horrible sensation! I went down, down, down, down, all the time holding my breath and then finally I gave up fully expecting to take in a lung full of water! But to my amazement I had bobbed back up to the surface and it was air that I was breathing not water. I really don't remember how long it was before I was picked up by a lifeboat that was terribly overcrowded. I was little and weighed all of 95 pounds. But now with a soaking wet fur coat on I must have weighed close to 150 pounds. they put me up on the end of the lifeboat and asks me to bail. "With what I asked?" We had lost or bailing bucketsI and all I had was a pair of light sandals which were useless for bailing. The woman in front of me said that I could use her shoe if I could get it off her foot. The boat was full of water so I had to dive down to get the woman's shoe. Unfortunately, the woman had a small baby that did not survive the ordeal.

I spent the night trying to bail with the shoe but it was not very effective. When the lifeboat originally had upended it lost some of it's oars so we spent the night floundering around waiting to be rescued. Very early in the morning, just before dawn, the British destroyer HMS Escort came alongside and lowered a rope ladder to get us on board. Some had to be hoisted aboard. By now I was freezing as my coat had long lost any ability to keep me warm. They took me to an officer's cabin that had six other children quivering in four bunks. A very kind medical officer began to take off my oil soaked clothes and I gave up the last bit of modesty I had left. He explained that he had two daughters back home and that in his profession he was no stranger to dressing young women . After an extensive cleaning I was given a shirt and a very large pair of baggy pants. While this was going on, they brought me some much welcomed hot soup. Wrapped in blankets and my new clothes, I snuggled down for several hours of well-deserved sleep.

About 10 o'clock in the morning I suddenly awoke and saw my mother standing in the cabin door way. The last she had seen of me was when I had disappeared beneath the waves of the oil blackened ocean. She was certain that she would never see me again. Our reunion was such a joyous emotional occasion! She and my sister and successfully transferred aboard a lifeboat and fortunately never got wet. This was more than just fortunate because my mother was quite frail and would never survive if she had been as soaked I had been.

In a few days the the destroyer made it's way back to Greenock, Scotland where they sent me to the hospital in Glasgow, Scotland some twenty five miles away. The people of Glasgow were fantastic! True, we were the first ship to be torpedoed and sunk and were the big item in the News in capital letters! But it that didn't matter, many people of Glasgow and throughout Scotland offered to open their homes to the survivors for the duration of the war, if need be. The department stores outfitted the survivors with all their basic needs for free, for we had nothing, not even so much as a toothbrush, to our name. I still have the kilt that they gave me although it doesn't fit nearly as well as it did back then. To this day, I am eternally grateful for the kindness and generosity showed to us by the Scottish people!

I don't remember what ever happened to the Apple maybe it is still floating around looking for a place to land.

The three of us went to Blackpool, England and stayed with two of my mother's sisters that had not married. By now the war was raging and transportation back to Canada was quite difficult to acquire. We did manage eventually, to book passage on the SS Duchess of Richmond. Once aboard we were assured that we would be in a large convoy of ships and sure enough there must've been 15 or 20 ships assembled as we set sail, once again, for Montréal. However, the next day there was decidedly fewer ships in the convoy. The number dwindled each day until eventually we were alone, once again, in the Atlantic Ocean vulnerable to whatever German U-boat that happened to come across us.

I was so nervous that I insisted on eating my meals on deck, often with the crew. It was late November when we finally entered the St. Lawrence River and I remember hearing the sound of ice scraping along the side of the ship as we entered the harbor at Montréal. We now had ten days of a train ride to take us back to British Columbia. Although it was a boring trip, we knew that there would not be a German U-boat lurking in the wheat fields of Alberta and Saskatchewan. Or at least we hoped there wouldn't be! We heard that the natives were friendly in this part of the world.

When we arrived in Vancouver my father and family friends were there to greet us. I don't know who was more delighted they or us! It was so good to be home! But it would take a lifetime to put this event behind us. Fortunately, my memory or rather lack of it makes it easier, even 75 years after the event, to deal with it. Even now, there are times when I can still feel the cold waters of the Atlantic closing in around me. But then I remember, I am a survivor!

© Lona- Marie Attfield Manning
La Conner, WA

I received a copy from Richard Manning of Life Magazine dated 18th September 1939. This is how it reported the sinking. Below is a composite of a two page representation

Dusk had darkened the North Atlantic on the first day of the second world War. The British liner Athenia, bound out of Glasgow, Liverpool and Belfast for Montreal, steamed over uneasy Waters 250 miles West of Inishtrahull Island off the rocky Irish coast. Of her 1,418 passengers (75% women and children, 21% American), some were abed seasick, many were at tables in the dining rooms. At 7:45 pm a shattering explosion rent the Athenia's steel hull. A waterspout leapt 70 ft. into the air and cascaded over superstructure and lifeboats. Promenading passengers were hurled over the rails into the sea. Water surged into the engine rooms.

Just nine hours earlier Great Britain had declared War on Germany. Three hours earlier France had entered the conflict. And now a brilliant moon shone down on a dreadful seascape, whose clarity was at once blurred by disorder, imagination and fear. Far off on the silvered black waters the squat outlines of a submarine appeared to some Athenia passengers, dimly silhouetted in the falling night. Its gun, they declared, spat a single shell at the mainmast. Then it vanished and the empty sea became filled with lifeboats, overloaded, listing, capsizing and with swimmers and bits of wreckage. Near midnight the Norwegian freighter Knute Nelson arrived, found the scene shown in the drawing above, took aboard 450 survivors. The yacht Southern Cross, (between “Athenia” and “Nelson”) took on 376 more.

At 10 a.m. next day the Athenia rose vertically on her end and plunged stern-first to the ocean floor. Barely had news of the sinking flashed to land before German oflicials denied responsibility, suggesting that the Athenia had struck a mine. Britains Admiralty asserted no mine fields existed in those waters. Five days later, after investigators had questioned survivors and totalled the missing (128), US naval attachés in England submitted a report to Washington. Their conclusion: the Athenia, had been sunk by a torpedo fired from an unidentified submarine.

This particular copy of the Life Magazine was mailed to a Chas F Werner of West Mills, Creston, Iowa. 

 
see also Kennedy

Feb 2010: Derek Watson sent me this cutting of his Grandfather, James Swan.

My thanks to MacKenzie Gregory for the above Athenia Lists.  His site is here: http://ahoy.tk-jk.net/

An Account from BBC People at War - reprinted with family permission

On Sunday 3rd September 1939, within a few hours of war being declared the Donaldson Liner Athenia, bound for Montreal with passengers of many nationalities who had boarded at Glasgow, Belfast and Liverpool, was torpedoed by German submarine U30 about 200 miles into the Atlantic. She was the first target, and many of those on board the first casualties, of World War II. I personally was not involved when the Athenia was torpedoed as I was only six years old but it is a time I have never forgotten as my father, Jimmy Mitchell, was the Athenia's carpenter. Thankfully he was one of the survivors. My mother and I spent several frantic days checking survivor lists at Donaldson's Offices, hotels and shops where lists were displayed.

Ninety three passengers including 69 women and 16 children were killed in the explosion and in accidents when lifeboats capsized, along with 19 of the Athenia crew. With 1101 passengers and 315 crew on board it was a miracle that so many survived. This was due entirely to the efforts, skills and courage of the crew.

Fortunately the Athenia was slow in sinking enabling those trapped below to find alternative means of reaching the boat deck as many of the stairways had been destroyed in the explosion. The slow sinking also played its part in the rescue of a patient from the ship's hospital. It was not realised that she was still there until checks were made on the rescue vessels which had responded quickly. These vessels were the Knute Nelson a Norwegian merchant ship, the Southern Cross from Sweden, the City of Flint from the U.S. and HMS Escort, HMS Electra and HMS Fame. The Southern Cross was a large cruising yacht owned by Swedish manufacturer and millionaire Wenner-Gren.

The Athenia's First Officer, whose name I believe was Barney Copland, and two other crew members returned and boarded the stricken vessel and rescued the unconscious woman about 20 minutes before the ship finally sank. The Commander of the submarine, Oberleutnant Fritz-Julius Lemp created panic in the German Naval Command as his actions contravened the Hague Conventions regarding submarines attacking passenger vessels and, amongst other things, they were fearful that Lemp's actions would bring America into war against them as U.S. citizens had been on board. I seem to remember hearing that they even tried to blame a British submarine.

The American Ambassador's son John F. Kennedy, a future President, was given the task of checking for U.S. survivors arriving in Glasgow when they arrived there several days after the sinking. By a quirk of fate First Officer Copland and Lemp crossed paths again in 1941 when Lemp was in command of U boat 110. He torpedoed another Donaldson ship the "Esmond" which had been in convoy and had naval escorts. This time all of the Esmond's crew survived including, for the second time, Chief Officer Copland.

The U110 was immediately attacked with depth charges by the escorts and forced to surface and Lemp ordered his crew to abandon ship. HMS Aubretia rescued her crew and HMS Bulldog sent a boarding party to the submarine which remained afloat for a considerable time. HMS Broadway was damaged in a collision with the U boat during the action. Amazingly the boarding party was able to remove, amongst other things, an "Enigma" machine together with its invaluable naval codes and instructions which Lemp ordered his operator to leave behind when abandoning ship. Lemp did not survive. He apparently decided not to be rescued when he realised the enormity of his error in allowing the codes to be captured. These had been changed from land based codes upon orders from Admiral Donitz.

One might say that Lemp, besides starting the war at sea had, by virtually handing over the "Enigma" and codes to the British Navy, greatly contributed to the defeat of the German Submarine Services and to its navy in general. It surprises me that nothing has ever been made of the "Athenia" affair either on TV or in a film. I do not recall even having heard of any official comment about it although it was brought up at the War Crime Tribunals.

(c) Donald Mitchell.

The above medallion was owned by a Seaman R Williams who sailed on the Athenia.
The image was sent to me by a Mr Bearcutt. Seaman R Williams sent these to his aunt.

The above three images were sent to me by Will Smith - The box containing the paper serviette from the Athenia
and the other of the serviette itself given to his Grandmother by her sister Hannah Baird

 April 2018: Adam, sent me the following napkin ring images which has come in to his possession in Australia

In researching a question put to me by a reader of this page I discovered that, in WW1, a ship known as the SS Athenia, was sunk in the same place, with the loss of 15 lives, off Inishtrahull, Eire, by a U Boat in 1917!!! The ship, bearing the same name, was built in 1904. Strange coincidence!

September 3rd 2009: I have just been watching a programme on TV commemorating the 3rd September 1939, 70 years on, and the sinking of the Athenia was well documented. The radio operator (see June 2008 email below) was talking and he repeated his claim that they thought it was a 'warship'. He lied on camera by stating that they definitely only fired ONE torpedo when we now know 3 were fired, one misfired and one missed. He also does not admit to the firing of the deck gun, which exploded on the tourist deck, killing and mangling civilians. He has been given a story and is sticking to it. 

April 07 - An Email: Just read your article with pleasure – my mother Kathleen Ferguson and sisters Kathleen Ferguson (aged 9) and Margaret (almost 3) where on the ill fated ship returning to Canada after visiting family in South Shields. Margaret is still living. I believe there was a photo of her being rescued by a seaman in the Toronto Star (he has her tucked into his life vest). I believe that they were rescued by a destroyer and taken to Glasgow. My mother had a back injury. Her greatest fear in the weeks following were of having to set out again across the Atlantic with two children. My mother said that they never went below deck on the second voyage. It must have been very cold to travel the North Atlantic at the end of October in blackout. My father waited for news of their survival for days and at first only one Kathleen Ferguson was listed because it was thought that there was a duplication. I will be ordering your book. Thanks so much – Gwen Chmilar.

April 08: An Email from Australia. My father Eland Sutton was a member of the RNVR; his ship HMS Escort came to the rescue of the Athenia - this is his eye witness story:

On September 3 1939 my ship HMS Escort was detached from detail at 2000 hours when the merchant ship Athenia sent out a SOS that it had been torpedoed at 2030 by  U-Boat . We arrived at the position before dawn in the darkness, the crew saw hundreds of tiny lights attached to lifebelts of people floating in the water most of these were dead from cold and exposure. Among them was a Polish girl about 12, she was dead, and on her coat was a label showing her to be a refugee on her way to the United States to a new life.  Even after many years I often feel upset about that. The survivors were mainly women most of them in night cloths shivering with cold, the crew got spare clothes from been their kitbags and handed them out.  Someone asked me "Where is mrs ???? she had a broken leg and had been in the Athenia's hospital"; nobody was sure if she had been picked up. My Lieutenant took a boat across to the sinking ship and found her in the darkened hospital, her first words were "I knew the Navy would not leave me behind".

My father passed away in 1982 and was buried at sea by the Royal Australian Navy Volunteer Reserve. My father received a tankard from the MC Donaldson Atlantic line for his part in the rescue; I have only  recently donated it to the RSL here in Armadale Western Australia. I believe this tankard is possibly the only one in the world as after sailing my fathers ship was sunk, but fortunately my dad had been sent to another duty! Peter Sutton.

June 2008: From John Hewitt, author.  One of the survivors of the sinking of the Athenia was a Robert Hanna from Bangor, County Down N. Ireland. I have in front of me a letter which he wrote home to his mother dated 15th September 1939. I am now certain that the U-Boat did fire its deck gun at the Athenia.  The bit that may interest you is, He writes,

" I was lying munching an apple when a woman screamed,"Look"!. I turned my head and there about 200 yards away sat a submarine, and from it a white streak shooting two towards us. Just then there was a terrific jar, and a loud explosion. The whole boat listed about 45 degrees and I was thrown on deck. I rushed up the sloping deck, because I, like others, thought the ship was going to overturn, it gradually righted, and just then there was a flash, and a "Shell" exploded on the tourist deck, carrying away the mast. Oil and splinters were flying everywhere and one nearly carried my head off as it whizzed by my face. I ran up the tourist companion way and then onto the boat deck. Here everything was a shambles, men and women lying dead all over deck, some terribly mangled". He goes on to say that when he was in the life boat the periscope of the u-boat passed about ten feet from them and the bow caught under his lifeboat almost overturning them. Cheers John.

Crew Ransacked First Class Accommodation Instead of Lowering boats!

Colleen McCaffrey contacted me in July 2008:  My father was a deckhand on the Athenia - he died in 1992 - from Glasgow, Scotland.  He suppressed memories of the event during my youth but began to recall the entire event when I found a book about it,  Tomorrow Never Came by Caulfield.  We traveled to Scotland in 1975  (he had never returned home before that time, though my relatives came to California to visit us) and he proceeded to tell me many of his memories of the event.  He was 23 years old at the time and spent hours in a lifeboat with women and children and very little clothing on.  He had terrible stories of some of the crew members robbing passenger cabins in first class instead of lowering boats, and the frantic captain trying to organize his helter skelter crew.  My father also recounted memories of the sub surfacing in the distance and raking the boat with gunfire.  He was picked up by a Norwegian vessel that took the rescued to Canada.  At this point, my father told the authorities he was a Canadian citizen and hid out in Toronto until enlisting in the RCAF about one year later.  He claimed that Mrs. Lubitch, the wife of the Hollywood director, and her child were in his lifeboat.  He is mentioned in the Caulfield book and I have seen a picture of him aboard the rescue ship, wrapped up in a blanket.   As a survivor he had a lifetime of guilt about not being able to save more people that night, and himself living while others did not.

Aug 11th 2008: I got this email: My family, (my Mother, three siblings, and me - I was nine at the time] and hundreds of others sailed on 2 September 1939 from Southampton on the SS Manhattan hoping to return to America before the bombings began.  We had been scheduled to leave on the first but our departure was delayed as the ship was late leaving LeHarve, having to load several thousand folding cots and food for the crowd of passengers desiring to board without reservations. We made an unscheduled stop at Cobb, Ireland to pick up some 200 additional passengers, mostly Catholic priests who had been vacationing there.   It was shortly thereafter that our ship received word of the sinking of the Athenia.  The Captain, as I remember it, first told us that a man was overboard.  We sat dead in the water for many hours while the crew 'searched' for him..  Word did finally filter among the passengers that a German U-boat had sunk a British ship just north of us and that was the reason for the engines being 'stopped'.   We became very frightened that we would be their next target.  The Captain of Manhattan immediately hung sailors aver the sides of the ship and they spent more than one day painting US flags as large as they could.  These flags were bathed in spotlights at night as we got underway. I am sure that sinking affected much more shipping than just ours but thought you might have interest in the ripple effect at the scene. . Jean Knecht Eldredge.

August 28th 2008: A film company are hoping to make a documentary regarding the sinking of the Athenia and would like those people who have been kind enough to contact me, to contact them. The email address is as follows: katherine -at - picturefilms.tv. Replace the -at- with @ to send her an email.

Sept 8th 2008. An email from Ronal Peers who tells me that his dad, Anthony Peers, was aboard this vessel and was on deck when he recalls the "thud and paint chips flying and ladders falling" but he does not recall the U Boat shelling the ship. He was off watch and was third watch engineer. He also recalls an "orderly evacuation".

December 13th 2008: My aunt was a passenger on the Athenia ( a young Greek girl of 24)and she has often told us what happened that day. Today she is 93 and still has her suitcase and all the newspaper clippings from when the passengers arrived in Halifax. I've used your info in a simple family album that I'm putting together. Vasie Kelos, Toronto, Canada.

December 22 2008: An email from Greg McCLelland - My Grandfather was the Captain of the Swedish Private yacht, the Southern Cross, that was one of the vessels that came to the rescue of the stricken Athenian.  I have the original telegrams received and transmitted from the Southern Cross stating that they had been torpedoed and were sinking fast and they responded stating that they were making maximum speed towards her.  The BBC expert stated that these were important historical documents proving that the Athenian had been torpedoed by a U-Boat.

You may also be interested to know that the Southern Cross was the largest private yacht in the world at that time, had previously been owned by Howard Hughes, but the owner at the time was Axel Wenner-Gren, the founder and owner of Electrolux.  He was friendly with Hermann Goering and, just prior to war breaking out, had tried to mediate between him and Chamberlain to prevent hostilities beginning.  Realising that war was inevitable,  he left Scotland to visit his friends the Duke and Duchess of Windsor in the Bahamas and it was during this crossing that they came to the rescue of the Athenian’s passengers and crew. My grandfather went on to be a commander in the merchant navy, was sunk two or three times on  the Murmansk convoys, but survived the war.

The next three images are of the original telegrams regarding Athenia from Greg.

The next two images were scanned and emailed by Allan Marsden

Daily Record - June 10th 2011 Reporter: Brian McIver
Memories of an Athenia survivor - Heather Watts
(I emailed the Record several times asking to post this in here but received no replies)

It was the terrible night when a passenger liner was sunk in flames and entered the annals of wartime naval infamy. But for Heather Watts, who was just short of her third birthday when she was sailing on the doomed passenger ship SS Athenia, all she can remember is having her loving mother wrap her arms around her and refuse to let go. Heather, now 74, is one of the few remaining survivors from the tragedy that caused such international outrage that even Adolf Hitler was too ashamed to admit the truth. The Scot was returning to her family home in Montreal aboard the vessel during World War II when a German U-Boat tracked and sank the civilian passenger vessel, flouting all naval rules of engagement. A total of 117 passengers and crew were lost from the ship's 1103-strong manifest.

Heather and mother May were among those rescued by a Royal Navy destroyer and taken back to safety in Greenock. The incident has played a central part in Heather's life ever since, and she is making a return journey from her home in Nova Scotia this month to attend the opening of a special exhibit at the new Riverside Museum in Glasgow. She is delighted to offer her unique insight into the high-seas tragedy. And while her own memories are sparse, she taped her late mother's vivid memories and is now able to tell the full story of the catastrophic night of September 3, 1939. Heather said: "It's very special for me to be able to help out the museum and I was pleased to include pictures from the time, as well as my mother's recordings, because it was a very important night in Scottish history, and also for my family. It's something that I have talked about for a long time, and back home in Canada. "I am a local historian and have given talks and contributed to exhibits on its importance and impact for many years. It's nice to do the same in Scotland and I hope people enjoy the exhibit and the story. "One special thing we are able to contribute is that we actually have pictures of us on board the ship, taken on our journey to Scotland, as there were not many taken on the way back and I'm delighted to offer them to the museum."

Heather's mum May was from Beauly, Inverness-shire and her father from the Borders but both emigrated separately to Canada, where they met, married and had their daughter. In 1939, May made the journey across the Atlantic on the Athenia to let her meet the relatives in the old country, and after a lengthy visit boarded the same ship again for the seven-day return. The war was now in full flow, and with the family keen to get away from the looming German invasion threat, were delighted to make it on board for the voyage home.

There were strictly agreed maritime principles protecting purely civilian traffic but then, on September 3, at around 7pm, U-30, captained by Fritz Julius Lem, saw an easy target and tracked it for several hours. Then they pounced, piercing the hull with a torpedo, making the Clyde-built vessel the first British ship to be sunk during the war. With the ship listing to the stern, lifeboats were launched. Heather recalled: "It was the second night at sea and after dinner we went back to the cabin and when the torpedo struck." There was an almighty jolt, the lights went out and the ship immediately listed. She went out to the corridor and said she could smell explosives. Heather added: "We were very fortunate because we were in our cabin, which was higher up in the ship and close to a muster station. Others who were closer to the boiler room, where the torpedo had struck, reported water coming in. "My mother was able to grab a lifejacket and a fur coat to keep warm and got us to our station very quickly. "The worst part of this was during the lifeboat launch, because one of the ropes broke, meaning the boat dropped the last seven feet and went right under the water and then came back up again. The rudder had broken off and the hull was damaged.

"There was a lot of black oil in the water and we all got covered in it. We were in that boat for 11 hours and had to bail out the entire time. It was mostly full of women and children. "My mother remembers holding me on her knee with one hand and using the other to bail out with her slipper. "My own memories come from the times when I was separated from my mother, mostly during the rescue, and I think that was because even though she was a nervous person, she did an incredible job of making sure I wasn't frightened. "Before the torpedo had struck, she was reading me a bedtime story and when we were in the lifeboat, she made sure to finish the story."

The worldwide reaction was of outrage and horror. Captain Lemp only avoided court martial because Hitler demanded the incident be hushed up for political reasons. The Nazis later claimed the British attacked their own boat but after the war, the German Fleet Admiral admitted the crimes. Heather eventually returned to Canada after an extra two months with her relatives in Beauly. Happily, Heather's second complete voyage was incident-free. She later returned to Scotland several times, including several years working in Edinburgh as a secretary. Now retired, she has three children, Andrew, Alison and David, with husband Derek. When she and her mother returned to Canada, her father, John had already joined the Canadian Black Watch and spent the next five years fighting the Germans who had dared to attack his family. She said: "It is something that has been a part of our lives but I only really realised how big an event it was when I started researching it around 20 years ago. "My mother was amazing, and got me through that night so well. "It was only years later, when I finally decided to find out all about it, that I got her to sit down with a tape recorder and recall the entire story. It's a lovely record of her memories.

March 2009: I received an email from Erika Federman nee Hubscher. I just happened to notice your request about survivors of the Athenia. After so many years I am in the process of writing my story. I was a passenger on the ship, rescued by the private Swedish yacht and later transferred to the City of Flint, an American Freighter, to continue to the States...my brother and I became separated from our Mother and came alone first to Halifax and from there we were flown to New York by The Journal American, a New York newspaper...we made all the Movietone news, etc. A German television crew interviewed me and I appear at the onset of their film. I came across your notice while researching some of the facts of the sinking. We were Austrians who were awaiting our visas to the United States in London and those came only a couple of weeks before the start of the war. By the way, I saw that life boat go under because it was just ahead of ours as we pulled up to our rescue ship. I would like to find others who survived...do you have their names or addresses? (sadly , no - mk).

* Ref James Marshall. April 9th 2009: From William Gibbins (New Zealand). My Canadian born mother Susan (nee Mooney) and her siblings travelled on the Athenia with their Irish born Parents to Belfast Northern Ireland in November 1937 and they made friends with many of the crew.  My mother who was 15 years old at the time was in particular very fond of the Bell Boy looking after her cabin and was saddened to hear of his death when the Athenia was torpedoed.   From the crew list you have on your site James Marshall seems to  match the recollections of my mother who remembered him fondly and talked a lot about her wartime experiences in Northern Ireland and travel to New Zealand in 1951 on the SS Atlantis.  I found this site by accident when looking for some pictures of the Athenia to check against an old photo I have of a ship of similar size found when redoing  and album of old photographs from my mother.  The photo I have is similar but the ship (taken in the distance) does not match the Athenia.  The story my mother heard on the sinking was that the Athenia was targeted because it was claimed she was carrying arms, a claim my mother always vigorously denied saying she had been around every “inch” of that ship and saw no evidence of arms and said the Athenia was only a small ship and there was no place where they could be stored.  Your site and others I have found finally tell the truth surrounding the sinking of the Athenia rather then the propaganda my mother heard at the time.

* Ref James Marshall. Reply dated 28 november 2013:  I am the archivist for Govan High School in Glasgow. I was able last year to discover that James Marshall had been a pupil at this school. This year, a War Memorial commemorating all those included James was unveiled at the school. Through much searching, I had also been able to contact some of James’ relatives-two nieces. They both attended, and have since sent a lovely letter to the school thanking us for ensuring James is not forgotten here in Govan. Neither of the nieces were aware of your website and found it very moving as well as extremely informative. They were particularly taken with the note posted by William Gibbons regarding his mother’s recollection of James. I wondered whether it would be possible you to let Mr Gibbons know how much this meant to the family, please. I don’t know of course if his mother is still alive but it would be tremendous to make any possible connections-James’ own mother spent several years in a tragically vain search in case James had been picked up by a boat and had lost his memory. Sadly James’ mother herself passed away earlier this year. Even if you cannot help, I would just like to say what a tremendous job you are doing ensuring that so many important stories are not forgotten. Sincerely Ian.

May 09 Email from James Birmingham: My wifes late stepfather was a sailor in the Royal Navy aboard HMS Escort.  He saved some of the passengers of the Athenia. He was presented with a silver cigarette case, with an inscription:-  

                J Harrison

                HMS Escort

              from

            Athenia Survivors

                   4-09-39

On Aug 10th 2009 I received this email: My name is Cyril Smith. Last year, my son Kyle Bradford Smith and I,  in doing interviews of WW 2 veterans in our community, came across Barbara Wilson.  She had been a survivor of the SS Athenia's sinking.  Barbara Rodham was 23 years old and summering in England when she booked on Athenia to escape the threatening war clouds. She had not spoken about the incident in many decades and thus her involvement, and indeed, the incident itself was lost to the local population's memory here. We independently verified her account from the New York Times and other sources. We honored her at the last Veterans Day (Armistice Day Nov 11 2008) and recently arranged for her selection as a "Woman of Distinction" by the NY State government, to include the New York State Military Museum. Her story and that of the SS Athenia will be part of the Museum's  "They also served"  portion of the exhibit.  Given the approaching 70th anniversary of the sinking, we are working towards some potential television appearances.  For purposes of your website, we can work with you on your interviewing Barbara and/or gaining any information you may seek. She does not do computers but a telephone or personal interview is possible, to include the notes we have from our own talks with her.  She has an extensive scrapbook of letters, headlines and some memorabilia from the SS Athenia. Unfortunately, as I told Cyril, I live in the UK, so could not afford such an interesting and illuminating interview.

Aug 2009. An email from Clare:  We would like to know how many tankards went out to people and the inscription on the one my father owns is as follows:  

Presented by the Directors

Donaldson Atlantic Line Ltd

Owners

T.S.S Athenia

Sunk by enemy submarine

3rd September 1939

 The tankard is pewter and the hallmark is ep then an arrow points to the right with the letter ns after it.

Can anybody help with any information about these tankards?

Aug 31st from Ros Jones:  I'm researching my family tree, and had just discovered that two of my grandad's cousins, Graham Hopkinson and his wife Ethel, boarded the Athenia at Liverpool on 2nd September 1939.  They were headed for Montreal.  I was horrified to discover, on a search for Athenia, that she had been sunk - and so relieved to learn from your site that Graham and Ethel were rescued (by the Knute Nelson).. Graham came from Derby, where he was one of nine surviving children of William Hopkinson (my great-great-uncle) and Eliza née Tagg - both from Nottinghamshire.  Graham's elder siblings emigrated to the US or Canada in ones and twos between 1900-1911, his parents and younger siblings leaving as a party in 1912.  HIs parents died in Brooklyn in 1913 and 1918.  His brother Harry was killed serving with Canadian forces in France in 1918.  Graham was the only one who stayed behind in the UK.  I'm guessing by 1939 he began to think his brothers and sisters had made the better choice, and made preparations to join them, but wasn't quick enough.

September 4th 2009: An email from Michael Curran: My father, Frank Curran told me this - He was a clerk in the Palgrave Murphy  shipping office which was the Lloyds  and American Consular Agency ,Galway. Appoximately 600 survivors were expected in Galway on  Swedish ship MV Knute Nelson under Capt. Carlson. My father's duty was to search the town for baby requisites blankets etc  on  Sunday morning, knocking up the local traders who mainly lived above the shop. The Irish army and Gardai, Red Cross and the local authority were involved.. When the survivors  arrived they were brought  ashore on the tender which was used to service the liners that  called to that port at that and many had to sleep on straw in the transit shed on the pier, which had been newly-built.  Many of the survivors were American and it was very important for their diplomats to find out if any had seen a submarine, as that would be a cause of war. The American survivors were asked to make their statement on oath. As no bible was available in the office the LLoyds Register of Shipping, a large book was used as substitute, showing only the back cover. Some thought they had . My dad  took a photo on a windswept  MV Knute Nelson of Mr Cuddihy the American minister formally thanking Capt. Carlson.  Later,  American and Japanese civilians from Europe were repatriated through Galway under Red Cross arrangements. I remember playing with the Japanese children on the ship while it was anchored in Galway Bay.  Regards Michael Curran.

The above postcard was copied to me from Isobel Seymour who tells me:

This was sent to me by Dudley Bradley

Unfortunately, what the note refers to is unknown

Sept 2010. An email from the USA. I was 12 years old in 1939.  We had moved so much during the great depression that this was the first September I would return to the same school I had left in June.  I was a week late but knew who my homeroom teacher would be -- Mrs. Kelly. I hastened down the corridor but a strange woman stood at the door.  When the bell rang for movement to classes I asked my friend Hank what was wrong.  He looked at me as if I had missed all the news that week. "Haven't you heard?  She was torpedoed by a U-boat trying to get back to North America.  She is alive and will be back soon. Actually it was six weeks before we saw her again.  She was a good teacher (maths) and I liked her.  She had spent a holiday in the UK with her sister but both were saved.  Joseph W. Brownell.

October 2010: From John Shaw.  My Grandfather, John Farrell Shaw was a Steward/hairdresser on the Athenia and survived the sinking. He was commended for saving passengers and received a medal according to my Gran who passed away 1990. The medals were lost a few years after the war, I never got to see them. My Grandfather went on to be torpedoed again on the MV Accra on 26th July 1940 but also survived this. His luck ran out on 29th October 1942 while serving on the MV Abosso which again was torpedoed by U 575 on route from South Africa to Britain. I always wonder if he was one of the people to get off the ship in one of 5 lifeboats only to be lost later - only one lifeboat was rescued.  His name is on the Towerhill Memorial and even though he died when my Father was only 18months old I am very proud and grateful to him. His generation were definitely a breed apart, showing courage and steel that generations since have not had to - perhaps due to their sacrifice.

May 2013:  I'm the archivist of Govan High School in Glasgow and thought you might be interested to know that James Marshall, bellboy on the "Athenia" was a former pupil of this school. We have commemorated him on a timeline of the school's history and also on a newly commissioned war Memorial. It was nice to read on your website that he was remembered fondly by the mother of one of your correspondents. That is the first connection we have been able to make to what kind of person he was before he was killed so tragically young, so this is really just to thank you for publishing it. Best wishes Ian Ian McCracken Archivist Govan High School Glasgow

Abosso

latitude:48°30'0''N longitude:028°50'0''W wreck position.