City of Benares ~ 17 September 1940

Pre-war postcard produced by the Ellerman Line
to publicize their passenger service to India.

Found at www.ww2today.com

The City of Benares left Liverpool on September 13, 1940 with 406 people on board, including 90 children who were being evacuated from wartime Britain to Canada. Late that day, in rough mid-Atlantic seas, the U-48 made two unsuccessful attempts to torpedo her. The third shot was successful and City of Benares sank in about 30 minutes.

There was difficulty getting all the boats away. Rescue was still a long way off even for those that did make it into boats or rafts. One lifeboat was missed by HMS Hurricane. The 46 occupants, including six boys, were only spotted by a flying boat 8 days later and picked up by HMS Anthony. In total 248 people died. The loss of 77 children lead to the abandonment of further overseas evacuations.

Dr Peter Collinson was the Medical Officer on board the destroyer HMS Hurricane, which went to the rescue:

"At about midnight on the 17th September, I unscrambled the ciphered signal in which their Lordships commanded H.M.S. Hurricane to proceed with ‘utmost despatch’ to position 56.43 21.15 where survivors are reported in boats. On taking this to Captain Simms, he remarked ‘Utmost Despatch’ I bet this means there are women and children amongst them. Apparently a normal signal would say ‘proceed forthwith’.
   We sighted the survivors at about 2pm. The first raft about 6 ft by 3 ft had two men and a boy clinging to it. These were Eric Davis and John McGlashen who were shielding Jack Keeley, aged 6. As we manoeuvred alongside the raft, I managed to take a photo with my box Brownie, which I later sold to the Daily Mirror for 6 pounds. It has since reappeared in several publications. Unfortunately I was unable to take any more photographs of the rescue, as the survivors needed medical attention.
   All survivors were suffering from severe exposure, and varying degrees of shock, being physically and emotionally exhausted. Some were dehydrated and most were suffering from bruised and sprained bodies, limbs, and suspected fractures. Several had severe swollen legs due to prolonged exposure to sea water, the so called ‘Immersion Feet’.
   Three little boys could not be revived in spite of the valiant efforts of the Petty Officers’ Mess at artificial resuscitation. They were later given a full Naval Burial by the Captain."

[Pictured Left] Royal Navy destroyer HMS Anthony rescues survivors from a lifeboat from the City of Benares which had been been adrift for 9 days after the ship sank. The ship was evacuating children from Britain to Canada under the auspices of the Children’s Overseas Reception Board [CORB] as part of Convoy OB 213 when it was torpedoed and sunk with heavy loss of life in the Atlantic by the German submarine U-48. The sinking became one of the most notorious events of WWII.

Click HERE for details of 265 people who were on board.

Narissa ~ 30 April 1940

The SS Nerissa was the last ship built for the Bowring Brothers' Red Cross Line service between New York, Halifax, Nova Scotia and St. John's, Newfoundland. Due to the severe winter conditions expected on her routes, Nerissa was designed with a strengthened hull and icebreaker style sloping stern to cope with ice floes.

She was built in Port Glasgow by the shipbuilding company William Hamilton & Company Ltd. in a remarkably short time; her owners only signed the contract for her construction on November 3, 1925 and she was launched on March 31, 1926 ... in time for the 1926 sailing season. After preliminary trials she departed on her maiden voyage to New York on June 5, 1926.

The Red Cross Line relied mainly on American tourist traffic which was much affected by the Depression. The service was abandoned and at the end of 1928 the Line, and its three ships Nerissa, Rosalind and Silvia, was sold to Furness Withy.

The ships then became part of the Bermuda & West Indies Steamship Co. Ltd. The Nerissa continued on the New York, Halifax and St. Johns route until 1931 when she was switched to the New York to Bermuda. She also made voyages to Trinidad and Demerara.

In late 1939 the Nerissa was modified as an auxiliary transport with accommodation for 250 men and was fitted with a 4-inch gun, a Bofors gun and gun crews drawn from the Maritime Regiment of the Royal Artillery. Due to her capability to steam at a higher speed than the usual 9 knots (17 km/h; 10 mph) of escorted convoys, Nerissa sailed alone, since she was considered capable of outrunning enemy submarines.

On September 7, 1940, she left Liverpool bound for Halifax, with 34 evacuated children under the Children's Overseas Reception Board (CORB). Their final destination was British Columbia.

By April 1941 Nerissa had made 39 wartime crossings of the North Atlantic. Her 40th crossing began on April 21, 1941 at Halifax, Nova Scotia. She carried 145 Canadian servicemen, RAF and Norwegian Army Air Service personnel, Northern Electric technicians, members of the press and a number of civilians sailing as part of a Britain bound convoy. At 10:15 she separated from the convoy to make her crossing alone, and arrived at St. John's, Newfoundland on April 23, where her captain received his Admiralty orders and she sailed for Britain in the evening.

On April 30 she entered the area patrolled by the aircraft of the Royal Navy's Coastal Command. A Lockheed Hudson aircraft flew over her at nightfall and signaled that the area was clear of enemy submarines. At 11:30 she was struck amidships by a torpedo fired from U-552, 200 miles from her destination of Liverpool. The lifeboats were manned and in the process of being lowered when an explosion split the ship in two, destroying the lifeboats yet to be lowered. U-552 fired an additional two torpedoes to ensure the ship's sinking which had struck together three minutes after the first. 207 civilians, crew and soldiers were killed.

In the short time between the two impacts the ship's radio operator was able to send a Mayday signal along with the ship's position and at first light a Bristol Blenheim of Coastal Command circled the scene. The British destroyer HMS Veteran arrived an hour later at 07:50 and picked up the 84 survivors, who were transferred to the Flower class corvette HMS Kingcup and landed at Derry.

Click HERE for expanded information and passenger list.

Children’s Overseas Reception Board (CORB)

When the Luftwaffe began bombing Britain in 1940 the government decided to set up a Children's Overseas Reception Board (CORB) which arranged for children to be sent to Australia, Canada and the United States. In the first few months over 210,000 children were registered with the scheme.

After the City of Bernares was sunk by a German torpedo on September 17, 1940, killing 73 children, the overseas evacuation program was brought to a halt. By this time the Children's Overseas Reception Board had sent 2,664 children overseas. Most of these went to Canada.

Wealthy parents continued to send their children to safe countries. It is estimated that during the first two years of the war around 14,000 children were privately sent away. [Reference: Spartacus Educationl]

Read more by clicking HERE.