Commissaire Ramel ~ 20 September 1940

The Commissaire Ramel was launched on March 20, 1920, and entered service with the Compagnie des Messageries Maritimes on April 24, 1921, as a cargo ship, sailing between France and the Far East.

In 1926 she was refitted in La Ciotat as a cargo-passenger ship, receiving a promenade deck, lifeboat deck and an additional boiler. This gave her the capacity to carry up to 552 passengers. The additional boiler increased her power, giving her a top speed to 14 knots. On January 19, 1927 she returned to service, sailing between France and Australia. In 1933 she was refitted again, with her coal-fired steam engine being replaced with oil-fired steam turbines delivering 6,250 hp.

In 1935 she was transferred to a new route, sailing between Marseille and New Caledonia in the South Pacific, via the Panama Canal. On May 19, 1940 she sailed from Marseille under the command of Captain Sabouret, bound for Tahiti. She arrived at Papeete on June 28, 1940, five days after the signing of armistice between France and Germany that ended the battle of France. On 18 July 18, 1940 she arrived at Suva in British Fiji to refuel, but was requisitioned by the authorities there. She was taken to Sydney, Australia, where 26 members of the crew, including the captain, volunteered to serve aboard.

Under the management of the Shaw, Savill & Albion Line she sailed from Sydney on September 1, 1940 bound for Britain via Cape Town, under the command of Captain R. MacKenzie. Just after midnight on September 19 she was attacked by the commerce raider Atlantis. 

After the crew abandoned ship, they were picked up by Atlantis, who then finished off the ship. Three of her crew were killed and 63 were taken prisoner. Two hundred prisoners taken by Atlantis from several ships were later transferred to the captured Yugoslavian ship Durmitor, and landed at Warsheikh in Italian East Africa on November 22, 1940. They were held in a camp at Merca until liberated by British troops on February 25, 1941 during the East African Campaign.

Zamzam ~ 17 April 1941

The Zamzam was sunk on April 17, 1941.
"Grief turned to joy."

In the spring of 1941, before the United States had entered World War II, the passenger ship Zamzam was sunk by a German raider in the South Atlantic. Among the Zamzam's 201 passengers were 142 Americans, most of whom were missionaries en route to Africa. The dramatic sinking and miraculous rescue became headline news in 1941.

Even today the story still captivates interest, especially when original material is discovered. For example, here are pictures of the American Zamzam survivors as they arrived in San Sebastian, Spain, on May 31, 1941. Earlier in the day they had been liberated after being held in German-occupied France for nearly two weeks, and before that they had been prisoners at sea for more than a month. From Spain they traveled to Portugal and eventually back to the United States.

These unique pictures were scanned from the photo album of Mr. Charles Carr, a Red Cross accountant who had been involved in helping the Zamzam survivors travel through Spain in 1941. The pictures were made available to by David Ford, a collector of World War II era photographs.

The Zamzam Story - Introduction

Found at www.dren.us / eleander2@cox.net

It was a cold night in March, 1941, when the passenger ship Zamzam slowly pulled away from her berth at Hoboken, New Jersey, and glided past the lighted Statue of Liberty. As she headed toward the open sea, many of her 201 passengers gathered on deck and spontaneously began singing Christian hymns. With hymn after hymn filling the crisp night air, the Zamzam began her final voyage.

Although World War II had begun, the war did not yet include the United States. The 142 Americans on the Zamzam felt no great danger. For one thing, the Zamzam had been promoted as a neutral ship, owned by Egypt. Furthermore, her unusual route suggested safety. To avoid war zones, the Zamzam would be traveling south by way of Trinidad Island; then make a stop at Brazil's coastal port of Recife; next follow a diagonal course across the South Atlantic to Capetown on the southern tip of Africa; then steam up Africa's east coast to Mombasa, Kenya; and finally head back to home port in Alexandria, Egypt.

The Zamzam's passenger list was rather unusual, too. The largest category was comprised of 144 missionaries, representing 20 Protestant denominations and also including 17 Catholic priests and teaching brothers. Another distinct group was the 24 members of the British-American Ambulance Corp, en route to North Africa for humanitarian purposes and bringing with them ambulances and other equipment. A third group was the six tobacconists from Wilson, North Carolina, headed for Southern Rhodesia. The remaining passengers were various businessmen or eager family members traveling to be reunited with loved ones in Africa. Among the varied other passengers were David E. Scherman, photographer for Life magazine, and Charles J.V. Murphy, editor of Fortune magazine. En route to Africa on assignment, they had boarded the Zamzam at Recife, Brazil.

Not to be overlooked in this unusual mix of passengers is the fact that it included 33 children, some only babes and toddlers. Five of the women were pregnant. Indeed, the Zamzam's passengers were not the ordinary. As for her crew, they were mostly Egyptian, headed by British officers.

With an air of eagerness and confidence, the Zamzam's crew and passengers had sailed south from the New York area that night of March 20, 1941. A few days later, however, innocence was shattered and hope was diminished as portholes and glass surfaces to the outside of the ship were painted black. In addition, no light in any form was to be allowed on deck, not even to light a cigarette. The Zamzam was now traveling in strictest black-out.

No amount of protests by the passengers could undo this new and frightening reality. Maybe the Zamzam was not such a safe, neutral ship, after all. For some, talk turned to practical measures of readiness in case the Zamzam was attacked. Even children made plans. The older boys, for example, figured out how they would rescue the chocolate candy bars in the commissary. Generally, it can be said that traveling in black-out deepened a sense of trust in God, knowing He has promised to be with His children even in the deep waters and dark moments of life.

The Atlantis
Photo taken by Life magazine.

And so, in total darkness, as if hiding from an enemy, the Zamzam left Recife, Brazil, on April 9, 1941, and began the long south-easterly voyage across the South Atlantic Ocean. Little did the Zamzam officers know that the Germans had been watching, lurking in the waters nearby, waiting for the right moment to attack.

That moment arrived at dawn on April 17 when the notorious German raider Atlantis, using the name Tamesis, attacked the Zamzam.

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Raiders ~ Auxiliary / Merchantmen / Commerce

Auxiliary cruisers, aka armed merchantmen, were merchant ships converted into armed vessels and employed either for convoy protection or commerce raiding. In the latter role, they were disguised as merchant ships, but equipped with hidden cruiser-size guns, false funnels, torpedo tubes, mines, float planes for scouting and wore false colors, markings and flags. Their appearance was used to trick enemy merchant ships into approaching thinking they were but harmless steamers. Their speed, combined with their float planes, enabled them to search large areas of ocean for prey. Once located, the auxiliary cruiser's big guns could defeat any merchant or smaller combatant.

In the days of sail, piracy and privateers, many merchantmen would be routinely armed, especially those engaging in long distance and high value trade. The most famous of this type were the East Indiamen able to defeat regular warships in battle (see Battle of Pulo Aura).

In more modern times, auxiliary cruisers were used offensively to disrupt trade chiefly during both WWI and WWII, particularly by Germany.

Commerce raiding is a form of naval warfare used to destroy or disrupt logistics of the enemy on the open sea by attacking its merchant shipping, rather than engaging its combatants or enforcing a blockade against them. It is also known, in French, as guerre de course (literally, "war of the chase") and, in German, Handelskrieg ("trade war"), from the nations most heavily committed to it historically as a strategy.

Commerce raiding was heavily criticized by the naval theorist A.T. Mahan, who regarded it as a distraction from the destruction of the enemy's fighting power. Nevertheless, commerce raiding was an important part of naval strategy from the Early Modern period through WWII.

Usually, commerce raiding is chosen by a weaker naval power against a stronger, or by a nation with little ocean-going trade against one with a great deal. The best protection against a commerce raiding strategy is for merchant vessels to sail in convoy, protected by naval escorts.