On September 9, 1940, Nazi Germany commenced bombing London. World War II had been going on for almost one year, but the United States was not yet involved. At first the Germans bombed military targets but when the RAF (Royal Air Force) fought back, they began bombing civilian targets such as the city of London, the port of Liverpool and other English towns. To escape the bombing, British citizens hid in underground bunkers, and subway tunnels. The Blitz, as the bombing came to be called, was supposed to be the prelude to an invasion by the Nazis to secure England. Hitler had already invaded Austria, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Norway, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and France.
When the bombing began, people hid in basements, bomb shelters or in the subway. The bombing in London often lasted most of the night. After the "all clear" sounded in the morning, people came out of their shelters to see the devastation. For some families like the Grimmonds, they would discover their home was a pile of rubble. Five of the Grimmond children, thirteen-year-old Gussie, "and her younger sisters, Violet, ten, and Connie, nine, and two of her little brother, Eddie, eight, and Lennie, five" were slated to sail from Liverpool to safety in Canada as part of a government program to protect the nation's children.
The Children's Overseas Reception Board (CORB) was sending British children to safety in other countries such as Canada, Australia, New Zealand or South Africa. Thousands of children had already been sent out of England to safety. Although the ships had Royal Navy warship escorts, this was risky as German U-boats were targeting ships in the Atlantic. In fact, U-boat 48, which would play a part in this story, had already left its home port of Lorient, France.
On Thursday, September 12, 1940, Gussie Grimmond and her siblings along with the other CORB children waited on the Liverpool docks to board their ship, the City of Benares. There was fifteen-year-old Bess Walder, along with her younger brother, ten-year-old Louis. nine-year-old Jack Keeley and his six-year-old sister Joyce, who was unhappy about travelling on the boat. There were other children on the City of Benares such as eleven-year-old Colin Ryder Richardson who was "traveling alone, all the way to New York, to live with friends of his parents." Fourteen-year-old Beth Cummings was also on the ship, sent by her mother to what she hoped would be safety. There was Marguerite Bech along with her children, Barbara who was fifteen and her younger siblings, Sonia and Daniel.
To the children, the SS City of Benares was a luxury ship.The almost-new ship was a steam-powered ocean liner that had carried passengers to India. When Ellerman Lines, the owner of the ship offered it to the British government for use in the CORB program, it was repainted grey and had defensive artillery guns installed. There was some discussion about identifying the ship as having children on board but CORB decided against this. It was decided that the SS. City of Benares would travel as part of a convoy with military escort ships. On board, were ninety children, the British crew numbered forty-three, while there were one hundred sixty-six lascars, or Indian sailors who were bakers, cooks, porters, and crew. Most of the Indian crew were Muslim and poor. Very little is known about them as after the tragedy their fate was mostly ignored.
The ship set sail, after a short stay in the Mersey River waiting for it to be cleared of mines, on Friday, September 13, 1940. The SS City of Benares was under the command of Captain Landles Nicoll but Admiral Edmond McKinnon, commodore of the convoy was also on board. The Benares was the lead ship in a convoy of nineteen vessels that included oil tankers, steamships and freighters. They were accompanied by HMS Winchelsea, and the corvettes, Gladiolus and Gloxinia.
The City of Benares reached the open water of the Atlantic, where there was a gale blowing. Meanwhile, U-boat 48, now at sea for five days, went deep to avoid the storm. On September 17, the HMS Wichelsea, Gladiolus and Gloxinia left the convoy. Captain Nicoll wanted to leave the convoy, as the Benares was the fastest ship in it, and could easily sail quickly into safer waters. Unfortunately, he was overruled by Admiral MacKinnon. It would be a decision that would have terrible consequences.
Near the convoy, unknown to MacKinnon and Nicoll, was German U boat U-48 commanded by Kapitanleutnant Heinrich Bleichrodt. The U boat had sighted the lead ship in the convoy but because of the bad weather, had to delay attacking it. But when the storm abated for a time in the evening of September 17, 1940, U boat U48 sent two torpedoes towards the Benares. They missed. A minute later, at 10:01 P.M., a second torpedo made a direct hit. The ensuing tragedy and loss of life would end the transport of children to Canada during World War II.
Discussion
It's very evident that Heiligman has done a considerable amount of research in order to be able to tell the story of the sinking of the City of Benares. The story is made personal, the human element the main focus, by telling the stories of some of the children where possible, who were passengers on the ill-fated ship. These were children, already stressed by war and bombing, who faced life and death decisions on their own. It must have been both daunting and terrifying.
Heiligman ably portrays life in Britain during the Blitz, which helps readers understand why parents might have made the choice to send their children far away to safety in another country, while knowing the threat of German U boats. The author sets the stage for the voyage, explaining the process of being selected by CORB for the program, what it was like for the children and their families as they parted ways, and their time on the SS City of Benares up to the disaster. The retelling of the sinking, the childrens' attempts to abandon ship and the struggle to survive in the frigid cold of the Atlantic make for sobering reading.
To achieve this, the author used a considerable number of resources. For example in her Select Bibliography at the back of the book, Heiligman lists Interviews from the Imperial War Museum Sound archive as one of her sources. These interviews are of some of the children who survived. The author herself also interviewed John Baker, Sonia Bech Williams and Maggie Paterson. A full list of the cast of people involved is provided at the front of the book. At the back of the book, After The Voyage informs the reader of what happened to some of the children who did survive.
Readers will be drawn into this novel by the realistic cover, and the opening A Note To Readers in which the author was asked if she wanted to learn more about a custom made red child's life jacket. As Heiligman notes, it is a story "...full of drama and despair, triumph and joy."
Torpedoed! is well-written and well worth reading. The sinking of the SS City of Benares is an event that is mostly forgotten this side of the Atlantic. Heiligman's account was published in 2019, prior to the 80th anniversary of the disaster.
Book Details:
Torpedoed! The True Story of the Word War II Sinking of "The Children's Ship" by Deborah Heiligman
New York: Henry Holt and Company 2019
292 pp.
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