SS Athenia

The Steam Ship Athenia was a transatlantic passenger liner that worked between the UK and eastern Canada from 1923 to 1939. It was the first UK ship sunk by Germany in WW II. My Aunt Joan was a passenger on the ill fated crossing and survived. 117 passengers and crew did not including Joan’s brother Alan. My cousin Anne tells the story:

“82 years ago today, on September 3, 1939, the first day of World War II, the British passenger ship “SS Athenia” was torpedoed in the North Atlantic. My mother Joan, age 6, her brother Alan, age 7, and their mother Dorothy were aboard that ship.

They had boarded 2 days earlier on Sept 1 in Liverpool. They had been visiting family in England. My grandfather Edward sent word for them to return home to Montreal early as there was talk of war starting up in Europe. And 2 days into their journey – on Sept 3, war was officially declared between Germany and England.

The ship was overcrowded and behind schedule because they had taken on extra passengers. The captain was sailing in a zig zag pattern to make up time. The windows had all been painted black to avoid detection at night. But still this was an elegant passenger ship and at 7 pm that evening, most passengers were having supper in the dining room.

At the same time a German U-boat, U-30, captained by Fritz Lemp surfaced and spotted “ Athenia” in the distance and misidentified it as a merchant ship. He fired 3 torpedoes and missed the target on the first and third but hit the ship with the 2nd. Lemp submerged so he could get closer to fire again.

On board “Athenia” there was an explosion and the ship began to list. When U-30 surfaced again they were close enough to realize they had mistakenly fired on a passenger ship but Lemp fired again and missed and then submerged and fled the scene. He did not admit his error for years and it was not officially acknowledged by Germany until after the war.

Back on “Athenia” the overcrowded lifeboats were launched. Joan, Alan & Dorothy made it into a lifeboat together but in the ensuing chaos, young Alan was lost. Joan and Dorothy, like many of the other passengers suffering from hypothermia & frost bite after spending the night in the cold North Atlantic were eventually rescued by the Norwegian ship “MS Knute Nelson”. Alan’s body was never recovered and for years afterwards whenever an orphan boy was found (as often happened during the war) my grandfather would travel to see if it was Alan. The loss of Alan was a wound that never healed in their family.

My mom died this week (on Sept 1, 82 years after boarding “Athenia”) and although she was very ill, this event was very much on her mind. She wanted to talk about it and about Alan. I sincerely hope that their spirits have finally been reunited and that the Alan shaped hole in her heart has finally been filled.”

Here is a link that lists Allen Vincent as a casuality of this monstrous war crime. Thank you Anne for telling the story.