Horror impact on city of the Athenia disaster

JUST hours after the sombre tones of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain had faded from the airwaves shortly after 11am on Sunday, September 3, 1939, the citizens of Glasgow found out in a tragic manner that this country really was at war with Germany.

The Government had warned repeatedly that this war would be fought on the Home Front as well as in the various theatres of war. Bombing of civilian targets was fully expected.

On that Sunday, practice air raid warnings sounded across the UK as all the months of preparations for war proved their worth. Glaswegians took to air raid shelters, some of them going into Anderson shelters – corrugated steel shelters surmounted by thick turf – dug into their own gardens. The evacuation of more than 100,000 children from the city had begun on September 1 and was mostly completed by September 3.

This time there was no patriotic flag- waving, no ‘ war fever’ or claims that it would all be over by Christmas.

In May 1939, Parliament had passed the Military Training Act which saw more than 240,000 men aged between 20 and 22 sign up for six months training in the armed forces, and on the day war was declared, Parliament passed the National Service ( Armed Forces) Act which imposed conscription on all men aged between 18 and 41 who had to register for service. Only the medically unfit were exempted, as were workers in key industries such as farming, medicine, and engineering. Single men were drafted first, married men followed later.

Within a few hours of the war starting, Glasgow was at the centre of horrific events which showed that Nazi Germany was going to be a ruthless opponent. Within days, the whole world would learn the name Athenia.

The SS Athenia was a small passenger liner of some 13,500 tons owned by the Glasgow- based AnchorDonaldson line and built by the famous shipyard Fairfields of Govan. Named for a Donaldson vessel that had been sunk by a U- boat in the First World War, the Athenia was launched in 1922 and entered service on the transatlantic route in 1923.

Despite the loss of passenger numbers caused by the Great Depression, the ship was still in service and by the summer of 1939 was actually increasing its passenger load as people fled to Canada and the USA.

The Athenia left Glasgow on September 1 for what was anticipated to be a routine voyage across the Atlantic, stopping at Belfast and Liverpool before heading out into the Western Approaches where she was sailing towards her eventual destination of Montreal when war was declared.

On board she had an excess number of passengers, some 1103 in all, plus 315 crew, many of them from

Clydeside, led by Captain James Cook.

At about 4.30pm on September 3, just five hours after the war had officially begun, and 200 miles out in the Atlantic, the U- boat U- 30 under the command of Oberleutnant Fritz- Julius Lemp began to track Athenia, raising his periscope every so often to view the ship – he had received the radio signal at 2pm in which all German navy vessels were told to attack “against England” as it stated.

Passenger vessels were not to be targeted, however, but Lemp decided that he could attack the Athenia because the ship had steered a zig- zag course and darkened its lights at dusk, as Captain Cook had been ordered to do by the Admiralty. Lemp claimed later he thought Athenia was an armed merchantman, just as the previous Athenia had been when she was sunk.

Perhaps in desperation to become an instant hero, at about 7.40pm Lemp closed to within a mile of the Athenia and fired two torpedoes, one of which exploded on the ship’s port side, killing and injuring dozens. Two more torpedoes missed or misfired or the damage would have been much greater.

Athenia begin to settle by the stern and the order was given to abandon ship. There were 26 well- provisioned lifeboats and several ships nearby, and the ship was sinking slowly – she did not finally go under until 10am the following morning – so casualties should have been kept to those already killed on board.

Instead, one lifeboat was dragged under the propellor of the Norwegian cargo ship MS Knute Nelson which had rushed to the rescue. Some 50 people in the lifeboat were killed.

Royal Navy ships HMS Electra and HMS Escort plus the US cargo ship City of Flint and the Swedish ocean- going yacht Southern Cross picked up the survivors. Of the 1418 people on board Athenia, 98 passengers and 19 crew members died. Of that 19 crew, 14 were from Glasgow.

Many who died were Jewish refugees, while some 28 American citizens were killed. A 10- year- old Canadian girl, Margaret Hayworth, died of her injuries aboard the

Of that 19 crew, 14 were from Glasgow

City of Flint – hundreds lined the streets to pay their respects when her funeral took place in Hamilton, Ontario.

Given the Athenia’s connections to Glasgow, the population of the city was deeply shocked by the sinking, the first suffered by Britain in the war. The US survivors were brought to the city via Greenock and Lord Provost James Dollan and his officials sprang into action, ensuring the Americans were well looked after at the Beresford Hotel.

Dollan set up a relief fund and donations poured in. The US Ambassador to Britain, Joseph P. Kennedy, sent his son to check on the surviving Americans, and future war hero and President John F ‘ Jack’ Kennedy was hugely impressed with the efforts Glasgow was making.

President Franklin D Roosevelt sent Lord Provost Dollan a note: “I have just received your telegram of September 5 assuring me that the city of Glasgow will look after the American and other survivors of the Athenia disaster who have arrived in your city. Ambassador Kennedy has also telegraphed telling me of your city’s kindness.

“I wish you to know how deeply I and the American people appreciate the efficient, generous, and humane manner in which Glasgow and its citizens came to the help of our fellow countrymen and women in their need. I express to you my heartfelt thanks and assure you that Glasgow’s gesture will not be forgotten.”

Sadly it would not be the last time that Glasgow stepped up to the mark in that horrible war.