A Samaritan at Sea

In September 1942 a British troopship RMS Laconia was en route from Cape Town to Britain carrying 2,700 people. There were approximately 80 British women and children, 136- man crew, 103 Free Poles and 268 British soldiers guarding 1,800 Italian POWs. It was spotted by a German U- boat and torpedoed and The Laconia sank.

When the U-boat Commander Werner Hartenstein realised there were POWs and civilians on board facing certain death, he went against the order of the Nazi high command and determined to save as many of the survivors as possible. The submarine surfaced and took on board some 200 people and towed another 200 in four life boats – daisy chain fashion, and gave help to about 20 lifeboats and small rafts surrounding the U-boat.

They displayed a makeshift Red Cross flag and sent a message to the Allies to organise a rescue of the survivors. The British Commander in Sierra Leone informed the Americans to look for Laconia survivors but forbore to tell then of the U- boat’s rescue. Three days later they were spotted by a rookie crew of an American Liberator and were attacked.

Reluctantly Hartenstein had to abandon the life-boats and resume the normal activities of a hunting submarine. The German Admiral Doenitz sent a Vichy ship to pick up survivors and issued the Laconia Order to U-boat commanders not to rescue survivors in future. One lifeboat eventually reached the coast of West Africa and a British Merchant seaman injured in the American attack remained with the U-boat until it reached port where he was imprisoned as a POW.

Doenitz awarded Hartenstein an Iron Cross and offered him a desk job but Hartenstein preferred to stay with his men. Later his U- boat U- 156 was sunk with no survivors.

Last week I watched over two nights Alan Bleasdale’s dramatised version of this incident. As the characters came to life there were echoes of The Titanic. The story was told from the point of view of the U-boat’s crew and the passengers on the Laconia. I believe it was an Anglo German production so it was fairly even handed and was well acted by stalwarts such as Brian Cox and Andrew Buchan.

I was held because of the history of it but it was long winded. The camera man lovingly explored every inch of the German Commander’s face and also of the actress who played the mysterious German passenger. On the final night there was a programme interviewing six of the original survivors

‘We were torpedoed at 20.07 hours and sank at 20.45,’ one of them said

‘The Italians didn’t really want to be in the war.’ This was the general impression back in the forties.

Josephine Pratchet said her parents were at a dance on board and she and her brother were playing draughts. After the first torpedo hit there was a deathly silence and all the lights went out. Someone was buying a bar of chocolate and the rating insisted on writing down the details: ‘The accounts have to be right.’

Their father threw life –jackets at them and they ran to the station - they had been well drilled.

The Italians were locked in the hold and as they tried to escape they were fired on by the Polish soldiers.

There was blind panic – the boats were inadequate. One woman put her son in a boat and shouted,

‘Don’t worry I’ll see you later.’ but the rope snapped and the boy didn’t survive.

People in the water tried to get in the overloaded boats and were beaten off with oars.

Some went down with the boat and then when the boilers exploded were blown clear. Some Italians were shot trying to get on the boats.

In the morning there was no ship and hundreds of dead floating n the water. One survivor remembered a dead girl with her long blonde hair floating around her and a dead woman still wearing her hat. They were astonished and frightened when the U-boat appeared with machine guns but the captain spoke to them in perfect English and said all women and children would be rescued. He wore a battered white hat and had a ginger beard. They were given sustenance and the crew were very kind to them giving chocolate to the children.

‘Let’s hope nobody depth charges us whilst we’re on the U-boat,’ said one.

A 100 people were killed by the bombs dropped by the Liberator and when the U-boat resumed its duties-

‘He went down slowly so as not to rock the boats. A very thoughtful German.’

Back in the lifeboats they were rationed to 1 tab of water in the morning and 2 tabs in the evening. Some resorted to drinking their urine and at least one drank sea- water, went berserk and had to be put overboard. People started to die in the boats and they were gently put overboard and a prayer said but eventually they were just put overboard. Gradually they got weaker and just sat gazing into the distance. After 5 ½ days a battle cruiser hove in sight and they cried,

‘We’re going to be rescued.’ A rope ladder was put over the side for them to climb but none of them had the strength and had to be hoisted on board. As they saw the lifeboat drifting away they felt joyful.

When they heard in 1943 that the U-boat with Captain Hartenstein and crew had been attacked with no survivors, one said:

‘I was sorry in a way because he was a very nice man.’

These programmes can be seen on BBC2 iplayer.

The Laconia torpedoed by a German U-boat In WW2


An artist's impression of the U-boat crew rescuing the survivors

The noble German Captain and the mysterious German woman.

Dinner, Malfunction and a Brain –wave.

We chose the Quay pub near the harbour – it used to be The Red Lion when we first came and has had quite a few changes since but Joy and the cancer care workers had their Christmas Party there and enjoyed it. When we booked they said all the food had 50% off which seemed a friendly omen. It’s a good location – right by the sea and we managed to park round the corner. I was sure we could have parked right outside but MTL was being cautious and I was happy he felt up to the exercise.

The decorations were mainly gold and pretty, and it was very much the quiet after the storm so we were the only guests in our part of the dining area. It was pleasant to sit having a drink, deciding what to eat and be waited on by a pretty young girl. MTL chose broccoli soup, chicken and pigeon pie (not a local one I hoped) with the usual accoutrements and raspberry jam pudding with custard

. I decided to have two starters instead of a main and had a meaty pate with Melba toast – a treat I don’t often have - and in spite of the toast being slightly over done I relished it. Then red mullet with noodles in a sauce which would have been improved being less liquidy. No complaints about the lemon meringue pie with vanilla ice-cream. As we are nearing the end of a self- indulgent period I decided to finish it off with an Irish coffee which made me think of Mapstew - see side bar, and wish he was there with his music. As always on this special evening we remembered back over the years and particularly the last six months.

When we eventually stepped outside and looked out towards the sea I was struck by the stillness - no traffic, no people - there was a hush which made me feel at peace. Years ago when we had our cottage in Yorkshire we came out of the pub on the hill that drops down into Burnsall and whilst we had dined it had snowed and moonlight was shining on the river. One of the loveliest sights and sounds - we crunched back to the car- I've experienced. Such a lot of turmoil we had to endure from then. How lucky we are to be still standing – together.

The next day I was greeted by a blank page on my In-box. Frustrating because I could hear the ping of a message arriving and couldn’t read it unless it was a comment and went straight to my blog. Eventually I had to give in and called Tim the fixer. He picked up the mouse and immediately the picture was restored. I think I may have used an expletive. For some reason the picture had ridden up and was brought back by a quick click and drag. Something similar happened before and Kim told me what to do about it.

I wasn’t about to waste my call out fee so Tim did some tidying up and set defragmenting the? drive in motion, which went on long after he had gone. I feel sorry for him when he attempts to explain technical matters to me and often giggle but the gist is the computer uses files and then flings them all over the place – rather like teen-agers undressing - and the defragmenting tidies them all up and places then neatly side by side. Sort of. My first experience of the new VAT!

Yesterday the 4th chemo was started and I asked MTL what was the worst part. He said sitting for two hours with the drip. As the nurse is there for the whole time politeness made me switch off radios TVs etc, but I remembered our French son had sent a boxed set of ‘Yes Minister’ so got that in motion and both patient and nurse appreciated it. Wish I’d thought of it earlier.

sailblogs.com Not the river at Burnsall and no snow but the beauty is the same.

The Quay Inn in lonely splendour

This was a surprise present from Australia. Handmade in Noosa and perfect for the evening - I can even get my camera in. A shame you can't see the 3D effect of the flowers. It's not just and effect - they are separate.

January 5th

Today is the fifth anniversary of Past Imperfect. It is also a very special anniversary for MTL and me. If you are new to the blog and would like to know why just follow the link( please God) and scroll down to January 5th 2009.
A Life- changing Day

Another year bites the dust.

It was quite painless really. We have eaten less wisely than usual, OD’d on TV Dickens and ‘Stately Piles’ goings on and been guilty of much sloth. If there us a single person to whom I haven’t wished a Happy New Year I do it now – for the last time till next year. I always see Christmas and New Year as the end of a road and then there is a sharp left hand bend and we’re off in a new direction.

What’s gong on with the water levels? People in Ireland with no water at all and people in Queensland Australia with life threatening floods and another earth quake in the north of England. I hope the balance is restored soon and no more lives lost.

Hats off to Jennifer Saunders of ‘Absolutely Fabulous‘. On a radio programme with her comedy partner Dawn French she was bubbling with infectious mirth whilst on the long road to recovery after breast cancer. She told us she had a line in her body through which the chemo is given and that the line is removed in March. Hopefully MTL’s chemo stops mid April after his 8^th session so I have a glimmer of what she feels. There were many newspaper reports of how ‘Jennifer has won her battle with cancer.’ But her husband Ade Edmondson told Rebecca Hardy this:

‘So, there is no battle. I hate the word battle. You just get battered with a load of drugs. People want the words “trauma”, “battle” and ” life-changing”, but it’s not a great three-part TV drama full of moments, it’s a long grind, like a slow car crash that will last five years and then, hopefully, we’ll get out.’

Every case is different and everyone had their own way of coping but I agree with the ‘long grind’ bit

We are going to be busy; the Australian branch of the family come next week, later the Hertfordshire branch, then the Warminster lot, followed by all the French taking us up to March and the Norfolk visit. That should make the time pass.

The sun is peeking out. Maybe we will go out for a meal tonight – we have an anniversary on Wednesday but the nurse comes for blood, so tonight could be the night.