"I could see hundreds of men clinging to the ship. They were like
ants and then the ship went up at one end and slid rapidly down, taking
the men with her... Many men had broken their necks jumping or diving
into the water. Others injured themselves by landing on drifting
wreckage and floating debris near the sinking ship" — Sergeant Norman Price.
Hell ships British style! From that era of the Second World War yet one more instance of allied atrocity?
"More than 7,000 internees were deported, the majority to Canada, some to Australia. The liner Arandora Star left for Canada on 1 July 1940 carrying German and Italian internees. It was torpedoed and sunk with the loss of 714 lives, most of them internees. Others being taken to Australia on the Dunera, which sailed a week later, were subjected to humiliating treatment and terrible conditions on the two-month voyage. Many had their possessions stolen or thrown overboard by the British military guards"
"SS Arandora Star was a British passenger ship of the Blue Star Line. She was built in 1927 as an ocean liner and refrigerated cargo ship, converted in 1929 into a cruise ship and requisitioned as a troop ship in the Second World War. At the end of June 1940 she was assigned the task of transporting German and Italian internees and prisoners of war to Canada. On 2 July 1940 she was sunk in controversial circumstances by a German U-boat with a large loss of life, 865 [souls having perished, conflicting figures as to actual loss]."
IT WOULD SEEM THAT MANY OF THOSE PERSONS PERISHING HAVING "BROKEN THEIR NECKS" BY INFLATING THEIR LIFE VESTS PRIOR TO JUMPING INTO THE WATER!
AS IT WAS ABOARD THE SS LEOPOLDVILLE SO WAS IT TOO ON THE SS ARANDORA STAR!
The existence of "hell ships" as that term understood during WW2 not confined to the Axis powers?
coolbert.
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