City of Benares

Ship Details

Rig

Steam Ship

Built

1936

Built In

Tonnage

11081

Built By

Demise

torpedoes on 18/9/1940 whilst evacuating 90 children from Britain to Canada. Only 13 survived

Description

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_City_of_Benares
 SS City of Benares was a steam passenger ship built for Ellerman Lines by Barclay, Curle & Co of Glasgow in 1936.[1] During the Second World War the City of Benares was used as an evacuee ship to evacuate 90 children from Britain to Canada. The ship was torpedoed in 1940 by the German submarine U-48 with heavy loss of life,[2][3] including the death of 77 of the evacuated children. The sinking caused such public outrage in Britain that it led to the total cancellation of the Children's Overseas Reception Board (CORB) plan to relocate British children abroad.[4]
Account of loss and story of evacuee escort Mary Cornish's courage in lifeboat in "Atlantic Orderal" by Elspeth Huxley, (UK, 1st ed, 1941)
 

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