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Miscellaneous Ship Histories |
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Athenia (II)
Sinking - Newspaper and other accounts 6 & 7 September 1939
Press Coverage 6 September 1939
By 6 September the first pictures of survivors were published. The Times newspaper once again provides a wide coverage of this event. |
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Image 5 |
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Images 1 and 2 are from page 10 of The Times on 6 September.
They carry the following caption:
From the torpedoed Athenia - Two pictures of survivors of the torpedoed Athenia on their arrival ashore. Some were landed at Albert Harbour Greenock and the picture on the left shows three of the crew soon after their arrival. The other picture shows some of the injured passengers being assisted from an ambulance into the hospital at Galway where they were taken by the Norwegian vessel Knute Nelson. Survivors gave dramatic accounts of their terrible experiences. |
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Image 9 |
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Image 7 |
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Image 8 |
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Images 3 and 4 are from page 4 of The Times on 6 September and contain a further House of Lords exchange in which the government clarify that the final number of casualties is so far unconfirmed but the possibility of the cause being a mine must be discounted.
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Images 1 & 2 |
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Images 3 & 4 |
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Images 5 is an article from page 5 of The Times on 6 September and contains a statement from President Roosevelt of the USA in which he proclaims US neutrality and an arms embargo. No help will be given to any of the belligerents. That was the public statement anyway - the reality we know now became a bit different as time wore on. |
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Image 6 |
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Image 6 is an article from page 5 of The Times on 6 September and contains the first account from a survivor - Captain James Cook. He notes that some passengers were killed during rescue attempts. At this point the death toll is estimated as “at least 50” and the account makes it very clear that there is no doubt but the ship was sunk by a torpedo. |
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Image 7 is an article from page 6 of The Times on 6 September. It suggests that the isolationist statement by the President is not necessarily shared by the American public. |
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Image 8 is an article from page 8 of The Times on 6 September and is the first account by passengers. This group had been landed at Greenock. The accounts include a harrowing story of a lifeboat containing a large number of people being drawn into the propeller of the Knute Nelson with large loss of life. |
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Press Coverage 7 September 1939
Despite this being four days since Athenia had been torpedoed, the newspapers were still providing a great deal of coverage and information gradually become available to the public. But of course Athenia was the first loss of its kind in the war. The Times would have needed to be very thick indeed to provide similar coverage for future shipping losses. |
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Image 9 is a photograph from page 10 of The Times on 7 September and has this caption:
The Athenia - Among the survivors of the Athenia taken by the Knute Nelson to Galway were several stretcher cases |
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Image 10 is an article from page 4 of The Times on 7 September and includes a statement by Winston Churchill that there were 1,418 persons on board including 315 crew and 1,103 passengers of whom 800 had British or European passports and over 300 had US passports. At this point in time there were 125 people unaccounted for. |
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Image 10 |
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Image 11 |
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Image 11 is an article from page 6 of The Times on 7 September and reports that the German press have decided to deny responsibility and blame the press furore on anti-German propaganda by Churchill. |
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Image 12 is another article from page 6 of The Times on 7 September which reports that the US Government is sitting on the fence despite the reports of the cause of the sinking by her own Nationals who were on board. |
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Image 13 |
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Image 13 is an article from page 7 of The Times on 7 September. Finally some good news as some survivors are re-united and a relief fund is set up. |
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Image 12 |
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Govan to Nuremberg - the History of Athenia (2) |