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Miscellaneous Ship Histories |
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Athenia (II)
Sinking - Newspaper and other accounts 8 to 28 September 1939
Press Coverage 8 September
By 8 September press coverage of the sinking has started to reduce with articles on only two pages of The Times. |
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Image 1 is from page 3 of The Times on 8 September. It reports a visit to Glasgow by the son of the American Ambassador to “look after the interests of the American survivors of the Athenia disaster”. The Ambassador was Joseph P. Kennedy and his son was John Fitzgerald Kennedy the future US president. |
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Image 2 is from page 3 of The Times on 8 September reports the return of Captain Cook and 82 members of Athenia (II)’s crew to Glasgow after their landing at Galway. |
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Image 3 is from page 3 of The Times on 8 September and reports on demands being made to Mr Kennedy by US survivors for a convoy to escort them back to the US. He is non-committal but promises to brief his father. |
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Image 4 is from page 3 of The Times on 8 September and provides an increased estimate of the death toll to 128. |
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Image 5 is from page 4 of The Times on 8 September and describes the proposed counter-measures - including the use of convoys. There are some reassuring noises about the Navy bringing the situation under control. |
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Image 7 is an article from page 10 of The Times on 9 September and claims that Germany is going to repeat the submarine operations of WW1 with a “sink merchant ships on sight” policy. It also rather optimistically predicts that the effects of the German campaign will reduce when the convoy system is fully implemented. |
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Note on JFK:
JFK’s father had been appointed US Ambassador to London and Jack came over to visit him and went on to visit various parts of Europe, Russia, the Balkans and the Middle East to prepare for his Harvard senior honours thesis. August 1939 found him in Germany and Czechoslovakia but he returned to London the day that Germany invaded Czechoslovakia and was in the House of Commons to hear speeches in support of the United Kingdom's declaration of war on Germany. Kennedy was sent as his father's representative to help with arrangements for American survivors of the SS Athenia, before flying back to the U.S. at the end of September. |
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Press Coverage 9 September 1939
The Times still carried four articles on the loss of Athenia on 9 September although it was now nearly a week since she was sunk. The repercussions of this event is still reverberating around the world. |
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Image 6 is from page 10 of The Times on 9 September, notes the imminent publication of the official US reports and leaks some of the expected content. |
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Image 8 is an article from page 10 of The Times on 9 September and reports the names of survivors that were rescued by the City of Flint. |
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Image 9 is an article from page 10 of The Times on 9 September and reports on arrangements made for Canadian survivors. |
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Press Coverage 15 September 1939 |
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Image 13 is from page 7 of The Times on 15 September, and reports the arrival of survivors taken on board City of Flint at Halifax Nova Scotia |
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Press Coverage 19 September 1939 |
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Image 14 is from page 7 of The Times on 15 September, and reports that 28 US National are not accounted for.. |
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Press Coverage 20 September 1939 |
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Image 15 is from page 10 of The Times on 20 September, and reports the departure of Orizaba with the US survivors and other passengers. |
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Press Coverage 23 September 1939 |
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Image 16 is from page 8 of The Times on 23 September, and reports that Orizaba had departed Galway after picking up more US survivors and other passengers. |
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Press Coverage 28 September 1939 |
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Image 17 is from page 10 of The Times on 28 September, and provides a breakdown of the nationalities of those aboard Athenia (II) when she was sunk. |
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Image 10 is from page 10 of The Times on 11 September and confirms the arrival in Glasgow of the survivors landed at Galway. |
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Image 11 is from page 10 of The Times on 11 September and reports the death of a child who survived the sinking. It also mentions that liners will no longer be scheduled or information posted about arrivals and departures |
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Image 12 is from page 4 of The Times on 14 September and reports the arrival of a chartered liner to carry the 250 US survivors of the Athenia (II) sinking. |
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Press Coverage 14 September 1939 |
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Press Coverage 11 September 1939 |
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Image 12 |
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Govan to Nuremberg - the History of Athenia (2) |