Survivors of Atlantic sinkings off Ireland in WW2

ejmaztec

Kerry must have been a busy place in WW2, and at least one U-Boat paid a visit on humanitarian grounds..

http://www.kerryman.ie/news/story-behind-wwii-landings-around-kerry-3245272.html

DURING the second world war 260 survivors from 13 different ships sunk in the Atlantic were landed in Kerry. Most of the landings went unreported due to strict wartime censorship. Mark McShane provides a tantalising outline of the whole story in his new book, Neutral Shores.

By the end of the war a total of 2,330 survivors from over 75 sinkings landed in different parts of Ireland. On the day that Britain declared war on German, a u-boat sank the passenger liner Athenia, bound for Montreal.

A total of 990 passengers survived. A Norwegian tanker rescued 449 of those and brought them to Galway.

In October 1939 Life magazine celebrated the extraordinary arrival of a group of survivors in Kerry earlier that month. Realising that the crew of the Greek freighter Diamantis would have no chance of survival in their lifeboats in the heavy seas on October 3, the commander of U-35 invited them onboard the submarine before sinking their ship. The following evening U-35 sailed into in Ventry Harbour and dropped off the Greek sailors.

marcsignal

Great find ejmaztec

Here are two other useful marine sites to use in relation to articles like that.

To investigate shipwrecks

To investigate U-Boats by number.

Info on 'Athenia' Liner mentioned in article.
Info on U-30, the boat that sank her.

Info on the Greek ship 'Diamantis' mentioned in the article, and corresponding info on U-35 in relation to sinking.

Fate of U-35

ejmaztec

The way rumours spread across Kerry and escalate out of all proportion, I wouldn't be at all surprised if the U-35 mission to drop off survivors at Ventry became a full-blown non-humanitarian re-fuelling and maintenance exercise, the news eventually reaching the UK and them thinking that Ireland was supporting the Nazis.:(

bluecode

The British were informed in full on the same day by the Irish authorities. As were all submarine sightings real or imagined. So on an official level the British were kept fully informed. Naturally that didn't stop Churchill making inflammatory speeches in his continuing campaign to bring the Free State into the war. He knew the truth as well but had his own agenda.

British intelligence officers operating in Ireland were kept fully informed and would even visit areas around the coast and talk to locals. In fact one accompanied the head of the coastwatching service on an inspection tour. Quite often the submarines were actually British or even whales or dolphins.

It's a peristent myth though. You can still read it on other forums alongside the myth that the Irish were hostile to the allies and sympathetic to the Axis.

It's hard to eliminate these old tales.