6 Oct
2017

News

Wartime spirit

6 Oct, 2017

As the remains of the first British ship to be sunk in WW2 are thought to have been found, international maritime charity Sailors’ Society’s archives reveal the tragic aftermath.

Marine scientist and author David Mearns claims to have found the wreck of the SS Athenia, which sank into the Atlantic off the Galway coast 78 years ago, torpedoed by a German submarine the same evening that war with Germany had been declared.

More than 100 people died in the tragedy.

Sailors’ Society, which is approaching its bicentenary in March next year, found an account of the rescue efforts of its Galway chaplain, painting a dramatic picture of wartime spirit from the very start of the war.

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