Wednesday, September 18, 1940, 4:30 AM
Sonia looked out over the black sea. It was getting lighter. The rain had stopped. The sea was calm. Soon they’d be able to see other rafts and lifeboats.
But as the dawn rose, the terrible truth struck. They were alone. Nothing but water in every direction.
Sonia looked down through the slats to the water below. The ropes that held the raft together were fraying, loosening with each successive wave.
She looked at her brother, pinned under her mother. His school cap was long gone, and his uniform was ripped. Her mother’s face was scratched and puffy. Her hand was searching in her pocket for her flask. It came out empty. “It must have fallen out in the night,” she murmured.
Tommy Milligan stretched his head up and scanned the horizon.
“There,” he pointed, “there’s a mast.”
Sonia could see nothing but a large wave coming at them. She held her breath as it crashed over her. She shook the water from her face and looked again. They were riding to the top of the wave. Was that a mast in the distance?
The waves pushed them up and down maddeningly, hiding and revealing … yes! A tiny sail on a tiny mast. A sail? Sonia didn’t know much about boats, but she knew this didn’t look like a rescue ship.
Tommy steadied himself with one hand on the edge of the raft. Sonia watched him take off his sopping shirt. He stretched up as high as he could, still holding the raft’s edge. His arm waved the wet rag of a shirt. Would the boat see them? Each time the sea pushed them up, Tommy waved. Each time they crashed down, he gripped the edge of the raft.
They waited. It was agonizing. But the mast seemed to be getting bigger. Yes, definitely. The boat was coming toward them. Gradually, the distance between them closed.
“Ahoy,” someone shouted to them. “Are you from the Benares?”
“Yes, sir,” Tommy Milligan’s voice sounded strong. “I have three passengers with me, sir. Two are children.”
The boat had dropped its sail. Sailors were rowing steadily toward them.
“Commanding Officer Lewis, here. We’re from the SS Marina. We’ll get you in here with us in a jiffy.”
Sonia was bewildered. Clearly this was just a tiny lifeboat, much smaller than the lifeboats from the Benares. There were only about ten men in it and it looked full. Was this the rescue boat? Were they taking them to the SS Marina?
A sailor threw a towrope across to Tommy. He caught it and pulled the raft toward the lifeboat. He looped the rope around the end of one of the raft’s planks and made them fast.
Tommy reached over, quickly scooped Derek up in his arms and passed him across to the waiting arms of one of the lifeboat’s sailors.
He turned to Sonia. Sonia wasn’t sure she could stand on her own. She was rigid and shaking violently. He picked her up as though she weighed no more than a doll, and gently passed her into the lifeboat.
“Ma’am?” Sonia’s mother seemed frozen to her spot. “May I help you into the lifeboat?” Tommy asked gingerly. Her mother gave the smallest of nods. Sonia wasn’t sure that her mother understood what was happening.
“We’ll just wait for this wave to pass,” said Tommy, reassuringly. A wave pushed the raft and the lifeboat high into the air. As they fell, they went down at different speeds. It looked like the raft would break off from the boat. Sonia screamed as the wave crashed over Tommy and her mother. But as the water receded, Tommy was calmly lifting her mother up and passing her into the waiting arms of Officer Lewis.
Although he wasn’t much older than her sister Barbara, Sonia thought Tommy Milligan was the strongest man she had ever seen. He stepped into the lifeboat and the sailors cut the towrope. Sonia watched their little raft float away into the distance. It looked so small.
“Probably wouldn’t have lasted another hour,” she heard Officer Lewis say to Tommy. “Here, miss,” he said, turning to Sonia, “We’ve got a dry blanket for you, and a tot of rum.”
“Oh, please, no more rum!” Sonia blurted out, remembering the burning taste from her mother’s flask. Tommy and all of the sailors laughed. “Well, we’ve got a bit of condensed milk for you then. You need to drink it to keep up your strength. And here’s a couple of ship’s biscuits.”
Sonia watched her mother and Tommy gratefully accept the rum. Her mother gave a drop to Derek, who was curled up on the bottom of the boat beside her. He coughed and clutched his mother.
Sonia took a sip of the milk, and a small bite of a biscuit, but found it hard to swallow. She couldn’t stop shivering underneath the rough blanket. She leaned on the other side of her mother.
The sailors hoisted up the mast and the boat began to move forward on the wind.
“Have you seen any lifeboats from the Benares?” Sonia’s mother asked. Sonia knew she was thinking about Barbara.
The officer shook his head. “We haven’t. We were about a mile away from the Benares when it went down. We’re from the SS Marina, one of the merchant ships in the convoy.”
“Are you taking us to the Marina?” asked Sonia’s mother.
“The Marina was hit. It sank right after the Benares went down. The crew all made it safely to our two lifeboats.”
“Where is the other one?” asked Sonia’s mother.
“We haven’t seen it since we launched.”
Sonia’s mother looked around the vast extent of the ocean. “Where are all of the convoy boats? There were eighteen ships all together. Where are they?”
“Well, ma’am, it’s complicated. There are rules. When a boat is torpedoed, all of the other ships in the convoy have the order to disperse.”
“What? You mean they all left us?”
There was a silence as the sailors looked at each other.
“You mean they left us to drown?!”
“Ma’am, they had to follow orders. Orders are to leave the area immediately because once a U-boat is firing at a convoy they will take down as many as they possibly can. It got the two of us—it would have gotten more, given a chance,” Officer Lewis explained.
“But why didn’t you fight back?” Her mother’s eyes were blazing.
“None of the convoy ships would have a chance against a U-boat. The destroyer is the one with the guns to take on a U-boat.”
“But where was the destroyer? Where the hell was the Winchelsea? Why did it leave us yesterday morning?” Sonia’s mother was yelling.
“I can only say that the commodore must have thought we were in safe water, ma’am. This is supposed to be neutral territory. This is further out than any U-boat has ever struck before. Up until now they haven’t been able to get this far from shore without refuelling,” he said. “It was a surprise to us all.”
Sonia’s mother was quiet. She looked around at the empty vast ocean. “But where are the other lifeboats? My daughter was on a lifeboat. They said she’d be safe.”
“I’m sure she is, ma’am. If she is in a lifeboat, she’ll be well looked after.”
Sonia’s mother rocked Derek. “What happens now? Where are you taking us?”
“We are heading for Ireland,” said the officer.
“Ireland!” gasped Sonia’s mother.
“Yes, ma’am. By my estimation it will take us six days to get there.”
Sonia’s heart sank. She looked at her mother’s grim face, her hair frizzed around her head like a misshapen halo. Sonia felt her own hair. Her tight plaits had unraveled. She looked down at her lovely camel-hair coat, covered with black, greasy oil. Her brother was tucked in tight beside her mother, his uniform shredded. His eyes rolled as he fell asleep.
Six days in this tiny boat?
Suddenly, Tommy shouted, “A raft! Portside!”
Officer Lewis loosened the sail and directed the crew to man the oars. Sonia strained her eyes to see what Tommy had seen, but her lids were swollen and painful. She saw her mother stand to look, clearly hoping that it might be Barbara. But as they drew up to the tiny wooden structure she saw only two weak lascar crewmen.
The crew of the Marina lifeboat guided the shivering lascars into their lifeboat. Sonia counted fifteen in the boat. There wasn’t another inch of room. Her bent knees were pressing into the back of the lascar in front of her. How they could possibly last a week? There was no room to lie down, and no toilet. How on earth would they manage?
The sun was now almost directly overhead. The warmth of it began to relax her body. There was a good breeze and Sonia could feel the boat grab onto the wind as they set the sail. The reflection of the sun off the water hurt her eyes. Wrapped in a blanket, her stomach rumbling with the thick coating of condensed milk, she began to doze.
In a dream state Sonia heard the distant sound of a siren. She wondered where the nearest air-raid shelter was. She tried to start running, but her legs didn’t work.
“It’s a destroyer! Come to!”
The words crashed into her mind. She opened her eyes to see a sailor madly waving a makeshift flag, a shirt tied to an oar. She could see a ship in the distance, but then it dipped behind the swell of the ocean. There it was again. Now it was gone. Was it real? Had it seen them? Could this actually be rescue?
She heard the siren blare again.
The ocean moved and she could see the ship again.
It was closer. It was definitely closer.
It was enormous—and it was barrelling right toward them!
Sonia held her breath. She looked at her mother’s white face, and watched as she reached up to tidy her hair.
The huge destroyer slowed as it approached them, but their little lifeboat was buffeted by its wake. The boat pitched from side to side. Sonia began to panic. Would they all get dumped into the sea, just when rescue was in sight?
She wrapped her arms around the thwart beside her, preparing for the worst. She felt her mother beside her, tightening her hold on Derek. But then she saw a thick black substance pour out of the side of the destroyer. The liquid spread toward their tiny lifeboat and the water became smooth.
“It’s oil,” Tommy leaned over to Sonia. “They pour oil on the water to calm it. Standard rescue procedure,” he said confidently.
The rescue ship was painted in a zigzag of camouflage markings, H06 painted in white on the side. Sonia looked up and saw dozens of seamen on the deck, cheering. She felt frozen, like a statue, watching events unfold.
As the waters calmed, the Marina crewmen gently rowed to the side of the destroyer. The sailors threw ropes down from the deck and made the lifeboat secure to the side.
Tommy Milligan, her knight in shining armour, was gently peering into her face. “Do you think you can climb up the rope ladder?”
“I think so,” she said as bravely as she could. But when she tried to stand, her legs buckled under her and she collapsed onto the bottom of the boat. Tommy gently righted her and sat her back on the thwart.
“You’ll need to send down nets for the passengers,” Tommy called up to the deck.
Lifeboat crewmen were already scrambling up the rope ladders. A large net was cast down to the lifeboat.
Tommy picked up Derek, “You first, mate,” he said, and carefully placed him in a net.
“Thank you … very much … sir,” Derek said softly as the net was pulled up to the deck. He looks just like a sack of potatoes, thought Sonia.
“You next,” said Tommy, sweeping Sonia into his arms and into the net. If it hadn’t been for him, she thought, I’d be at the bottom of the ocean.
She was hoisted onto the deck where another sailor helped her out of the net.
“Can you walk?” he asked.
“Yes, of course,” she said, but her body swayed and she was lifted up and carried into the ship.
“Hello, miss, I’m Dr. Collison,” said a kind voice. “You’ll be all right now. We’re going to take care of you.” The doctor helped Sonia gently remove her soaked and salt-encrusted clothes and guided her into a huge tub of warm water. As she stepped into the tub, the bath water stung her feet as though it was a hundred bees. She cried out. She looked at her feet, so swollen and chaffed that she hardly recognized them. But gradually the salt washed off and the warm water began to relieve and comfort her.
After the bath, she was given a clean sailor’s uniform to wear. It was miles too big, but it was dry and comfy. Then one of the sailors carried her to a cot in the officers’ mess. Another crewman gave her a mug of warm milk. Sonia could only take tiny sips—her throat was still so raw that every swallow felt like needles slicing into her. But the warm milk soothed her body and she closed her eyes.
* * *
It had taken the destroyer HMS Hurricane H06, eighteen hours to get to the disaster site.
They travelled more than three hundred miles, through the storm, pushing the engines to their limit to get there as soon as possible. They arrived at the site of the disaster on Wednesday, September 18, at 1:00 pm. The SS City of Benares had been hit on Tuesday, September 17 at 10:03 pm.
Lieutenant Commander Simms, captain of the Hurricane, mapped out a rescue plan based on what he knew about where the Benares had gone down. He thought about how far the wind and waves might have moved the lifeboats. He decided to search a twenty-square-mile area starting at a point thirty miles east-northeast from the site where the ship had sunk.
He was looking for twelve lifeboats, and possibly some rafts. He had to be careful. If he went too quickly he could easily miss someone. Or he might swamp a tiny raft as he manoeuvered through the sea.
The captain ordered the sailors out on the deck to scan the sea with binoculars. It was one-thirty in the afternoon when they found the first boat, the one with Sonia and Derek in it.
There were only six hours of daylight left. The captain knew that it was a race against time.
It was two more hours before they saw a second lifeboat.