SHARKHUNTERS International
3 September 1939
The Last Moments of ATHENIA
Remembered by a Young Survivor
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SHARKHUNTERS
International
3 September 1939
The Last Moments of
ATHENIA
Remembered by a Young Survivor
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the article began.......... |
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Relatively few Americans were in the line of
fire when war broke out in Europe on September 1, 1939 - the day that Germany
invaded Poland to initiate the conflict that soon would be known as World War
II. Isolationist in mood, the country would not be drawn into the
spreading war for another two years, and even then it was in response to direct
attack by the Japanese at Pearl Harbor.
EDITOR NOTE - The slaughter of 40,000 to 50,000 ethnic Germans by the Polish
Army,
civilians and police a month or so prior to 1 September 1939 is generally
accepted as the
reason it was necessary for Germany to invade Poland.
All America nonetheless was deeply shocked and outraged when a German submarine
torpedoed and sank a defenseless passenger liner, the ATHENIA
three days into the new war. Twenty-eight Americans were among 113 lost in
the sinking off the Hebrides Islands.
One of the Americans was the father of an eleven-year-old boy named Russel A.
Parks. Now fifty years older, he still retains a vivid, often searing
memory of his own experience as an early American victim of a distant and
unwanted war.
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The family - Russel 11, his father
Alexander Ross Park and his mother Rebecca Armstrong Park had been
visiting Ireland in the summer of 1939. They crossed the Atlantic
aboard the British TRANSYLVANIA and were booked on the
British CALIFORNIA for their return passage in late
August. On the way to Ireland, they struck up a friendship with a
priest named O'Connor and his father. Then in mid-August their
return booking on the CALIFORNIA was cancelled. She
had been taken over by the Royal Navy. The Parks would have to
find another way home. Was looked imminent. Mr. Parks tells
the rest of the story: |
By late August, the international situation
was deteriorating rapidly. Due to ship cancellations such as ours and a
steady stream of refugees, the best we could do was get a ship headed for Canada
instead of the United States. We could not get first-class passage either.
Although we were all in tourist class, my father was placed in a stateroom with
another gentleman while my mother and I were placed in a stateroom with other
women. Being a child, I could get away with this! A storm was
breaking over Europe and we considered ourselves lucky that we had found a way
home. Our lucky ship was the British owned ATHENIA of the
Donaldson Atlantic Line.
We picked her up in Belfast in the evening. I will always remember our
trip out to the ATHENIA. She had stayed out in the harbor
which required us to board her from a 'lighter', a smaller ship. It was
just about dusk as we approached her. The air was cold and wet - a slight
spray was blowing. She looked normal with her white superstructure, black
hull and funnel but I felt apprehensive about her. I did not realize what
the difficulty was until we were just about to board. ATHENIA
did not have a light showing. I was impressed by the fact that this large
passenger vessel, the kind I had always associated with gaiety and good times
would be dark as a tomb. I had never seen a 'blacked out' ship before.
This was two days before the declaration of war.
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It was soon evident that this
would not be a normal voyage. The most obvious thing was the
splitting up of our family into separate cabins. I do not remember
anything about the women in my mother's cabin, but I do recall the man
who was booked into my father's cabin. I believe he was associated
with the American shipping industry. He would be heard from
again. |
 |
The blackout was very conspicuous on board.
Portholes were sealed permanently or were painted out, double curtains were
placed over all outside doors and many warning signs were posted prohibiting
smoking on deck at night.
It was very easy to see that ATHENIA was carrying a larger than
normal passenger complement. The meals were served in shifts. We
asked for and received places at the first sitting. This was to become
very important come September 3, 1939. We were pleasantly surprised to
find Father O'Connor and his father on board also. I believe that they
could only obtain passage in the third class section of the ship.
The next day we had our first lifeboat drill. Since Mom and Dad were in
separate cabins, this presented a problem in that we were assigned to different
lifeboats. I remember my parents discussing this situation, but I do not
know what they decided to do in case of an emergency. Mother and I had our
lifeboat station on the port (left) side. We had the last boat on the main
boat deck. There was one set of boats farther aft on the poop deck.
We could not see the ocean from our boat station since the area from the rail to
the upper deck was covered with canvas as part of the blackout protection.
Boat drills were not new to me since I had been through many of them before.
The 'boat chief' of the lifeboat would tell us that the 'abandon ship' signal
would be six or seven short signals on the whistle or alarm bell followed by one
long one. We were instructed in the use of life belts and the proper
procedure for loading the lifeboat. We were told to bring warm clothes and
blankets. I did not pay much attention to these instructions since I had
heard them before.
On September 2, 1939 we dropped anchor at Liverpool, England. Again a
'lighter' was used to bring out passengers and baggage. Another strange
sight greeted me here. Barrage balloons were gently floating over the city
and harbor. The day was slightly overcast but the barrage balloons
appeared to me to create a great carnival atmosphere. They were silver in
color and very fat. I thought it would be a lot of fun t see one up close.
I cannot remember when we left Liverpool but by Sunday September 3, 1939 we were
at sea.
I had never been seasick before. Sunday however, my mother and I were not
feeling our best - there had been a gentle swell for many hours. We
attended church services in the lounge that morning. It was crowded, but
so was the whole ship. I cannot say if the threat of imminent war itself
had anything to do with church attendance. After the church service,
Mother had me dress in my oldest clothes - knickers, sneakers, sweater etc.
She knew that I would be climbing all over the ship - and she was right.
By mid-afternoon I had been everywhere it was permitted for passengers to be and
a few places where they were not allowed. I had a great time climbing the
spare anchors that were stowed aft, just forward of the after hatch. I
probably was not the cleanest boy in the world, but I was acquiring knowledge
that would later that day come in handy.
A little after 11 o'clock that morning, a notice was posted on the ship's
bulletin board stating that England was now at war with Germany. I seem to
recall that conversation became less frequent after that.
Dad and I had dinner at the first seating, about 5:30 to 6:00 pm. Mother
was not feeling well, so she did not join us. She remained in her cabin,
which I believe was on the starboard side aft, about "C" deck. This deck
constituted the main deck of the ship.
After dinner, Dad and I went to the main tourist lounge. He signed a book
out of the ship's library for me. I remember the Lounge Steward taking me
to a special shelf that contained all children's books. I selected a big
one with a picture of a train on the cover. We sat down at one of the
glass-covered tables in the lounge to read. This was at approximately 6:45
pm.
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My reading ended abruptly at about
7:00 pm. A loud metallic 'bang!' jolted me out of my
chair. Simultaneously the lights in the lounge flickered out.
I was conscious of being on the floor in total darkness with a chair or
table upon me. I could hear women screaming, men shouting and I
could smell burning paint, hot metal and what later in life I found to
be the odor of gasses generated by high explosives upon detonation.
Dad somehow managed to find me in the debris. Remember, the inside
of the ship was now in darkness. He led me to the deck aft of the
lounge. I was unhurt in spite of the broken glass around me from
the table top, but I was very scared. I can remember saying over
and over again; |
 |
The door from the lounge led us directly to
my mother's lifeboat station - but no one was assembling there and my father
stared up the stairs to the boat deck. A steward - I think it was the same
one who ran the library, blocked our way (there were many passengers at this
location now). He said that we would interfere with the lowering of the
boats. There was no panic as such evident. There were a few
near-hysterical women, but an order by someone who sounded like he knew what he
was doing, was sufficient to restore calm.
Immediately upon leaving the closed portion of the deck, I heard what sounded
like a muffled explosion. I looked to the side and saw a cloud of
brownish-black smoke on the surface of the water. I cannot remember for
sure whether this the port or starboard side of the ship, although I favor the
port side. Later I did see what appeared to be a mast floating in the
water near the bow. I cannot say for sure whether I saw diesel smoke or
the splash of a shell if the sub fired at us. I am sure however, that I
heard a muffled explosion of some kind away from the ship.
EDITOR NOTE - This could not have been
a shell splash since U-30 did not fire at them with the deck gun.
On our way up to the boat deck, we had to pass a hatch in the after section of
the ship. I had been sleeping on this hatch this afternoon, leaving it
only to go to dinner. The cover was gone now, exposing the black, burnt
sides of the hatchway. I saw what appeared to be a burned bundle of rags
at the base of the stairs to the upper deck. As we approached, I saw that
it was a man burned severely and charred from head to toe. Someone touched
him with their foot as they went up the stairs. He moaned, which meant
that he was not dead. I did not see anyone go to his air or even pay him
any attention for that matter. I later learned from reading accounts of of
the sinking that there were men and women lying upon the hatch covers when the
torpedo hit. The force of the explosion was vented up the hatchway,
throwing those on top a hundred feet into the air. I think that the poor
soul I saw was one of those who fell back upon the ship. Aside from his
fall injuries, he was severely burned.
I doubt if it was five minutes from the time that the torpedo hit till we were
at the stairs to the boat deck. The steward said that we could enter the
boat deck when the lifeboats were in position for lowering. Since we were
on the stairs waiting, my father thought that it was in a good position for
lowering. He told me to wait there for him while he went down inside the
ship to look for my mother. He told me to get into the lifeboat if it was
ready to be launched before he got back.
It took a lot of courage for him to do this. The inside of the ship was in
total darkness. Many stairs and decks were mangled by the explosion.
It must have been a very difficult decision for him to make - that is to leave
his only son and enter that chaos to look for his wife. The ship by this
time had taken a decided list to port that I would estimate at about 15 degrees.
We were noticeably down by the stern. I was not too concerned by these
facts, but I am sure that my father knew their significance.
Sometime after he left, the ship's whistle blew the abandon ship signal. I
could tell that the alarm bells inside the ship were not ringing. At this
point, the ship was still without power. Later we were allowed on the boat
deck. The nearest boat was filled by people and lowered. This is the
one I had been told by my father to enter.. Since there were still other
boats forward, I decided to let this boat go and wait for one of the others.
There does not seem to be any pattern to the way the boats were launched.
Some were loaded at the boat deck and lowered complete with passengers.
Others were lowered empty and then loaded with the aid of ladders. This
was quite a long trip, since the boat deck was one of the highest decks of the
ship. One ladder broke. I saw people in the water at this point.
I do not know what happened to them. They were in danger of having the
other boats lowered upon them. Most of the people I was in the water were
wearing life jackets, but that does not mean that there were others who fell
without them. As time went on, I saw men throwing wooden deck chairs
overboard. I doubt if they would do much good in regard to keeping anyone
afloat. Luckily I did not have to find out. I never did obtain a
life jacket during these events. To this day, I have not learned how to
swim. I guess 'someone upstairs' was watching over me!
One after another, the boats on the port side were launched. I moved up
each time to the next boat, hoping my parents would return and find me.
Finally, I was so far forward that I could see the navigation bridge. I
saw an officer, probably the captain, yelling orders to the boat crews with a
megaphone. At this point, I heard a crew member report to an officer that
'this was the last one'. I decided that I better be in it.
This was easier said than done. It refused to come out of its blocks.
A 20 foot piece of lumber was placed over the rail and under the boat, using the
rail as a fulcrum of a lever. When a group of men put their weight on the
other end of the lever, all they succeeded in dong was breaking the rail.
The boat did not budge. This may have been caused by the list of the ship.
They finally succeeded in freeing the boat by using fire axes to chop the blocks
out from under it.
The boat was lowered to the boat deck level and loading was started. It
was very conspicuous that there were more people left on board than this boat
could accommodate. The boat was filled however; women and children first.
Very few of the men, passengers or crew, made it.
After we were loaded, they proceeded to lower us to the water by hand. It
was a very orderly lowering until the last few feet, when they discovered that
the falls were not quite long enough. Since we were on the low side of the
list, we must have had our bow up very high to cause this. I think that
they cut the falls - we dropped the last few feet and made a large splash.
We were on our own! At that time, I did not exactly feel glad to leave the
secure steel deck of the ATHENIA for this small wooden boat.
The men left on board who had a better picture of what was going on probably had
felt worse about letting the last lifeboat leave without them. The only
comment I heard from them was to wish us well!
Only after we hit the water was I aware that night had fallen. Emergency
power had finally been started and the boat deck was now lit. As we
drifted further away from the ship, the darkness really made itself felt.
It was encouraging however, to see the lights on the ATHENIA.
While she was afloat, we still had hope.
I was surrounded by women, but only when we tried to maneuver the boat were we
aware of the shortage of men. We had only one crew member aboard, a rather
aged waited from one of the dining rooms. He started to organize the boat
for rowing. We found that we had sufficient oars, but many of the oarlocks
were either missing or could not be located. Many of the things we felt
were missing were probably only hidden or inaccessible to us in our crowded
condition. We had a rudder but no tiller. A mast, but no sail.
Most lifeboats have a hole in the bottom to let out the rainwater. We
could find the plug. The women were using their shoes to bail out the
water continually rising in the bottom of the boat.
We did manage to place a few oars on both sides of the boat. When our
crewman thought it necessary, he would shout 'Row 1' or 'Row
2' depending on which side he felt needed the action.
I was sitting on one of the gunwale (side) seats. I could easily touch the
water, which indicated that we had less than one foot of freeboard available.
I was so close to the water that I actually retrieved one of the oars that a
group of women up forward had dropped. It should be noted that these oars
were very large. I imagine that it would require at least two men to
handle one. At many of the positions we had three or four women doing
their best but, I fear, badly out of phase with the other rowers. If
effect, we were only a drifting hulk. The oars were only used to keep the
boat heading into the wind in order to prevent it from capsizing.
The cold began to be felt a little while in the boat. I doubt if anyone
stayed dry in our boat due to the spray, water seepage and splashing oars.
During the night someone asked the crewman what had happened to the
ATHENIA. He said that he did not know. Someone volunteered
the possibility that her boiler blew up. I spent my time in the lifeboat
thinking that my predicament was caused by a mechanical failure. Only when
I was rescued did I hear that we had been torpedoed.
During our drifting, we encountered debris of many kinds - large patches of oil,
life rings, furniture, broken cases of scotch whiskey. After a while, we
saw many red lights upon the ocean. We thought our rescue was near.
Later we learned that they were red flares held by survivors in other lifeboats.
We did not find out own flares until nearly daybreak.
Later in the evening we were approached by a motor powered lifeboat. We
were asked by an officer if we could take on more people. He was told an
emphatic 'NO'. We did ask for more crew members, since we were
helpless. The motorboat officer said that he would return after he had
deposited some of the male passengers in the other boats. He never
returned. Even if he had the best intentions, I am sure that it would have
been virtually impossible to find us. It was a clear, moonlit night with
scattered clouds. The ocean swell I mentioned earlier was still present,
however, which made it impossible in a low boat, to see more than a few feet.
An eternity later, we saw the lights of a ship upon the horizon. It is
very nerve wracking to have to wait for a ship to approach from the horizon.
It got close enough for us to make out its detail. then it stopped.
This meant we would have to go to it. This was impossible for our boat
anyway. Fortunately we were approaching the ship naturally, thanks to a
favorable wind drift. We were close enough to recognize men on deck and
other boats rowing alongside. We then experienced despair when we saw that
we were drifting astern of the rescue vessel, the Norwegian tanker KNUTE
NELSON.
Now there were two sets of lights on the horizon - those of ATHENIA
and also of KNUTE NELSON. Later, we were aware of dark
shapes moving about us. These, we later discovered, were British
destroyers. They were completely blacked out except for a small red light
on their stern. As dawn broke, we could see them clearly as they went
about their job of picking up stragglers like us.
We were still drifting a few hours after daybreak. The ocean was
littered with abandoned lifeboats. On the top of a wave we could see what
appeared to be a large passenger ship - (it was ATHENIA), the
tanker and at least two destroyers. At long last, our turn arrived.
A destroyer closed in on us and slowly cast a line. We were made fast with
the aid of the seamen from the destroyer. I think I was one of the first
transferred up a ladder into many helping hands.
By this time, I was very cold, numb and tired. My only vivid recollection
of my arrival on the destroyer was being ushered forward to the forecastle and
being placed in a hammock just recently vacated for this purpose. I went
immediately to sleep for about an hour. Someone woke me up and said,
"She's going down. Do you want to
see her?"
I said no and went back to sleep. I was too tired to care.
 |
About noon I again awoke and started to worry about my stomach. I told one of the seamen present that I was hungry. He took me to the galley where I was given a sandwich made from something like corned beef; also marmalade and a cup of tea. I found out that I was on HMS ESCORT, a destroyer (photo left) and that ATHENIA had been torpedoed. |
|
I cannot praise the officers and
men of the ESCORT enough for what they did for me and the
other survivors. The ATHENIA had been crowded, but
the ESCORT was packed. It was difficult to find
standing room much less sleeping room. |
 |
During my tour topside, I saw a large white yacht. A lifeboat was passing
from it to us, bringing on board more survivors. It was my understanding
that the yacht was dangerously overloaded with all the people she had picked up.
I did not know at the time, but my mother was probably on board her. She
was later transferred to the American freighter CITY OF FLINT,
which took her to Canada.
 |
NOTE - On 14 November 1939, before the US entered the war, CITY of FLINT (left) was taken as a Prize of War by the pocket battleship DEUTSCHLAND (right) and sent to occupied Norway. She was stopped en route by the minesweeper OLAV TRYGGVASON and released. On 25 January 1943, CITY of FLINT was sunk by U-575 (Heydemann). |
 |
Two other things remain in my memory about
that topside trip. The first centered around a pile of life jackets that
had been cut from survivors as they were brought aboard. I wanted one as a
souvenir. As I approached the pile however, I saw a pair of legs sticking
out from under the body of someone who did not survive the sinking. I
decided that I could do without a souvenir..............
The second impression I retained is seeing a torpedo up close.....the
destroyer-mounted torpedo tubes that were above decks. The front of the
torpedo impressed me with its stark, businesslike detonator and vanes. I
was now beginning to associate what I had been through with the torpedo.
On our way now to Scotland, I met the steward who had been in charge of the
ship's library. I told him that I doubted if I would return the book.
He said that there would be quite a few others in the same situation. I
later met our waited from the tourist-class dining room. He said that he
was lucky to be alive since the torpedo did extensive damage to the dining room.
This happened just about fifteen minutes after we left. He doubted if
there were many survivors from this portion of the ship.
I think it was the next morning that we made our landfall. ESCORT
tied up alongside her sister ship ELECTRA at Greenoch, Scotland.
Both ships were loaded with survivors. It took a long time to unload us
since it was difficult to climb from ship to ship and then to shore. I
noted many ambulances present at the dock.
I do not remember the details of being interviewed on shore but I was claimed by
someone. He was the man who had been quartered in my fathers stateroom on
the ATHENIA. He recognized me and told the authorities that
he would look after me until someone better qualified would claim me. He
informed me that he met my father inside the ship. Dad asked him if he had
seen us. He said that Dad left him, working his way toward the stern of
the ship, i.e. the badly damaged section.
The Scots have a reputation for being thrifty. After my one and only visit
to Scotland, I remember them as the height of generosity. We were
quartered in the finest hotels in Glasgow. I was taken to a large
department store and given a complete set of clothes and accessories. All
my meals were furnished at the hotel. It is my understanding that the
expense for this was covered by the city of Glasgow.
|
Soon after arrival at the hotel, I was taken to the U.S. Consul's office in Glasgow. He had someone with him from the U.S. Embassy in London named Kennedy who was helping the U.S. survivors straighten out their affairs. I'd always thought that I had met Ambassador Joseph Kennedy. Recently, on reading the book 'PT-109' I found out that it was the Ambassador's son who assisted the survivors - the future President John F. Kennedy. |
 |
At the consulate I was told that I would
be sent to live with a Presbyterian minister and his family until they could
decide what to do with me. They felt that the Reverend Cameron and his
wife could take better care of me in a family atmosphere. This was
agreeable to all concerned. I spent about three weeks with this fine
family who treated me as one of their own.
A few hours before I left the hotel I received a cablegram from Mrs. Jennie
Alcorn, my mother's cousin, informing me that my mother had been rescued!
She had been picked up by the Swedish yacht SOUTHERN CROSS and
later transferred to the American freighter CITY of FLINT.
She arrived in Halifax, Nova Scotia about ten days after the sinking.
| NOTE - SOUTHERN CROSS
was the largest private yacht in the world, originally owned by multi-millionairre
eccentric Howard Hughes. A few years before the war, he sold the
yacht to Swedish billionaire Axel Wenner-Gren who owned some five
million acres of his native Sweden and he owned the Bofors Armament
Company. Almost every navy in WW II used Bofors AA guns on their
ships. Soon after the sinking of ATHENIA, Italian Count Edmundo diRobilant and his new bride honeymooned aboard SOUTHERN CROSS (photo right) as he headed for his new assignment as Manager of the Italian airline L.A.T.I. in South America. He was caught sending radio messages of Allied ship movements to the Germans and was imprisoned Shortly after the U.S. entered the war, Wenner-Gren's mistress Inga Arvad, who had been Adolf Hitler's companion at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin, left his bed and became the mistress of the same John F. Kennedy who helped these survivors. SOUTHERN CROSS had a strange history. |
 |
My recollections of Glasgow are of air raid drills, the blackout (a terrifying
experience for a small child), gas rationing, food coupons, carrying a gas mask
and regular church service. After all, I was living with a minister.
In about two weeks, I was notified that the USS ORIZABA, an
American passenger liner, was to take U.S. citizens home. After taking
leave of the Reverend and Mrs. Cameron, I was placed on board the ORIZABA
into the care of the gentleman from my father's stateroom.
I remember how the ORIZABA stood out in the harbor. She
still had her peacetime white superstructure plus large U. S. Flags painted on
her sides and top. All the other ships in the harbor were painted wartime
gray. We must have been celebrities for as we got underway, many of the
ships in the harbor tooted their whistles at us while their crewmen waved.
 |
The ORIZABA (photo left) was filled to overflowing. I slept in one of the lounges on a cot. I understand that the ship's swimming pool was drained and cots placed there also. The next day we arrived at Galway, Ireland where the KNUTE NELSON had deposited her survivors. One of the first passengers on board was Father O'Connor from Philadelphia. He and his father were very glad to see me alive. They said they had often wondered what had happened to us, and he promised to take me to Philadelphia if no one showed up for me in New York. |
Happily for me, mother was there to meet me! Her first words were;
"Daddy is gone."
We did afterwards hope that the end of World War II would find him in a German
prison camp or that some other explanation of his whereabouts would come to
light. Unfortunately, only silence and the wide ocean remain. A ship
is sunk. The survivors are counted. He is among the missing.
We are forced to assume he is gone.
it is known that many crew members and male passengers were left aboard
ATHENIA when the last boat. He was probably one of these.
When the motorized lifeboat was put in working order, all remaining personnel
left on board were transferred, a few at a time, to the other lifeboats.
At the time of her sinking, it is claimed, there were no living persons left on
board the ATHENIA. He may have been in the motor lifeboat
that hailed our boat during the night. One of ATHENIA's
lifeboats was drawn into the propellers of the KNUTE NELSON during
the night. There were no survivors. I feel this is the best
explanation.
So ends my account of the first day of the war at sea. ATHENIA
was the first to be sunk. Many others followed her. The only rescue
ship mentioned here to survive the was the SOUTHERN CROSS.
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