The sinking of the S.S. Athenia occurred September 3, 1939. First reports announced that there were only 69 survivors of the 1,103 passengers aboard the Donaldson Atlantic Line Ltd. Of the 69 survivors, 52 of these were from Canada. Mrs. Ida Blunden, Irene and Garth Blunden were amongst the survivors who hailed from Biggar Saskatchewan.

A U30 U-boat under the command of Oberleutnant Fritz Julius Lemp fired upon the Athenia marking the first shots in the Battle of the Atlantic, World War II. Hitler ordered his U-boats to follow Prize Regulations and not fire on passenger liners. The 13,580 ton passenger liner was sailing to Canada via Liverpool and Belfast departing from Glasgow, Scotland on September 1, 1939. It was reported that Captain James Cook of the Athenia was sailing a darkened ship in a zig zag fashion. These maneuvers led Oberleutnant Lemp to conclude that the ship was British Armed Merchant Cruiser and not a British Passenger Liner. Only after the firing of the third torpedo, two of which had malfunctioned, did Lemp sail close enough to ascertain the identity of the Athenia and his error.

Final reports place the death toll at only 118, of these 98 were passengers. Three British merchant ships and three British destroyers, two Scandinavian ships and one American tanker came to the rescue of the Athenia. The Athenia remained afloat for fourteen hours following the attack, allowing the majority of the 1,418 crew and passengers on board to be rescued. Most of those killed were aboard a lifeboat which became entangled in the Knut Nelson rescue ship propellers and another lifeboat capsized.



Sources

"Biggar People in Survivors of Athenia" (digitised online by Google News Archives). Quebec. The Leader Post. October 16, 1939. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=-5pTAAAAIBAJ&sjid=UzgNAAAAIBAJ&pg=2767,4281001&dq=biggar-sask&hl=en. Retrieved 2010-11-09
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"Biggar People in Survivors of Athenia" (digitised online by Google News Archives). Quebec. The Leader Post. October 16, 1939. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=-5pTAAAAIBAJ&sjid=UzgNAAAAIBAJ&pg=2767,4281001&dq=biggar-sask&hl=en. Retrieved 2010-11-09.

"S.S. Athenia". Wikipedia. November 6, 2010. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Athenia. Retrieved 2010-11-09.
"Sinking of the S.S. Athenia". Uboataces. 2005-2010. http://www.uboataces.com/battle-athenia.shtml. Retrieved 2010-11-09.