For some reason, following the collision the captain of the SS Darro, Captain Harry Stump, stood and watched the men in the water but did nothing to save them. (2/2) #History #WW1 #SSMendi
sahistory.org.za/dated-event/...
Photograph of the SS Mendi at sea.
Men of the South African Native Labour Corps on the deck of the SS Mendi
21 February 1917: The SS Mendi was struck by the cargo ship SS Darro. She sank with the loss of 646 men.
A majority of those who died were black Africans of the South African Native Labour Corps. (1/2) #History #WW1 #SSMendi
On this date in 1917:
646 troops of the South African Native Labour Corps (w/soldiers from today's #SouthAfrica, #Lesotho, #Botswana, #Namibia, and #Zimbabwe) drowned in the English Channel when their ship, the S.S. #Mendi was rammed in the fog by another vessel
#WorldWarI
#SSMendi
For some reason, following the collision the captain of the SS Darro, Captain Harry Stump, stood and watched the men dying in the water but did nothing to save them. (2/2) #History #WW1 #SSMendi
21 February 1917: The SS Mendi was struck by the cargo ship SS Darro. She sank with the loss of 646 men.
A majority of those who died were black Africans of the South African Native Labour Corps. (1/2) #History #WW1 #SSMendi
@bournemouthuni.bsky.social grad Holly Hughes packs a porthole from #SSMendi. Mendi was carrying men from the South African Native Labour Corps to France and sank in 1917 with huge loss of life. Most of the men drowned.The Mendi has become the symbol for commemoration of their service #navalhistory
