Missioneries

The Zamzam, the ex-Bibby liner Leicestershire, now a neutral Egyptian ship with a British master, Captain W.G. Smith, was attacked and sunk by the German raider Tamesis (better known as the Atlantis) on the 17th April 1941, in the South Atlantic. The Zamzam carried two hundred and two passengers, mostly missionaries of various denominations; a twenty-four strong party of volunteer American ambulance drivers led by Frank Vicovari; a number of tobacco buyers and two American pressmen, Fortune magazine’s editor Charles Murphy and Life photographer David Scherman ⁴⁰.

            The Zamzam, identified as a Bibby ship from her silhouette which Rogge the captain of the Atlantis had seen on a visit to Britain in the 30’s, had been observed to be zigzagging erratically and had failed to give a satisfactory response to the German’s radio signals. Opening fire in the darkness, six salvoes⁴¹ were fired. Hits were taken in the radio room, the engine, two on the waterline and the rest in the superstructure. On the Zamzam eleven men were wounded, one, Ned Laughinghouse an American passenger, died later. The panicking Egyptian crew abandoned ship leaving the passengers to fend for themselves, but found that the Atlantis would not allow them on board until the one hundred and nine women and children were safe. Next day the crew and passengers were transferred to the supply ship the Dresden. Frank Vicovari, stayed on the raider, too badly wounded in the legs to be moved.

.....The rink was large enough to hold ice-hockey matches and the Canadian missionaries were regarded throughout the camp as formidable opponents, safer to watch than play against! The Australian War Museum has a picture of the rink.

......After many requests had been turned down, permission was finally granted to Reverend Father Paquet, leader of the Zamzam missionaries, and Padre White to convert an empty barrack into chapels. It appears that a little "geschäft" (bribery) played its usual part in obtaining this concession. The availability of this building and that for the Nimmodeon cinema may well have come about with the transfer of the Indian prisoners to the Inder Lager.

            The Catholic congregation, some two hundred strong, were allocated a room about the size of two normal rooms at one end of the building, the Anglicans occupying the other. In the Catholic end, a chapel dedicated to Stella Maris, Our Lady of the Sea, was established in July 1942.