Goodnight, sorry for sinking you: The story of the S.S. City of Cairo

by Ralph Barker

On 6th November 1942 the S.S. City of Cairo was torpedoed by the German U-boat U-68 in the middle of the South Atlantic.Nearly 300 men, women and children escaped in lifeboats as commander Karl-Friedrich Merten gloated to the captain of the Cairo , ‘Goodnight, and sorry for sinking you’, and pointed out how unlikely it was any of them would survive. What followed is one of the greatest tales of survival and endurance.The Cairo’s captain decided their only hope of survival was to sail 480 miles to Helena, despite the considerable chance of getting lost forever. The journey would take weeks and with water rationed to just 110ml a day despite the tropical heat, the survivors grew weak and the extremes of human nature – the depravity and the heroism – would reveal themselves. Things would get worse for them as the lifeboats separated and eventually lost contact with each other, and many died of thirst or exposure.In this riveting book, Ralph Barker reconstructs the story of the sinking, incorporating real accounts from survivors of the tragedy.

Genres: History

251 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 1984

About the author

Ralph Hammond Cecil Barker was a non-fiction author who wrote several books on the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and Royal Air Force (RAF) operations in the First and Second World Wars, and about cricket.

Reviews

[JD · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent book that is very well written. It is the story about the SS City of Cairo's last voyage from India to the United Kingdom. The ship was not only carrying cargo to wartime Britain, but also quite a few passengers, of which there were quite a few children. The author focuses mainly on these individuals, along with a few key crew members, and follows them from their departure from India, across the relatively safe Indian Ocean to South African waters, before they are routed across the South Atlantic to Brazil on a solo and unescorted voyage.

As fate would intervene with the passengers, as it would in the weeks after the sinking, U-68 crossed its path by chance and sunk it shortly after nightfall on 6 November 1942. The sinking only claimed 4 lives out 302 people aboard, but they were far from mainland's, with the tiny speck of the island of St Helena being almost 500 miles to the north of them. So begun the epic journey of the 6 lifeboats towards the island, where 13 days later 4 of them were rescued within sight of the island. The other 2 boats were less fortunate with one being picked up by a German blockade runner well north of the island with only 3 survivors on board after 36 days, and the other one heading for the Brazilian coast before being picked up by its navy after 51 days with only 2 survivors. A total of 195 people were rescued in the end.

The book really takes you into the lifeboats with its occupants and shows the best and worst of human nature and the fight to survive. It also shows how physical strength is not the most important to survive, but that the human spirit is the most important as shown by Margaret Gordon, who being in her fifties survived the ordeal of 51 days in a lifeboat. No children were also lost, and among them were infants and toddlers. The saddest part of the book is of Knocker Whyte who sailed the boat with Margaret Gordon to Brazil and survived, only to lose his life while on his way back to England after his ordeal along with all hands on the SS City of Pretoria.

I have read a few books about U-Boat shipwreck survivors from World War 2, and this one is by far the best one I have read. Highly recommended!!

[Aaron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oftentimes a gorgeously written book, with truly poetic descriptions that describe a unique disaster at sea. Sample sentence: "The initial cataclysm was followed by a tinkling avalanche of glassware and the tell-tale sibilance of escaping steam" A U-Boat actually addressing lifeboat survivors in the middle of the Atlantic, apologizing for the inconvenience of bombing their ship and wishing them well, is weird enough. But the passengers have now been marooned thousands of miles from both Africa and South America. The properly harrowing material describes one of the most gut-wrenching accounts of the passengers floating, sailing, wandering off course on a quest to find one tiny island. Meanwhile, lack of water and succumbing to sea dementia are the conditions at the forefront of an ordeal that has several lifeboats adrift for over 2 months. The numerous characters make it hard going in the beginning, keeping track of all the classes and ethnicities. But Barker profiles well enough the survivors, as well as those who died, and creates a profoundly moving story of humanity at its most challenged.

[Hugh · Rating 4 out of 5]

My brother-in-law's father was serving on the ship and survived the ordeal. He recommended this book to me. He has a website http://www.sscityofcairo.co.uk/ giving more information from survivors.

[Susan Hinesley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very well written and extremely well researched. The author provided so much detail about the experiences in the lifeboats. I could not put it down.