Last week I gave a talk at California State University Monterey Bay’s chapter of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute. The talk is titled “Surviving the Zamzam.” It’s a story about my Aunt Jamie and Uncle Fred Henderson and their getting captured by the German Navy while on their way to Africa to be medical missionaries. They were taken prisoner on April 17, 1941 and their ship, the Zam Zam, was sunk.
I pieced it together based on 6 books on various aspects of the Zam Zam, some reminiscences written by my aunt and uncle, some newsletters published by their church while they were prisoners, some Life magazine stories, and a few links on the web.
I’ve posted on this in 2018 here, here, and here. More recently I’ve posted on items I’ve discovered in my research here, here, and here.
It’s not my usual kind of talk. I usually make an argument for or against a particular policy or an argument about various factual or theoretical economic issues.
Here I don’t do that. I just tell a story.
But if you want a little content on the perils of central planning, go to 24:25 and 29:30.
One thing I’m wondering and I don’t have the answer to happens at the 17:30 point. It strikes me that what Captain Rogge was doing–flying neutral colors–was, as I say in the talk, “illegal as hell.” But I don’t know.
READER COMMENTS
Frank
Nov 22 2021 at 7:54pm
… in naval warfare such a deception is considered permissible, provided the false flag is lowered and the true flag raised before engaging in battle: Auxiliary cruisers operated in such a fashion in both World Wars, as did Q-ships, while merchant vessels were encouraged to use false flags for protection.
Armstrong White, captain of the British merchant ship City of Bagdad, which Atlantis sank in July 1941, stated, “His treatment of prisoners left respect, instead of hatred”.
He also was one of the few German officers of flag rank who was not arrested by the Allies after the war. This was due to the way he had exercised his command of Atlantis.
All of the above from Wikipedia.
David Henderson
Nov 23 2021 at 10:16am
Thanks, Frank.
It’s the “true flag raised before engaging in battle” part that I’m wondering about. If you check the part I highlighted at the 17:30 point, it looks as if he had the Norwegian flag flying right in the midst of it.
Yes, I read good things about Rogge. One of the people in the audience had read a number of books about the Atlantis, including at least 2 that I hadn’t. He told me that Rogge was so trusted by the Allies after the war that he became an important player in NATO.
Frank
Nov 23 2021 at 9:08pm
I’ve looked around on the internet, and another Wikipedia sentence may explain the not dropping of the Norwegian flag and hoisting the then German ensign, if that’s what happened:
“Rogge mistook the Egyptian liner Zamzam for a British liner being used as a troop ship or Q-ship.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_auxiliary_cruiser_Atlantis
David Henderson
Nov 24 2021 at 12:03pm
Yes, I found that in a number of books.
That doesn’t explain or justify his not dropping the Norwegian flag.
Frank
Nov 24 2021 at 7:20pm
After a further google expedition, I came across the pronouncement that “Rogge made a mistake”. What might the mistake have been?
Apparently, ZamZam, as a neutral non-military vessel, was supposed to sail with lights on. They were off, for whatever reason. So, Rogge attacked, and later realized his mistake, if that’s what it was.
https://hirschland.com/2012/03/28/the-sinking-of-the-zamzam/
Digging so much for detective purposes, Rogge seemed like a good guy, so the nature of attack on ZamZam seemed an anomaly.
David Henderson
Nov 26 2021 at 11:32am
Yes, that’s in my talk.
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