by Susan Hood
p. 98
“Blimey, if I go home without that coat,
[Mum] will kill me.”
Sparks interview
p. 100
“The hatches have been blown off,
the emergency lights are on.
Electrical sparks . . .”
Sparks, IWM
p. 104
“It’s all right,
it’s only a torpedo.”
Huxley, p. 27
p. 105
“. . . like monkeys.”
Sparks, IWM
p. 114
“. . . like a Christmas tree . . .”
Menzies, p. 100
p. 117
“. . . went to its own grave.”
Sparks, IWM
p. 129
“He looks like a duck,
coming out of its hole.”
Nagorski, T., p. 209
“thirty feet of timber,
shorter than a London bus.”
Fethney, p. 141
p. 133
“Water, water, everywhere
Nor any drop to drink.”
“The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”
by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, 1798
p. 139
“One of the wheels had buckled
so [someone] chucked it.
Dad said, ‘Here, you can mend that.’
And I did. . . .”
Sparks interview
“I made a go-cart
out of old pram wheels.
. . . the rag-and-bone man.”
Sparks interview
p. 145
“I was over the moon . . .
[My Mum] kept hanging on to me.
It was like trying to get away
from an octopus. . . .
Even [my Dad]
had a few tears in his eyes.
But . . . I couldn’t wait . . . .”
Menzies, p. 14
“One of my great-grandmothers
ran off with a Jewish sailor, I think.”
Capel interview
p. 146
“He sleeps through anything.”
Nagorski, T., p.4
p. 149
“Why are you going swimming, mister?
“To keep in practice,
in case we get torpedoed again.”
Barker, p. 187
“. . . a proper screwball”
“Come on in, lads”
“I love swimming!”
“Ignore the man.”
Menzies, p. 164
Nagorski, T., p. 202
Sparks interview
Nagorski, T., p. 202
p. 150
“Now my wife,
she’s got a way with kids, she has.
Keeps ’em fit as fleas,
and stands no nonsense, neither.
Huxley, p. 58
What do you know about kids?
Got none of your own,
nor likely to have, either.”
“You’re right on both counts.
And what of it?”
p. 151
“No offense, of course.”
Huxley, p. 59
“What’s the use of worrying,
it never was worthwhile.
So, pack up your troubles in your old kit bag,
and smile, smile, smile.”
Song credit on p. 302
p. 154
“sardines.
Yech!”
Sparks interview
p. 155
“Allah the Compassionate
was wise
and would send storms
if He thought best.”
Nagorski, T., p. 214
p. 159
If we aren’t going
to be picked up one way,
we are going to get to Ireland.
Nobody has the slightest intention
of ever giving up hope. No.
Sparks, IWM
p. 161
“Without a lie,
you could have put
two double-decker buses
in it!”
Smith, p. 140
“I shared a bunk bed
with Alan at home.
“I’d read to him
and he would read back to me.
He could tie his shoelaces
and he’s only five.”
Capel interview
p. 166
“. . . water in a carafe,
changed every day?
I remember trying the water
and it was so good,
nice chilled water.”
Menzies, p. 40
p. 172
“Don’t you realise
that you’re the heroes
of a real adventure story?
There isn’t a boy in England
who wouldn’t give his eyes
to be in your shoes!
Did you ever hear of a hero who snivelled?”
Huxley, p. 54
p. 176
“I reckon you could . . .
mend the boat with them if you got holed.”
Menzies, p. 157
p. 177
“. . . how we eye
the water ration! . . .
O’Sullivan, p. 30
p. 178
“They must be frozen to death.”
Sparks, IWM
p. 179
“They weren’t expecting
to come out toward the Atlantic.”
Sparks, IWM
“They’re used to a hot country
and the cold North Atlantic
isn’t anybody’s fun.”
Menzies, p. 164
p. 186
“. . . as if to say
what are you doing here
in my waters?”
Sparks interview
p. 193
“It’s like candy, is what it is. . . .”
Nagorski, T., p. 238
p. 201
“What’s the matter now?”
Down-’earted ’cos she didn’t pick us up?
That’s nothing to worry about.
We’ll see plenty more ships tomorrow,
now we’ve reached the sea lanes.”
Huxley, p.68
p. 220
“Drink . . .
give me a drink . . .
I am going mad!”
O’Sullivan, p. 35
p. 221
“il va mourir . . .”
Nagorski, T., p. 257
p. 222
“Water? Is that all?
Of course you want water.
We all do.
You’ll get your water in the morning!
Now you forget about it.
Is that all that’s wrong with you?”
Huxley, p. 75
“My feet are cold.”
Huxley, p. 198
p. 233
“a speck in the sky . . .”
Yorkshire Post, September 27, 1940
“Look, an aeroplane!”
Ibib
p. 235
“It’s a Sunderland—
a Flying Boat.”
Sparks interview
“We pray that the plane will come
close enough to see us, and bring us help.”
. . . too much to hope.
Daily Mirror, Sept 27, 1940
“Please God, let that pilot see us . . .”
Nagorski, T., p.266
p. 237
“I learned the signals
in the Army Cadets. . . .”
Sparks interview
p. 238
“Oh boy!”
“We’re going to fly home!”
Nagorski, T., p. 267
p. 242
“Safe at last.”
Sparks, IWM
p. 246
“Paul can’t walk at all,
his legs had really gone.”
Menzies, p. 169
“fingers and toes came off
<
br /> in the dressings. . . .”
Johnson, p. 115
p. 248
“. . . like royalty.
There is nothing they don’t do for us.”
Sparks, IWM
p. 249
“I’ve never had sandwiches so thick—
a tin of salmon between two slices of bread
an inch wide. Gorgeous!
And hot sweet tea to revive us.”
Smith, p. 153
p. 253
“It doesn’t matter about the bombs falling.
We are no longer COLD.”
Smith, p. 153
“There’s nothing worse than being
wet and cold and not being able to get warm.”
Sparks, IWM
“Ice cream and fish and chips!”
Daily Express, Sept 27, 1940
p. 256
“. . . Hunting Gordon—
darkish green
with a yellow-ish stripe…”
. . . not “likely I’ll wear it
once I get back to London, is it?”
Sparks, IWM
p. 259
“DELIGHTED CONFIRM OFFICIALLY THAT YOUR BOY IS SAFE AND WELL LANDED GLASGOW. IF YOU WISH TO FETCH HIM THIRD CLASS RETURN FARE WILL BE PAID. IF NOT, HE WILL BE ESCORTED BACK TO YOU AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. PLEASE WIRE OR TELEPHONE YOUR INTENTION. REJOICE AT SURVIVAL OF YOUR GALLANT SON.”
National Archives DO 131/20
p. 260
“Mummy, I have not got Peter for you”
Nagorski, T., p. 286
p. 261
“Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday
I dreamed that I saw him safe in a boat.”
Montreal Daily Star, September 27, 1940
“I thought . . .
we were being evacuated but
they said, ‘We have good news.’
I answered, “You’re going to tell me my boy
is alive,’ and they said, ‘Yes!’”
Daily Express September 28, 1940
“A miracle has happened.”
Montreal Daily Star, September 27, 1940
“We thought we had lost both boys.
It’s a miracle that Derek has been snatched
back from the grave.”
Nagorski, T., p. 286
p. 263
“KINDLY ESCORT HOME KENNETH SPARKS.
IMPOSSIBLE TO COME = SPARKS”
National Archives DO 131/91
p. 270
Presented to Kenneth Sparks
By his neighbors in admiration
Of his dauntless courage
When torpedoed in
S.S. City of Benares
September 17, 1940
Sparks interview
The Daily Mirror, December 4, 1940
“Now we can look at [his bike]
without crying”
Daily Express, September 28, 1940
p. 271
“When we first heard
that the ship had gone down,
we read that boys
in one boat were heard singing
‘Roll Out the Barrel.’
It’s Kenny’s favorite song,
and I knew he was in that boat.
I could see him standing up
and singing in his new grey overcoat.
Every time I thought about the singing,
it made me go on hoping.”
Daily Express, September 28, 1940
p. 279
“The children won’t go without me.
I won’t leave the King. And the King
will never leave.”
http://bmsf.org.uk/buckingham-palace-at-war/
p. 286
“unswerving devotion to duty
assisting passengers at their boats
and again during his 8 days in the
No. 12 Lifeboat.”
“showing a very high standard of
discipline which had a marked effect
on the other native members of the crew. “
Letter to Commander, Holbrook, October 14, 1940
University of Glasgow Archives GB248 UGD, 131/1/37/208
p. 288
“We were survivors, not heroes.”
Smith, p. 154
“touched to hear that the German crew
had been moved to tears on returning to
their base in Lorient and discovering that
the Benares cargo was mostly children.”
Blake Simms in The Independent, September 17, 2010
p. 297
“had nothing in common, except the Indian Ocean,”
“Among them were Chinese and East Africans, Arabs
and Malays, Bengalis and Goans, Tamils and Arakanese.”
Ghosh, p. 13
“The saved include . . . thirty-six Lascar seamen.”
Daily Express, September 23, 1940
p. 299
“could find no mention of Indian seamen being
admitted in September/October of 1940.”
records “are incomplete and the registers for 1940
have not been preserved.”
NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde archivist
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I’m indebted to so many generous people for sharing contacts, doing research, answering my questions, clarifying facts. First on my thank-you list is Ken Sparks, who invited me to his home for several interviews and who shared his family photographs and trunk of memorabilia. Special thanks to Ken’s son Robert Sparks, for answering my follow-up questions after his father’s death.
Much gratitude to Tom Nagorski, great-nephew of survivor Bohdan Nagorski and author of a wonderful adult book about the Benares entitled Miracles on the Water: The Heroic Survivors of a World War II U-Boat Attack. Tom invited me to his home and shared some of his research and primary sources.
I am also greatly indebted to Benares survivors Derek Bech and Derek Capel; Sean Hollands (nephew of Rory O’Sullivan) and his wife Rosemary; Blake Simms (son of HMS Hurricane Lieutenant Commander Hugh Crofton Simms), Jim Perrin (who helped organize Benares reunions); Andrew Choong Han Lin (Curator, National Maritime Museum); Reverend Joseph F. Chorpenning, OSFS, S.T.L., Ph.D. (Editorial Director, Saint Joseph’s University Press); Dorian Leveque (APAC Reference Services, British Library), Claire Daniel (Duty Archivist, University of Glasgow); Kathleen Gill (Deputy Head of Museum, Sunderland Volunteer Life Brigade); Dr. Alistair Tough (Archivist, National Health Service Greater Glasgow and Clyde); Dominic Blake (BBC reporter); Dr. Shompa Lahiri (Research Fellow, Centre for the Study of Migration at Queen Mary University of London, and on the Diaspora Cities Project); and Dr. Ceri-Anne Fidler Jones (Lascar researcher).
Love and appreciation to friends Andrea Azarm, Jim Harman, and Laura Wilbur for their expertise; to author Patricia Reilly Giff, who encouraged and inspired me to write my first middle grade novel; to fellow authors who reviewed the manuscript—Eve Catarevas, Karen Jordan, Michaela MacColl, Carolyn Malkin, Page McBrier, Susan Montanari, Tracy Newman, and MaryJo Scott: to librarian Amy Hand; to my agent Brenda Bowen for calling me five minutes after she read my proposal; to my editors Christian Trimmer and Krista Vitola for taking a chance on a first-time middle grade author; Greg Stadnyk; to cousins David, Jackie, Tim, and Katie Hurst-Brown for lodging in England while doing research and for ensuring my British lingo was up to snuff; to my daughters Emily and Allison; and especially to my husband Paul Kueffner for his maritime smarts, his patience in listening to endless drafts, and his loving support.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Susan Hood is an award-winning author of many picture books for young readers, including Ada’s Violin and Shaking Things Up. She is the recipient of the 2017 E. B. White Honor Award, the 2017 Christopher Award, and Bank Street’s 2017 Flora Stieglitz Straus Award.
When not writing, Susan spends summers sailing with her husband and is all too familiar with ocean storms and trouble at sea. Once while sailing from Tortola to Bermuda with fri
ends, their 38’ sloop lost lights, navigation instruments, and the engine. Thankfully, they reached Bermuda, relying on the stars and a handheld sextant to find their way. That experience informed Susan’s first middle grade novel—Lifeboat 12.
susanhoodbooks.com
Visit us at simonandschuster.com/kids
Authors.SimonandSchuster.com/Susan-Hood
Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Simon & Schuster, New York
SIMON & SCHUSTER BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS
