It may contain wrinkles, cracks, and possibly even tears due to its age and how it was handled before it got to us. A scanner may interpret colors and contrast differently than human eyes will, so it is possible that the actual photograph may be slightly darker or lighter in person.
www.ebay.com
Heroes
The
German raider Atlantis
At about 0555 hrs on 17 April the
German auxiliary cruiser Atlantis opened fire on
Zamzam from a range of about 3.5 nautical miles (6 km).
[29] Nine
150 mm shells hit
Atlantis' port side, injuring several passengers and crew, including the ship's doctor.
[30] Zamzam's engine room was holed below the waterline,
[29] causing her to list to
port.
[27] Her wireless aerials were destroyed,
[29] and there was damage to her passenger accommodation, Master's quarters, and funnel.
Atlantis ceased firing after about 10 minutes.
[30]
Nearly all of
Zamzam's passengers and crew abandoned ship, but shellfire had destroyed one lifeboat
[30] and damaged two others.
[31] The damaged boats were swamped shortly after being launched,
[31] including that carrying Mrs Danielson and her children, all of whom ended up in the water.
[20] Some passengers jumped from
Zamzam into the sea.
[17] The ambulance drivers looked after women and children, treated the wounded, and pulled people out of the sea into the boats and liferafts.
[32]
When all the boats and rafts had been launched, Captain Smith was left on his ship with his
Chief Officer,
Chief Engineer, six ambulance drivers and a four-year-old girl who had become separated from her parents.
[31]
Atlantis rescued all survivors from the boats, from the water, and the group left on
Zamzam.
Atlantis' Captain,
Bernhard Rogge, sent a
boarding party aboard
Zamzam that searched her chartroom and Master's quarters,
[33] removed supplies and personal possessions. At about 1400 hrs the boarding party scuttled
Zamzam with three explosive charges.
[27]
Scherman was in lifeboat number one. He photographed
Zamzam being abandoned, and after he reached
Atlantis, a German officer encouraged him to photograph
Zamzam being scuttled.
Atlantis' crew confiscated some of his films, but he managed to keep four rolls hidden.
[17]
Dresden in 1937
The next day
Atlantis met her supply ship,
Dresden [
de], to whom all
Zamzam's survivors and their luggage were transferred except three who were too seriously wounded.
[34] Atlantis and
Dresden parted, but they met again on 28 April. A delegation of survivors met Rogge on
Atlantis and asked for more food to be transferred to
Dresden, and for the US and other neutral survivors to be put ashore in South America to avoid the danger
Dresden would face when running the
Royal Navy blockade to reach Europe.
[35]
After conferring with his officers, Rogge said
Dresden would look for a neutral ship to which to transfer survivors. Failing that,
Dresden would approach the Brazilian coast and try to find a Brazilian
coaster to take them. Only as a last resort would
Dresden enter a neutral port to put survivors ashore. With that,
Atlantis and
Dresden parted again.
[35]
The next day one of the wounded, tobacco merchant Ned Laughinghouse, died aboard
Atlantis.
[11] He had suffered a shrapnel wound to the skull during the shelling.