A little more than 24 hours after coming aboard the British passenger liner Athenia, Barbara Cass-Beggs came face to face with the war she hoped she would never see. Barbara, her husband David, and their 3-year-old daughter, Rosemary, were on their way to Canada where David would lecture in electrical engineering for a year at the University of Toronto. (See blog “Barbara Cass-Beggs, An Accomplished Life, Part 1,” Nov. 1, 2014.)

It had already been a difficult voyage, with both Barbara and David feeling the effects of sea-sickness. They had gone to bed early the evening of Sept. 3, 1939, when a torpedo from a German U-boat slammed into Athenia’s port side. The explosion crippled the engines and shut down the electrical system, plunging the ship into darkness.

Dressed in their night clothes, Barbara, David and Rosemary found their way up on deck. The sight of Athenia’s stern riding low in the water and the ship’s pronounced list to port convinced them they were about to sink. To assure Rosemary’s survival, Barbara and David put her into a departing lifeboat, even though there was no room for them.

But Athenia did not sink right away, and an hour later Barbara and David were able to board one of the last lifeboats to leave the ship. After spending six wet, cold hours in their open boat, they were rescued by a Norwegian freighter. Though exhausted from their ordeal, Barbara and David went in search of their 3-year-old daughter, certain that she must have been picked up earlier by the freighter. After searching every inch of the freighter’s crowded deck, they realized Rosemary was not on board.

On Tuesday morning, Sept. 5, their ship arrived in Galway, Ireland, the nearest neutral port available to accept the Athenia survivors. Barbara began hearing distressing stories of lifeboats having been lost during rescue operations and she became frantic to learn Rosemary’s whereabouts. When they found that several hundred Athenia survivors had been taken to Glasgow, the Cass-Begges enlisted the help of people from the Church of Ireland, who arranged for Barbara and David to travel by train and ferry to the Scottish port city.

The morning of Sept. 7 they arrived in Glasgow at the Donaldson-Atlantic Line offices, owners of the Athenia, and were told that nobody named Cass-Beggs was listed among the survivors landed there. Fighting a growing sense of despair, Barbara learned of one last hope. The American freighter, City of Flint, was on its way to Halifax, Nova Scotia, with another 236 Athenia survivors, and a list of their names was due to be transmitted later that morning.

When the list arrived, Barbara and David again heard the disheartening news that their daughter’s name was not on it. They asked to see the list and found a curious entry under the letter “O” for a “Rose Mary Oxford, Eng.” When they determined that no other family on Athenia had listed Oxford as a hometown, Barbara was certain that “Rose Mary” was her daughter. They cabled their friends, Jim and Caroline Gibson, in Canada to meet Rosemary when City of Flint arrived in Halifax and made arrangements to sail to Canada a week later.

During the following week, however, Barbara received no confirmation that Rosemary had arrived safely or that Jim and Caroline had been able to meet her. Not until their ship docked for a brief layover in Quebec City on Sept. 22, did Barbara and David have the opportunity to place a phone call to the Gibsons. Barbara was greatly relieved to learn her daughter was indeed safe with Jim and Caroline. The cables the Gibsons had sent confirming Rosemary’s arrival had been delayed due to the priority for diplomatic and military communications.

Although she had spent a very anxious three weeks worrying about her daughter, Barbara started her Canadian residency on a very high note when she was reunited with Rosemary the next day. There would be many more high notes to come, as we will see in Part 3.

Credit for the photo to the GG Archives:
http://www.gjenvick.com/PassengerLists/DonaldsonAtlanticLine/Westbound/1938-09-02-PassengerList-WB-Athenia-Cabin-Tourist.html#axzz3Iy5MoCR8