Atlantic crossing

October 1939: Having crossed the North Atlantic during a massive storm that delayed her considerably and also forced the crew to take a literal bite into their food supplies, S/S Wanja was approaching the waters south of Iceland. 

She had already encountered the British Royal Navy once, off the coast of Nantucket on 26 September. A recently identified British Kent-Class cruiser had radioed Wanja to enquire about port of departure, destination, and the nature of the cargo. 

She had crossed the Atlantic unaccompanied, the crew well aware of the dangers. At 15:35 on 12 October she was stopped and boarded by an identified light cruiser from The British Royal Navy, at sea on Northern Patrol duty. The Royal Navy had reintroduced the Northern Patrol, a system of inspection of neutral and potentially hostile merchant ships intended to prevent supplies from reaching Germany. The Royal Navy stopped merchant ships in open sea and put an armed prize crew onboard to oversee the re-routing and approach to Kirkwall, where the cargo and destination could be inspected. 

The commander boarded the Wanja and decided to put a prize crew onboard and redirect the ship to Kirkwall for contraband inspection. This was routine – for the Royal Navy. Much less so for the crew of Wanja. 

The commander returned to the cruiser and wrote in the log «1800 Wanja proc´d Kirkwall under guard». He also added that they lost a Webley Mk VI revolver on Lat N62 31` Long W12 21`, roughly midway between Iceland and the Faroes. We have not – yet – gone off on expedition to find the revolver, but we have not ruled it out… This story keeps bringing us to exciting places. 

A Sub-Lieutenant in command of a team of six Royal Navy sailors boarded the Wanja, and they instructed the Captain to set course north of the Faroes and then towards Kirkwall. This particular route increased the journey by about 35 nautical miles. They did not know they were about to enter the scene of one of the most deadly attacks on the Home Fleet during the war that had only just begun. 

Photo: S/S Wanja, photographer unknown