Torpedoed: The True Story of the World War II Sinking of the Children's Ship

This is the account of the little-known World War II maritime disaster of the sinking of the passenger ship City of Benares, which was evacuating children from England to Canada.

In 1940, with German air raids reducing many of England’s major cities to smoldering ruins and a threatened invasion looming, thousands of British parents chose to send their children to safety in Canada through a program called the Children’s Overseas Reception Board. The CORB children they were referred as.

On Sept. 13, 1940, the passenger liner set sail from Liverpool bound for Canadian ports. Onboard were 90 CORB children, their chaperones, crew, and paying passengers.

Their Royal Navy escort left it on Sept. 17, and that night, unaware of the refugee children aboard, the commander of German submarine U-48 ordered three torpedoes launched at the Benares, the third hitting its target with devastating effect.

While this is an extremely sad story, it is a beautifully designed book, with reproductions of archival photographs and documents complemented by original pencil art by Lee that captures the action aboard the Benares and afterward.

This is well-researched story of tragedy, and survival. (Nonfiction. 10-14)