[M] A PRESENTATION CIGARETTE CASE AND TANKARD TO A SAILOR FROM H.M.S. ESCORT FOR THE RESCUE OF SURVIVORS OF T.S.S. ATHENIA, TORPEDOED 3RD SEPTEMBER, 1939

A PRESENTATION CIGARETTE CASE AND TANKARD TO A SAILOR FROM H.M.S. ESCORT FOR THE RESCUE OF SURVIVORS OF T.S.S. ATHENIA, TORPEDOED 3RD SEPTEMBER, 1939

presented to Able Seaman J.E. Chamberlain, the silver cigarette case inscribed J. Chamberlain / H.M.S. Escort / From / Athenia Survivors / 4.9.39, the tankard inscribed Presented by the Directors / Donaldson Atlantic Line Ltd / owners T.S.S. Athenia / Sunk by Enemy Submarine / 3rd September 1939; together with a cap tally from H.M.S. Escort, Chamberlain's war service medals and a quantity of ephemera pertaining to the loss of the T.S.S. Athenia and the life of Joseph Edward Chamberlain, including a handwritten copy letter from the Donaldson Line commemorating his service

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Registering 13,465 tons, Athenia was built for the Anchor-Donaldson (Donaldson Atlantic after 1935) Line by Fairfield SB in 1923. She was the first British ship sunk by U-boat in WW2 - Britain declared War on Germany at 11.15 on 3rd September, shortly after this Athenia steamed from Glasgow bound for Montreal with 1,100 passengers aboard, including 300 Americans and was spotted that afternoon by U-30 about 250 miles northwest of Inishtrahull, Northern Ireland. German U-boats were supposed to be operating under prize regulations that required them to stop and search potential targets, Lt Fritz-Julius Lemp decided Athenia was an armed merchant cruiser and fired two torpedoes without warning with the loss of 112 passengers and crew, including 28 Americans. The Germans denied they were responsible and claimed the British had sunk the ship for propaganda purposes with the truth finally being admitted by Grand Admiral Dönitz at the Nuremberg Trials.