[M] A SILVER-PLATED SUGAR SIFTER FROM THE LINER 'ATHENIA', THE FIRST BRITISH MERCHANT SHIP SUNK IN THE SECOND WORLD WAR

A SILVER-PLATED SUGAR SIFTER FROM THE LINER ATHENIA, THE FIRST BRITISH MERCHANT SHIP SUNK IN THE SECOND WORLD WAR

with coloured enamel terminal bearing the vessel’s name below the Donaldson Line’s crest; together with eight souvenir spoons from other vessels, all in plated base metal and enamel comprising R.M.S. Hilary; T.S.S. California; S.S. Cameronia; T.S.S. Transylvania; M.V. Ulster Queen; S.S. Orsova; S.S. Voltaire; and one for the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company

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T.S.S. Athenia was built for the Donaldson Line by Fairfields of Glasgow and entered service in April 1923 on the company’s Glasgow – Quebec – Montreal route. Clearing Glasgow under ‘wartime conditions’ on 1^st September 1939 and then Liverpool the next day, at 7:30pm on 3^rd September – the very day on which War had been declared - when most passengers were at dinner, Athenia was first torpedoed and then shelled by U-30 250 miles out into the Atlantic. Even though the majority of those aboard survived the sinking and were rescued by nearby ships, 112 lives were lost and Athenia’s name entered the annals of maritime history as the first British merchant ship to be lost to enemy action in the Second World War.