Dotted along the coastline of Port Elizabeth, Algoa Bay are a number of structures that were built for observers during the Second World War.
Day after day and night after night people would man these observation posts on the lookout for the enemy.
Being so far away from the theatre of the war, modern man would expect that the ‘action’ on the Southern tip of Africa would be negligible at least. But modern man forgets that the Suez Canal presented a high risk for freighters and other craft so the amount of shipping traffic around Africa increased exponentially.
But there were encounters between the Allies and German submarines as reported by Uwe Siemon-Netto in an article titled; A German U-boat captain who disobeyed orders, rescued enemy sailors on the Freepressers web site.
One of these ships was SS Deer Lodge, an American freighter on which Leslie Morrison served as able-bodied seaman when it was torpedoed in the middle of the night 39 nautical miles off Port Elizabeth, South Africa. “We were carrying military trucks in the hold and four narrow-gauge locomotives with their tenders on our deck; the brand-new locomotives, built in Baltimore, were destined for British-ruled Palestine,” recalls Manuel Dias, 88, of Milford, Mass., adding that Morrison, 10 years his senior, was his mentor on board.
On Feb. 17, 1943, Dias had just finished his watch and was about to climb into his bunk when the alarm sounded. “I rushed up to the deck. It was pitch dark but I could spot the silhouette of a U-boat 300 to 400 yards across our bow,” says Dias. “Then the torpedo hit us portside. We had a crew of 55. Two were killed but the Germans gave the rest of us plenty of time to leave our listing ship, even though we had some initial problems with our life boats.”
What happened next is a little hazy. According to Morrison’s son, the German skipper and his crew provided the Americans with food, water and charts. Dias can’t recall this detail but agrees with Morrison that Wiebe deliberately held off firing a second torpedo for a quarter of an hour to make sure that all survivors were safe. The second torpedo sank the doomed SS Deer Lodge.
The seas were heavy. “I was in the water, certain that the Germans would shoot all of us,” Dias says. “But when I caught up with our captain, Irving Jenson, he said that Wiebe had asked him in English, ‘Are any of you injured? Do you need first aid?’ I could hear the two officers’ voices. Jenson told me that before leaving the scene, Wiebe had directed him to safety; he advised us to head for Bird Island or Cape Recife. I thought that this was pretty decent of him. Six hours later, a South African warship rescued us.”
Read the full article HERE.
Do you know of any more war time incidents? Pop them in the comments box below.
Alan Straton
Latest posts by Alan Straton (see all)
- Mann Made Media Puts AI Automation and AI Video on the Table for 2027 Plans - 15 November 2026
- Balwin’s Black November Savings Land on Four Pretoria East Estates - 14 November 2026
- RS SOUTH AFRICA APPOINTS KHUPHUKILE NDEBELE AS FINANCE DIRECTOR - 14 November 2026
- Designer Pool Covers Passes 4,500 Installations as Automatic Cover Demand Grows - 14 November 2026
- The Events Guys Brings Five Event Supply Tiers Under a Single Crew - 14 November 2026
