CRP's Blog

On September 3, 1939—the same day Britain officially entered World War II by declaring war on Germany—the passenger liner SS Athenia was torpedoed by a German U-boat. It would be the first ship lost in the battle of the Atlantic.

In Torpedoed! the disaster of the SS Athenia is told through the experiences of 11-year-old Russell Park and 14-year-old Florence Kelly, two American children who were returning from vacations abroad with their families. Their adventurous and carefree summers abruptly came to an end as the liner began to sink. The children joined other survivors in lifeboats and rowed toward approaching ships, praying they were allies and not enemies.

Author Cheryl Mullenbach shares her experience with researching survivor stories, talking with Florence Kelly and teaching children about disasters and rescues.

How did you come to know the story of the SS Athenia, and what made you want to write a book about it for a middle grade audience?

I read CRP’s Big Top Burning and it made me think about other disasters that involved children. So I started to explore. Eventually my search led me to a few online mentions of the Athenia disaster. There were many families with children on the liner when it was attacked. There was at least one well-researched book for adults on the catastrophe but nothing for kids, so I thought it was an untold story that kids would be drawn to.

Torpedoed! has great primary source material. For instance, you interviewed living Athenia survivor Florence Kelly for the book, who was just 14 years old at the time of the attack. How did you initially connect with her to hear her story firsthand?

Florence is very active in the Cleveland area, where at 90-plus she continues to give talks to groups, including schoolchildren and college classes. I found an online interview and contacted the source who put me in touch with Florence. She was eager to tell me more. We had numerous long discussions by phone. Florence is a delightful person, and her memories are vibrant.

Tell us about the other sources you gathered and used for research.

I interviewed other survivors for background material. I found several primary sources, including interviews given by survivors, at museums and historical societies. The boy who is featured in Torpedoed!, Russell Park, was 11 years old when he survived the attack. He is no longer living, but he had written a detailed description of the ordeal. I interviewed his daughter, and she shared a family diary in which her grandmother wrote about surviving the tragedy. Also, American and European newspaper archives were rich sources. It was a huge story that grabbed the headlines in the fall of 1939.

How did you manage to track down other survivors’ stories?

My most exciting discovery was tracking down a one-year-old baby who had been saved in an unusual way. Stephen Levine was traveling home to America on the Athenia with his mother, Maisie, when they were forced into life boats and spent the night on the Atlantic. Newspapers carried the story and a photo of the pair. When the rescue ships arrived to pluck survivors out of the ocean, Maisie struggled to climb the wobbly rope ladder to the safety of the rescue ship’s deck high above. The sailors had a great idea: They dropped a wooden bucket attached to a rope down to Maisie, who placed her precious cargo into the bucket. The sailors pulled the bucket with baby Stephen up to safety.

My journey to find Stephen quite quickly resulted in success! I found his mother’s obituary from several years ago, and it mentioned Stephen’s location. I found a mailing address and dashed off a letter asking: “Are you the baby who survived the Athenia?” I included my phone number. One evening I got a phone call. The caller asked, “Is this Cheryl?” I replied, “Yes.” The man said, “I’m the baby in the bucket.”

The compassion of those on the ships that came to the rescue of Athenia passengers really resonates these days in the wake of Hurricane Harvey and all the rescue workers down in Houston. What would you say are the important takeaways of a real-life disaster and rescue story for middle graders?

Most of the survivors returned to the United Kingdom to wait for transportation back home to Canada and the United States. The extreme generosity shown by the people who housed and cared for them for those weeks was heartwarming. Florence and her mom were treated like honored guests by a family. Russell was taken in by a family and treated as their own. Government officials and local town folk provided shelter, food, clothing, and even entertainment. Isn’t it encouraging to know that spirit of helping people in need transcends history?

“Mullenbach’s descriptions of the torpedo strike and subsequent rescue efforts, laced with survivors’ first-person accounts, are immediate and chilling.” —Publishers Weekly

“Titanic may be the most famous shipwreck in history, but this account of the Athenia’s last voyage makes its story just as memorable.” —Booklist

“A gripping tale of disaster at sea.” —Laura Woollett, author of Big Top Burning: The True Story of an Arsonist, a Missing Girl, and the Greatest Show on Earth

Torpedoed!  arrives on bookshelves September 1, and is available wherever books and e-books are sold.

[Order it now $18]  [Request a review copy]