News article on the sinking of SS MAREEBA

Author Robert Lionel Aloysius Rose (Australian)

Date15 July 1944

Object number00044999

NameNewspaper clipping

MediumInk on paper

DimensionsOverall: 294 x 159 mm
Objects are currently separated. Measurements have been taken when the objects have been reassembled in there original condition.

ClassificationsEphemera

Credit LineANMM Collection Gift from Robert Leslie Rose

Terms

DescriptionA manuscript account of the experiences of Australian merchant seaman Robert Rose (1917-1989) in World War II. HistoryThe newspaper article includes a photograph of a docked ship with the captions 'S.S. Mareeba, which was sunk by the Kormoran' and 'Prisoner of the Kormoran by James Taylor (author of Gold/ From the Sea), reviewed on this page'. It is annotated 'S.M. Herald July 15th 44'. This news cutting relates to Robert Rose's wartime manuscript that describes the sinking of Rose's ship the MAREEBA by the German raider Kormoran in the Indian Ocean on 26 June 1940, eight months imprisonment at sea in two German ships and a submarine, imprisonment in a prisoner of war camp in Germany until his release in 1945, and transfer to England before repatriation to Australia. The account is written in pen and ink in a Wartime Log for British Prisoners provided by the War Prisoners' Aid of the YMCA in Geneva. It appears to have been written shortly after the events recounted. It includes family snapshots sent to Robert Rose in the prison camp, and detailed records of sporting events held in the camp. Rose was aware of the deep effects these events had on him, and at the end of his account he commented on the changes he saw in himself, chiefly a loss of 'my old faith in the human race'.SignificanceThis news clipping forms part of a collection of material relating to Robert Rose's wartime experiences. It provides a rare insight into the experience of merchant seamen as prisoners of war - a much lesser-known story than that of members of the armed forces.