Research Catalog
We die like brothers : the sinking of the SS Mendi
- Title
- We die like brothers : the sinking of the SS Mendi / John Gribble and Graham Scott.
- Author
- Gribble, John, 1965-
- Publication
- Swindon, UK : Historic England, 2017.
- ©2017
Items in the Library & Off-site
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1 Item
| Status | Format | Access | Call Number | Item Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Text | Use in library | D547.A4 G753 2017 | Off-site |
Details
- Additional Authors
- Scott, Graham
- Description
- vi, 202 pages : illustrations (some color); 23 cm
- Summary
- The SS Mendi is a wreck site off the Isle of Wight under the protection of Historic England. Nearly 650 men, mostly from the South African Native Labour Corps (SANLC), lost their lives in February 1917 following a collision in fog as they travelled to serve as labourers on the Western Front, in one of the largest single losses of life during the conflict. The loss of the Mendi occupies a special place in South African military history. Prevented from being trained as fighting troops by their own Government, the men of the SANLC hoped that their contribution to the war effort would lead to greater civil rights and economic opportunities in the new white-ruled nation of South African after the war. These hopes proved unfounded, and the Mendi became a focus of black resistance before and during the Apartheid era in South Africa. One hundred years on, the wreck of the Mendi is a physical symbol of black South Africans' long fight for social and political justice and equality and is one of a very select group of historic shipwrecks from which contemporary political and social meaning can be drawn. The wreck of the SS Mendi is now recognised as one of England's most important First World War heritage assets and the wreck site is listed under the Protection of Military Remains Act.
- Subject
- Genre/Form
- History.
- Bibliography (note)
- Includes bibliographical references (pages 175-190) and index.
- Contents
- Introduction -- British military labour during the First World War -- South Africa and the outbreak of the First World War -- The birth of the SANLC: the African experiment -- Native labour for France -- The SANLC goes to France -- Seaward the great ships -- The last voyage of the Mendi -- Aftermath and inquiry -- Dyobha : the man and a myth? -- Foreign labour on the Western Front: the common experience -- The end of the experiment and after -- The wreck of the Mendi: an archaeological insight -- Conclusion.
- ISBN
- 9781848023697
- 1848023693
- 9781848024724
- 184802472X
- LCCN
- 2016364166
- OCLC
- ocn974523007
- 974523007
- SCSB-1882169
- Owning Institutions
- Princeton University Library