Two rescue boats carrying 28 castaways from the British tanker Africa Shell arrived on November 15th, 1939 between Quíssico and Závora, in Mozambique, after their ship was boarded and sunk by the German battleship Graf Spee about three miles off the coast.

The British ship, which did not have a radio communications system, was boarded by the Germans at 11.45 am on the 15th November. The Graf Spee had been sighted a quarter of an hour earlier, but initially the British thought it was a French warship. They suspected it might be a less friendly vessel when they signaled him and received no response. They reversed course to move away, but a shell fell a quarter of a mile away, prompting the commander to reduce speed. When the battleship approached it was possible to see the German flag.

A motor boat was lowered from the warship with two officers and nine armed sailors who gave the tanker's crew ten minutes to abandon it, giving them the possibility of choosing between following prisoners or rowing ashore, at about 2,5 miles away. Having decided to proceed to the coast of Mozambique, Captain Dove demanded to leave a written protest as he considered the attack had taken place in Portuguese territorial waters. He was writing it when signals from the battleship ordered his arrest.

Books with secret instructions that had not been thrown into the sea were tken from the Africa Shell. Other documentation, food, water and other supplies also. The 28 crew members of tthe tanker crew rowed to the Mozambican coast, arriving on land the same afternoon.

Carlos Guerreiro