In 1942, Portuguese ships assisted the shipwrecked from more than a dozen ships in both the Atlantic and the Indian Oceans.
The first few months They will witness the impact of the attacks near the American coast, where U-boats took advantage of the lack of an effective defense system to cause a wave of destruction comparable only to the first months of the war. German submariners called it later the "second happy time".
It is also in this year that Mozambique -then a Portuguese colony - sees the arrival of large numbers of shipwrecked people from ships trying to reach North Africa via the Cape route, since through the Mediterranean the chance to reach Egypt had become almost impossible. The Mozambique Channel became a hunting ground, first for Japanese submarines and, later, also for U-boats.
22-01-1942 The "João Corte Real" found survivors from the "Gandia"
07-07-1942 The "Almirante Sousa e Faro" picked the men from the "Dago"
27-03-1942 The "Cunene" found the survivors from the Norwegian "Svenør"
06-04-1942 Cunene and Lobito found crew members from de Norwegian Koll
27-05-1942 Crew from the Polyphemus rescued by the Maria Amélia and the Mirandella
07-06-1942 The NRP Gonçalves Zarco discovers castaways from Wilford
10-06-1942 The Argus found survivors from the Empire Clough
11-06-1942 Crew members from the Mahronda found by the Nacala
11-06-1942 Hellenic Trader survivors were towed by the Nacala
12-06-1942 Shipwrecked from the British Cliftonhall helped by Angoche II
06-07-1942 Avila Star castaways found by Portuguese Navy ships
19-07-1942 The San Miguel was found by the castaways of the Leonidas M.
10-08-1942 Medon castaways found by Luso
27-08-1942 The Pedro Nunes found survivors from the Clan Macwhirter
12-09-1942 Fifteen castaways from Trevilley found by Cubango
14-09-1942 The Cubango found thirteen castaways from the Breedijk
19-09-1942 Portuguese fishing boats saved HMT Alouette survivors
19-09-1942 The Mouzinho found the survivors of Baron Ogilvy
03-11-1942 The NRP Bartolomeu Dias found Dagomba survivors
28-11-1942 The NRP Afonso de Albuquerque found 184 survivors from the Nova Scotia
30-11-1942 Survivors of the Greek Cleanthis found by the Lourenço Marques
02-12-1942 Amarylis survivors found by NRP Gonçalves Zarco
We will keep posting information about other rescues in the next months.
Do you already know what hapenned between 1939 and 1941.
