Children of a Doomed Voyage, PART 3: Michael Rennie

By Terrie Todd

St. Jude's-on-the-Hill, where Michael Rennie's father served as Vicar.

Mark Ahsmann, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

In 1940 England, a 23-year-old Theology student named Michael Rennie was preparing to follow his father’s footsteps and become a vicar. A keen sportsman and newly graduated from Keble College Oxford, Rennie was an ideal candidate to serve as a volunteer escort to a group of children evacuating by sea to Canada. Out of hundreds of applicants, Michael was accepted and placed in charge of 15 boys. Together with the other CORB children and escorts, they set sail on Friday, September 13, 1940, aboard the SS City of Benares.

Michael Rennie quickly became extremely popular with the children. Boys and girls alike admired his athletic prowess and his ability to organize games and make every moment on board fun. His boundless energy in leading games made him a favorite of the other escorts as well. He earned the respect of all. The future for this young man looked bright—for this voyage and beyond.

By September 17, the City of Benares had reached the “safe” zone—250 miles (402 km) west of the Hebrides. What officials had not factored in, however, was that the Nazis now occupied France. This expanded their reach of communications so that their U-boats could venture farther out. During the day, the Benares was spotted through a periscope by Heinrich Bleichrodt, captain of the German submarine U-48. That night, despite the rising storm, Bleichrodt fired a torpedo that penetrated the ship’s hull. It exploded, filling the ship with the acrid smell of explosives. 

Nazi "Unterseeboot" U-48

Captain Nicoll gave the order to abandon ship. Children, escorts and passengers started boarding their lifeboats, a process hampered by the storm and the loss of power. The ship sank quickly, its bow rising from the sea. As it disappeared into the rough Atlantic Ocean with its emergency lights still blazing, Michael Rennie knew he had to save as many people as possible. Over and over, he dove under the frigid water, assisting others into lifeboats while disregarding his own safety. Eventually, he succumbed to exhaustion and exposure.

After the ordeal, one young survivor, Louis Walder (brother to Bess) wrote a letter to Michael’s father in London. He’d been one of Michael’s boys and wanted the Rennies to know what a hero their son had been. He wrote:

Dear Reverend and Mrs. Rennie,

The first time I saw Mr. Rennie, your son, after the torpedoing of the ship at 10 p.m. on the Tuesday night, was when he was helping the children to their lifeboat, often at great risk to himself as the ship was badly damaged.

Then when he could do no more he got into my lifeboat and sat on a seat holding two small children in his arms.

Then the rope by which the lifeboat was being lowered jammed, and so he cut it through with his penknife so as to make it easier. Then whilst the boat was going the rest of the way down, it tilted and the occupants were catapulted into the stormy sea, your son included.

Here I lost sight of him until later on when I saw him on a raft. The lifeboat I was in managed to pick him and others up. After he’d been in the boat some time he saw a number of children in the water in danger of drowning, so he promptly dived in again and again to rescue them, which he did most successfully.

The other men warned him repeatedly not to do so as he’d grow exhausted, but he said, “There are still children in the water, and I must get them.” The other men did their best for the children already in the boat in helping them.

This naturally exhausted your son a great deal, but he continued encouraging the people with words of comfort.

Then the seas grew much rougher and the waves higher and higher and the boat got water-logged, the water reaching to my chest, about four feet deep. The water level rose much higher and we were seized with cramps and got very stiff. Still, Mr. Rennie persuaded us that help would come, and even told us what to do when help came.

Then at about six on the Wednesday evening, Mr. Rennie caught sight of a warship and tried to stand on his unsteady seat (which, as everybody said, was the act of a courageous man) in order to wave to attract the attention of the warship.

However, this was when the tragedy occurred. Owing to his repeated efforts to rescue the drowning children, Mr. Rennie’s condition was naturally more exhausted than the other men’s and owing to the great strain, your dear son collapsed, and fell, I think, dead into the water which filled the water-logged boat. The men in the boat tried with all their strength to lift him out of the water, but being themselves exhausted, and Mr. Rennie being dead-weight, it was impossible to do so. And so he died in helping others right to the end.

His last words were, “Hurrah! Here comes the destroyer. Thank God.”

A Czech and a German refugee sat near your son, and one of them said a prayer for your son in which the others joined.

I’m sorry I live so far away, as I expect you would like to talk to me about your son. I’m sure he was a very brave man.

Yours sincerely,

Louis Walder

A mural honoring Michael Rennie's heroism is still displayed at St. Jude's church.

Copyright The Parish Church of St Jude-on-the-Hill, Hampstead Garden Suburb.

Even If I Perish will release in November, 2025. It is Terrie’s novel based on the sinking of the SS City of Benares and on the heroism of escort Mary Cornish and the six boys she cared for in a lifeboat for eight days. Terrie is the award-winning author of ten historical and two split-time novels, most of which have won Word Awards through The Word Guild. Her 2023 release, April’s Promise, was a finalist in the ACFW Carol Awards. She lives with her husband, Jon, on the Canadian prairies. 

 

 

 “If I perish, I perish.” A sermon based on Queen Esther’s famous words spurs music teacher Mary Cornish to action. She volunteers to escort a group of 15 girls from England to Canada as part of Britain’s World War II child evacuation program.

All is well aboard the SS City of Benares until September 17, 1940. With a storm brewing in the North Atlantic, a German U-boat releases its torpedo and breaches the ship’s hull. Do the Nazis know ninety children are on board?

In the scramble to save as many lives as possible, Mary lands in a crowded lifeboat as the only female among crew members, passengers, and six young boys. In the storm’s aftermath, two things soon become crystal clear: that Lifeboat 12 has become separated from all the others, and that Mary has been placed here for such a time as this—even if she perishes.

 

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