Commemorating the historic sinking of the SS Mendi 100 years ago – in which hundreds of South Africans lost their lives – the Simon’s Town School’s Lawhill Maritime Centre planted trees on the anniversary of the tragedy on Tuesday.
According to government reports, the SS Mendi sailed from Cape Town on January 16, 1917 en-route to Le Havre in France. The vessel was carrying the last contingent of the South African Native Labour Corps (SANLC) who were recruited exclusively as a labour force to dig trenches, providing logistical support and offloading tons of ammunition during World War I.
The mostly black passengers were supposed to serve in World War I but they had been refused training in modern weaponry. The reason, they had been told, was that “the war was a white man’s war”.
On the morning of 21 February, in the icy waters off Southampton, the SS Darro (another South African-owned ship) collided with the SS Mendi which reportedly went down within 20 minutes.
“In 1917 when the South African Native Labour Contingent was drafted, they were given the menial task of providing logistical support. Today no army in the world can claim to be one without an up-to-date logistical system. These men, whose lives we commemorate today, were among the pathfinders in this field of logistics,” said the Minister in the Presidency, Jeff Radebe, paying tribute to the over 800 men who lost their lives.
