Alfonso Pacitti

12 October 2024

I carried out this research activity as part of a UK-wide project aiming to create the first UK Arandora Star Memorial - to include those who perished in the Atlantic and those who were rescued. The output from that research has recently been published in the Modern Italy Journal.

The paper critically reviews and examines the available data concerning Italians embarked on the SS Arandora Star on 30 June 1940. It encompasses their fate on 2 July when the ship was sunk, their subsequent journeys and the sources used to verify the conclusions. The principal aim is to establish, as far as is possible, the precise number, correct names and other details of those who were embarked on the ship.

A fully validated ‘Embarkation Listing’ is published for the first time.

Until now, no systematic investigation has been carried out to assess and correct the original government lists: the initial error-ridden Foreign Office Embarkation List, 1940 and the later, more accurate, Home Office Lists of Missing Persons, 1942. The intent is to iron-out the mistakes, inaccuracies and anomalies in this documentation created in a situation of wartime confusion and absence of proper record keeping. By consulting and cross-checking against a wide range of data sources, this research provides an accurate verification of those on board, both lost and saved and offers embarkation analysis. It also delivers a revised, corrected and expanded ‘Embarkation Listing’.

The research enhances the historiography of the Arandora Star regarding Italian internees. In addition, it contributes an accurate source for any future memorialisation, especially those that might wish to include survivors as well as victims.

The flawed Foreign Office Embarkation List, revised several times shortly after the sinking and accessible through the Brazilian Embassy, was eventually produced as a printed version indicating 486 Italians lost and 226 saved, a total of 712 men on board. Illustrating the degree of government disorder, other Foreign Office documents give a total of 734 Italians, while the Home Office and War Office recorded 717 Italians aboard. The generally accepted figure from the Home Office Missing Persons List, first published in 1991 by Terri Colpi, when access became available at the National Archives, is that 446 Italians perished.

Revised and corrected data, as presented in the Modern Italy Journal , amends these figures to 442 drowned and 265 rescued, giving a new and definitive total of 707 Italians embarked onto the ship. Although the reworked 707 figure appears close to the original Foreign Office total of 712, the latter total conceals the extensive errors and anomalies that the Foreign Office Embarkation List contained.

My latest research now concludes that 265 were rescued by HMCS St. Laurent Of those rescued, 65 were hospitalised in Scotland before being interned at the Isle of Man (or released). The remaining 200 were sent to various internment camps in Australia on HMT Dunera.

A summary of the reasoning and logic for the differences between this research and previous data is published in THe Modern Italy article. A more detailed version of the analysis is also available here. If you have any comments, corrections or queries, please contact me.

I have created a number of other documents detailing those Italians who were sent to Canada on the Arandora Star. You can view and download these documents via the links alongside.

The documents comprise:

1. Arandora Star Victims: those 442 who are known to have perished on the Arandora Star
2. Embarkation Lists: National Archives - FO 371 Document no 25210
3. Dunera Internees: those 200 survivors who were subsequently sent to Camps in Australia on the SS Dunera
4. Mearnskirk Hospitalised: those 65 survivors deemed too ill to be sent to Australia and were hospitalised at Glasgow
5. Mearnskirk Register: extracts from the original Mearnskirk Hospital Register (July 1940)
6. Arandora Star Embarkees: a complete list of all 706 Italian Internees embarked onto the Arandora Star
7. Arandora Star Victims Estates: the monetary effects of some of those who perished

The data was gathered and analysed from the following sources:

• National Archives: Arandora Star Embarkation Lists

• FO 371/25210 ‘Internment of Foreign Subjects. Embarkation Lists: Arandora Star, Sailed 30th June 1940’
  HO 215/429 ‘Sinking of the SS Arandora Star: List of Missing Persons (1942)
  These documents (the earliest chronologically) lists the names of all embarked internees under two columns headed 'Survivors' and ‘Lost’. Where known, each individual is also identified by a number as well as a camp of origin. On the front page, a simple handwritten calculation under the heading 'Italians', indicates 486 lost and 226 saved, total of 712 men.

• The “Missing Persons List”
  

  It was not until 1990 that the Home Office finally allowed access to some of their data concerning the Arandora Star. The Missing Persons List was first released into general viewing at the National Archives, Kew in 1990. These archive files do not form an integral 'list' as such, but consists of a main list and smaller hand-written additional lists.
  Dr Terri Colpi visited the Archives at Kew and compiled a list to her own design and format. In 1991, she was the first person to publish 'the list' in her book 'The Italian Factor: The Italian Community in Great Britain' in 1991. All subsequent publications of this "list" (on the web and in hard print) were derived from her initial list; most in fact reproducing exactly her columns and organisation of the information and, as it has turned out, the same (understandable) errors.
  

• National Archives: WW2 Internees (Aliens) Index Cards

• HO 360 ‘Home Office: Aliens Department: Internees Index (1939-1947)
  These cards (some 308 volumes) are located at the National Archives, Kew, London and one individual is recorded on each card. The files are collated over numerous collections and individuals often appear several times in different categories.

• National Archives: Register of Deceased Passengers

• BT 334 Board of Trade: Registrar General of Shipping and Seamen: Registers and Indexes of Births, Marriages and Deaths of Passengers and Seamen at Sea (1941).
  This Register records and details everyone who dies at sea. The date of the record is often some time after the event but the Register has provided a fairly complete set of records of those who died on the Arandora Star.In the case of the Arandora Star victims, the 435 Italian entries stretch over 22 pages (pages 54 - 75) with some 20 entries per page.

• UK, Army Registers of Soldiers' Effects 1914-1920

• This set of records is located at UK National Army Museum at London. It appears that the authorities used some spare empty pages in a book already being used for the above purpose. The records of the estates of those internees who died on the Arandora Star at the end of the book. This particular record set comprises 369 individuals.

• National Archives Australia: Internee Records

• MP1103/1, E25073 ‘Prisoner of War/Internee’ (1940-1945)
  The Australian National Archives is a Government agency, based in Canberra, that holds all important government records. Many of the records are accessible online at naa.go.au . Each of the 200 Italian internees has one or more records extensively detailing their time held in various Internment camps located in the states of South Australia and Victoria.

• NHS Scotland Archives: Mearnskirk Hospital Admissions Register 1940

• HB64/4/1 ‘Mearnskirk Admission Register 1940-1946’
  This register located at the NHS Scotland Archives, Mitchell Library, Glasgow contains records of all admissions to the hospital during 1940. There were 63 Italian and 68 German men admitted on 3 July 1940 on the register with a complete set of accompanying information.

• Various Irish & Scottish Newspaper records and websites

• • Donegal Vindicator
  • Donegal Democrat
  • Stornoway Gazette
  • Clyde Maritime - The Loss of the Arandora Star
  • Imperial War Museums - Islands of Barra and Vatersay
  
  The stunning rescue photograph at the beginning of this article was taken by crew members aboard the HMCS St. Laurent and is reproduced courtesy of Keyhart Productions Inc. Canada.