We're honouring the Sunderland children killed by a German U-boat as they fled to safety

Having waved goodbye to their parents, 90 evacuees were on board ocean liner City of Benares when it set sail from Liverpool in September 1940.

But 600 miles westwards across the Atlantic Ocean it was torpedoed and sunk by a German U-boat, claiming the lives of 260 of the 407 on board.

Of the evacuees, 11 were from Sunderland with only two surviving, along with 11 other evacuees from elsewhere in the country.

Among them was Billy Short, who survived the disaster aged nine. His younger brother Peter was not so fortunate and lost his life aged just five.

It took eight days to rescue Billy and the others in the liner’s lifeboat, with a Sunderland Flying Boat returning from escort duty when the crew spotted them.

Billy passed away in 2016, but told Echo in 2005: “I was asleep when the torpedo hit. The top bunk came down on me and I had to crawl out from underneath it.”

The other Sunderland survivor was Eleanor Wright,13.

After the war the captain of the U-boat was tried for a war crime, but acquitted. He said he had no way of knowing who was on board and never apologised.

The 11 Sunderland children who never came home were aged between 13 and five - and a city group is doing all they can to remember them.

Based at the Watch House in Roker, Sunderland Volunteer Life Brigade (SVLB) have a memorial to the children at their museum.

And they’re preparing to host a short memorial service at Sunderland Minster at 3pm on Sunday, September 21, the 85th anniversary of the tragedy, with tea/coffee available afterwards.

As part of the event they are looking for any remaining relatives of the children to contact them and come to the event.

*Any relatives of the survivors can contact Liz Herdson from SVLB on [email protected]

The Sunderland children who perished in the disaster

Geoffrey Crawford, 13, who died trying to save another boy

Maureen Dixon, 10

Derek Leigh, 11

Peter Short, 5

Sisters Edith and Irene Smith, aged 13 and 10

Siblings Thomas William and Ann Jordeson Watson, aged 9 and 6

Dorothy Wood, 9